New Orleans

I co-led a team of 10 teenagers in New Orleans. While we were there, we partnered with  Operation Nehemiah by day and Raven Ministries by night keeping our days very busy and full of ministry. During the day, Operation Nehemiah would set up a work project for us to do. While we were there we got to paint and clean a church and help build a house that had been destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.

At night we would partner with Raven Ministries and go out to Bourbon St to preach the gospel. Bourbon St is the most notorious place in New Orleans, all hours of the day and night is full of people who are there just for a "good time." I had heard of Bourbon St before but had never been there and all I can say is I absolutely did NOT expect what I saw.

At night Bourbon St is blocked off from traffic because there are so many people that walk the street there is not way for traffic to get through. Everyone that passes by has a drink in their hand, the women are wearing next to nothing half the time. On the balconies men are throwing bead necklaces down to women in attempt to get a topless show and the women below them are more than willing to give a peek.. Men are going in and out of strip clubs that line the street. Music is blaring from every part of the street, you have to yell to talk to anyone. There are so many people that pass by, you rarely see the same face twice. You are constantly dodging between people because standing in one place for long is next to impossible with the crowd. Women are dancing up against men they don't know or against each other to attract attention. There was so much sin on Bourbon St that is was overwhelming.

With Rave Ministries we would stand in the middle of Bourbon St right in between a strip club and a souvenir shop witha  bar and club right behind us and we would preach the gospel over a loud speaker. One person would be on the mic and the rest of us would try and grab the attention of people who walked by to have a conversation withthem about Jesus. It was SO hard! People would walk by giving dirty looks, some mocked what we were doing, some called us crazy, some were typical tourists and took pictures, some yelled and cussed at us, some got angry and threw things at us. There is such a resistance against the gospel there because there is so much sin. We were able to minister to a lot of people while we were there, we talked and prayed with those who were willing to listen. I had a man dedicate his life back to the Lord which was amazing!!

While I was in New Orleans my eyes were opened up to true darkness. Darkness hates the light and will do anything it can to get rid of it. Like I said people mocked us, yelled and swore at us, and even threw things at us. We had the cops called on us once but they never showed up. Evil hates good. It becomes hostile to good, and that is something that only the power of Christ can break. We may not have seen many salvation's while we were in New Orleans, but we planted so many seeds and stared in the face of evil and didn't budge. God will complete the work that was started

Something interesting I saw is that yes the people of New Orleans are lost, but it's not just people that live there. Someone told me I think it was 90% of the people on Bourbon St are not from New Orleans (I met a couple from Australia), they are from all over the world. They are our next door neighbor or the lady at the grocery store. They are people who are all around us that need us to reach out to them and be the love and light of Christ!

My heart is hurting for these people. They are blinded by sin and darkness and they need us to love them and reach out to them. They need TRUTH! Please be praying for Raven Ministries as they continue their work on Bourbon St, they go out there every Thursday, Friday and Saturday to minister to the people there. Pray for the seeds that are going planted every week. Pray for the scales to fall off the eyes of the people there that they will see truth and see the sin they are walking in.
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Open Doors in New Orleans

If this gets lengthy please bare with me I promise it will eventually end. On the way to Washington DC we made a detour to New Orleans. I had never been before so I saw super excited to go and see what all of the excitement was about. I had heard all different kinds of things like it was dark, it was fund, it was an antique but what was it really like? 

When we arrived we went to a restaurant called the Pearl. Things in New Orleans were obviously very different than most places. It's true, New Orleans has a very antique look to it; it's beautiful! The city is almost like it's own country inside of America, the culture there is so different from anywhere I've ever been. While we were at the restaurant on a Friday night, I was reminded of the things that go on in New Orleans. Five drunk men stumbled into the nearly empty restaurant and began yelling "catch lines" at all the women in our group. They individually hit on a couple of the women who had gotten up to go the restroom or the front counter.

When we left the restaurant to walk the streets it had gotten dark outside, but the physical darkness had nothing on the spiritual darkness that invaded the city. You could feel the oppression of the city and you could sense darkness everywhere! Our group started to walk as we were making our way to a shop to get some beignets. As we were walking I saw a lady on the side of the street who was holding a sign. Now I'm from the country so seeing homeless people is not exactly a regular for me, every time I see someone with a sign it tears at my heart. I couldn't read her entire sign but what stood out to me was in bold letters it said anything will help. I so badly wanted to stop and talk to her, find out her name, and give her some money but I didn't think I could leave my group. I walked with a heavy heart praying for the opportunity to see her again.

