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.
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