Thursday, March 25, 2010

Generation Rising- 2010 SWAT Choir Tour




"I will sing of the Lord's great love forever; with my mouth I will make Your faithfulness known through all generations." Psalm 89:1


It's hard to believe we've almost been back from the 2010 Choir Tour to New Orleans for a week. We took a total of 109 people- 85 teens and 24 adults. It was such a blessing for me to watch God work in the lives of each of these kids and have Him work in my life. The kids performed a total of 9 concerts. The final concert being the Homecoming concert at Whitesburg on Sunday night. We participated in every kind of mission project you can imagine. The concert at the correctional facility I would say goes down as the most interesting. We did quite a bit of prayer walking, cleaning, and other random work projects. We picked up trash in Covington, LA. I got to go with the senior girls to help at a crisis pregnancy center too.


We had bus issues as well. It started with a cracked bus window on Saturday on our way to the camp in MS. Then on our way to the 2nd church on Sunday, I was very, very asleep and felt a thud. I opened my eyes to Matt turned around in his seat looking at me with his eyes VERY wide then we smelled this wretched burning smell. We had blown a tire. If that wasn't enough, Monday on the way to the correctional facility, the other bus got stuck pretty deep in some mud. Never a lack of 'adventure'.



I had a great evening devotional group. Maybe I should rephrase that. I had a "SPIFFY" group. I was paired up with our music minister, Martin, and we had 9 of the kids plus our team mascot- Gnomey. Each of the kids had such different personalities, but they all flowed together so well. I want the same group every year!

We read the book "Forgotten God" by Frances Chan. We learned about the Holy Spirit. It was such an amazing book. So often, we squelch what the Holy Spirit is doing. During the Wednesday night service, we saw the Holy Spirit move in an amazing way. God is so good!

We spent our "fun" day in New Orleans. We started on a 2 hour swamp tour, where I found myself holding a baby alligator. EW!!! Then we headed to Jackson Square for the big group picture and for lunch. The kids were given the option to tour St. Louis cathedral, get beignets at Cafe Du Monde or shop for souveniers. Matt and I were considered the "old people" as we chose to lead the group going to tour the cathedral. It was GORGEOUS! The next tour was of Mardi Gras World, which is where the floats are made for the Mardi Gras parade. It was a crafty person's dream come true. Holy Cow!!! It was so, so, so amazing! Such intricate detail! Papa Waller (our bus driver) took us to the 9th ward to see some of the damage. It was very sombering. Our last tour was of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Such a beautiful campus! The staff was super friendly. We even got to see the piano Jesus Loves Me and Just as I Am were written on.

I was completely exhausted by the time we got back. However, I found myself missing the kids a great deal. I really enjoy them. I can't wait for next year's choir tour/mission trip.