We made it to the shop but by then I had lost my appetite. Two of my friends and I decided to look around at other places and found ourselves in a souvenir store. I was blown away, in a souvenir store there were voodoo dolls out the wazoo! I couldn't believe the complexity that went into a voodoo doll meaning that certain colored pins meant certain things and certain dolls were for certain things. The saddest part was people believe and use those things for witch craft which is from the devil.

We moved on and were making our way back to a shop we had passed on the way to the beignet place and on the way just felt compelled by God to do a prayer walk instead. We walked and there she was! The lady I had wanted to talk to. We went to her, her name is Jennifer and she was trying to make it back home to Alabama. We talked for a little while I gave her some money and we got the chance to pray for her!! I was so excited that God had given me the opportunity to see her again.

We were excited now and ready to be used any way God wanted to use us. We asked a few ladies if we could pray for them but they rejected us and we moved on. We backtracked to a palm reader we had seen on the way there, one of the girls really wanted to pray for her. She was really busy and we were on a time limit and there was no way we were going to be able to fit in and pray for her so we decided we were going to stand there and pray. As we were about to start one of the girls overheard a guy talking about Jesus and we thought it would be great to pray with him.

His name is Matt and he travels from city to city to preach on the streets and he was literally standing about 10 feet in front of the palm readers stand trying to get the name of Jesus out to people who were being deceived into the palm reading. We introduced ourselves and he was thrilled for us to be there. He had been feeling a lot of spiritual attack and said that God had told him to hold on because Jesus was coming to him and then we showed up. It's so great how God works everything out for His glory. We got to pray for him and encourage him as he continues with his ministry. He encouraged me so much, this guy was only 20 years old and he has such a fire for God that at 20 he was going to preach all that he could in some of the darkest places in America. He told us how he's had guns pointed to his head and has gotten to reach out to different celebrities. It was so encouraging to hear his testimony and know that God is raising up a generation who will stand up for His name!

Well we ended up getting in trouble for two reasons. One we walked a lot farther than we were supposed to...three young women...at night...on a Friday night...on one of the most dangerous streets...in New Orleans. It's funny now but our leaders were NOT happy at the time.

With all that said, I have an announcement. I have been given the opportunity to go back to New Orleans leading a group of teenagers on a mission trip with Global Expeditions. The opportunity just came up today and I am praying and highly considering the possibility of going. The way everything has unfolded between me just having gone for the first time and the way this door opened are really looking like this is an open door from the Lord. Please pray for me and possibly consider supporting me as I may be making my way back to New Orleans. The trip in total is going to cost just over $800 for the 9 day trip. This will cover my flight, food expenses, housing, and any other travel expenses that come into play. Please prayerfully consider partnering with me to reach out to the dark streets of New Orleans once again.

Washington DC

WE'RE BACK!!  I had an exciting week long trip to Washington DC for our MA Retreat. Every year our program gets to go on a retreat to take a break from life on campus. It was so great to get to spend a week away and to have the chance to get to know the people who labor beside me better.  We visited all of the major monuments such as the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the Capitol building, we saw the White House from the gate and went to the Smithsonian.  My favorite site we visited was Arlington Cemetery, we had our own personal tour of the cemetery. It was so cool to hear the history of the cemetery and to see things like President Kennedy's grave or hearing why Lincolns son wanted to be buried where he could overlook his dads memorial. We had the privilege to visit the tomb of the unknown soldier and to be taken to the offices of the soldiers who guard the tomb and hear of the history of the guards.  I enjoy history so for me, this trip was amazing.  I loved the opportunity to learn not only through museums, but also from the people who are involved in making current history as they serve in the military.

DC Bound!

