nola - samaritan's purse - friends

during my week of work for samaritan's purse, i had the chance of meeting people and making friends.  it was really nice to work alongside people from various backgrounds and church denominations with a united purpose of helping people - desiring to be the hands and feet of christ to people in need.  besides working side by side and sleeping snore by snore, we ate together, had devotions together and had a little bit of time for hanging out together too.

group from new jersey

group from illinois

group from ohio/pennsylvania

i was the only one that week who had come by myself.   thus i was dubbed by some as 'the army of one.'   however, i didn't feel very singled out because the other groups were quite welcoming.   in fact, one night the folks from ohio and pennsylvania invited me out to dinner with their group at mulates in the french quarter.

there we had delicious foods and live music to dance to.   myself and sara from our group got out on the floor but didn't really have a clue what we were doing.  but we were just having fun.

meanwhile there were these sweet older couples who were really tearing up the dance floor with their waltz and jitterbug moves.

my friend laura had texted me about what to get from the menu, but also mentioned about the cajun dancing - recommending to "get some sweet old lady to teach you."   well, there was my chance; so i went up to the ones i saw dancing and asked if they could show me some steps.   anne obliged and taught me some of the basics off to the side so that when the music started up again we could use the moves on the floor.  sure enough, before the night was out, there i was dancing with anne.

i did my best to remember what she showed me and she was so patient with me for the whole song.  what a sweetie!  : )   thanks anne - your the best!

on another night we went to cafe du monde

there we ordered beignets

and cafe au lait

it was delicious

and fun

tommy, lisa, angel and i were happy.

we looked in the back window where they make the beignets.

we also went in some nearby shops

and walked around.

back at the church i had conversations with people, played frisbee and basket ball in the gym with some of the guys, explored parts of the huge church, and played uno in the back room with these characters  : )

i'm thankful for the people i got to meet, and it would be nice to see them again if i pass through their home towns in nj, pa, oh, and il in the spring and summer.