Mardi Gras Mission Trip 2015 ~ The Mission

Why we go...

To share the love and hope of Jesus!  This year our worship pastor, Mark, came with us and he and I did some live music during the day in the French Quarter, this was one of my favorite things of the entire trip.  It was a blast.  He used a kick drum pedal to beat his guitar case while he sang and played his guitar...he is really talented.  I had the privilege to beat a tambourine against my leg while singing...I am only mildly talented, ha.  I did make a nice bruise on my leg but it was worth it.  Several people tried to give us money, some succeeded, we turned some away because that's not why we came but their persistence wore on us and the money we collected was donated to the Vieux Carre Baptist Church, our home base while in New Orleans.  I saw some people mouthing the words to some of the songs we were singing as they walked by, a sweet lady by the name of Brennie, who swore she knew me, stopped and sang with us for probably 45 minutes to an hour.  She was a blessing and an encouragement to meet.  A couple told Mark that they appreciated the way we presented the Gospel through our music.  I was so blessed.

 

Other members of our team did face painting.  Face Painting is a very effective way to have good conversations with people, we've never had anyone walk away with their face half painted, they stay and listen.  One young lady rededicated her life to Christ, another heard the story of Jesus for the very first time...we take for granted that people here in America have heard about Jesus, or that people that come to America will hear about Jesus.  It's just simply not true and many that do hear about Christ have a warped and skewed view of Christ and Christians because of the lack of love and grace shown by so many professing Christians.  This should call us to action, to tell the world about the God of love and redemption.

A couple of people in our group directed people to the face painting and talked with people on the street.  I think they thought they weren't useful enough but they were a valuable asset to the team.

And we all went to Bourbon Street in the evening...this was a battle for some.  It's immorality in your face with an 'I don't care about anything' attitude, especially Christians and what they have to say.  There are always the "condemners" with their signs and bull horns shouting at people and telling them they're going to burn in hell.  This year we saw a new approach, a group of 20 somethings came to the same corner we were on and she simply held a sign that read "Christians love gays".  People came up to talk to her and she was able to tell them about Jesus.  This is what I would like to do next year...flood bourbon street with Jesus' love.  I wanna do more music of course...just not on bourbon.