As most of you know I am on my second year at the Honor Academy. I am a part of the Management Associate Program where we are trained and given opportunities to learn about business and management. Just in the past few days we had the opportunity to do a business simulation. We were divided into teams to own and manage a mock coffee shop. I didn't think I would enjoy it at all but I had a blast and learned so much from it. The simulation threw real life situations at us such as how to improve customer satisfaction, how to keep your employees satisfied. It also taught us through trial and error how to have the best quality while staying within your budget to make the best revenue. I had so many take away's from this simulation to apply for the workplace and even just life in general.

Things like the business simulation are things that I get to do being a part of the MA program. So next week we are taking off a week for our retreat to take a break from business. This year we are going to Washington DC to spend time together as friends and as a program. Please consider helping us out my looking at our facebook page to see how you can take part in helping us with our donations!! www.facebook.com/dcboundmaiit

Minneapolis ATF

This past weekend I went to the Minneapolis ATF making it my 8th event that I have gotten to go out to. I love going to these events for a few reasons, one they give me a break from campus and my usual work, two they are a blast! Another reason I love going to these events is because God always teaches me something. This particular event He showed me the influence I have and He showed me His beauty. 

I worked as an usher in Minneapolis so for every worship set I had to be at the front to make sure the kids didn't do anything crazy. The first worship set I didn't tend to my post, I thought there were enough people there that my small self would only get in the way. I went to find my own worship spot but no matter where I went, I didn't have peace and didn't know why. After a while God was like Cassie I want you to go down to the front next time to be an example. It made me remember the first ATF event I went to a couple years ago. I didn't know what free worship looked like, I didn't even know if it was ok for me to raise my hands. He wanted me to show them what free worship it like.

It was the last worship set of the weekend, I was up there worshiping and I saw this girl who kept looking at me. After a while she started swaying like me and moving like me until before long, she was in her own world with the Lord! How amazing that one small example helped her go into her own place with the Lord. God is so incredible, He showed me His beauty through worship and His people. 

God Just Wants to Have Fun

This weekend I had my third Fasting LTE here at the Honor Academy. Fasting LTE's are one of my favorite events that we do here at the HA but this one was so different from the last two that I had. Our Fasting LTE lasts three days (Thurs-Sun morning). I went into this LTE just excited to have three days alone with God, to spend uninterrupted time with Him. The first two days were fine, I spent time in the Word which was great, I dealt with a situation that I had gotten myself into. When Saturday came around I really felt the Lord just calling out my name to be with Him. I start Saturday my taking a walk to the back 40, the back 40 is our wooded area that we have. Our campus in Garden Valley, Texas is over 300 acres and a good chunk of that is woods. I went out there to get a notebook that I had left the day before and ended up going on a fun adventure with the Lord.

I was almost to the spot where I had left my notebook and I came across three dogs, which here on campus is a big deal. Dogs and babies are a HUGE excitement to intern! I found my notebook and decided to keep going on where I made it to a spot that we call Jeep Swallow. It's a small "pond" only much smaller. I had crossed through Jeep Swallow several times so decided I would simply cross over again instead of going around. I was wearing flip flops and took two steps in and my feet sunk past my ankles. My entire body almost fell into the water but I caught myself when my arms hit the bottom of the pond. With my notebook now ruined and my purse soaked I stepped back out but my shoes were stuck in the mud. I had no choice but to step out without them. As I looked at my soaked notebook and muddy feet all I could do was laugh. I decided ok God let's have more fun and have an adventure. I tracked through the rest of the back forty bare foot and loving it. I was laughing, smiling and full of joy. God loves to have fun with us. My simple walk with God turned into a fun adventure.

New Beginnings

Last night, I made a commitment for the second time to the Honor Academy and Teen Mania Ministries.  I committed to spend the next year as a Management Associate and to be a godly impact to everyone withing my sphere of influence.  Here goes nothing!  I have three major groups of people who are in my sphere of influence, the first is my team.  I have moved from my Honor Academy Call Center position to a supervisor position in the Intern Relations department.  With that, I have a team of three people that I will be leading.  Our job is to assist and help interns with their needs, for example finances.  I was so excited to take on this role because I absolutely LOVE interns, God has given me a huge heart for them so I am pumped about this position.  I have an incredible team who have impressed me so much in their abilities to work as well as their willingness to follow.  As the new girl on the block, they have done an amazing job submitting to my leadership.  I am most definitely blessed with my team and with my leadership!