2013 River
Church New Orleans Testimonies
updated 7/7/13
Debby
Reeb. To look into the eyes
of hurting, needy, and sometimes angry children can break your heart. Some have lost parents, siblings,
security and self-esteem, due to their difficult circumstances and
environment. Eagles Wings Ministry
is a safe haven for those children, where they find the unconditional love of
Jesus.
Listening to Hy & Libba (Directors of LAMB Ministry) and
seeing their passion for this ministry is so inspiring. They have such tremendous love and
concern for the children of Eagle’s Wings. At the end of the week I spoke with Libba, who stated,
“We just won’t stop”. After
spending the week working with kids, worshiping, and ministering to them, I
can understand why it’s so hard to stop.
All of the children touched my heart in one way or another,
especially Kavon and Danesia, whom I bonded with most. Before the last day was over, I was
given an incredible gift from Danesia.
She wrote and sang a song that was just for me. As I was crying, she grabbed my face
and said, “Miss Debby, don’t cry” and wiped my tears from my face. I told her those were happy tears,
because no one had ever given me a gift so special. Wow!! That will be
forever embedded in my heart. What
a special child – God’s child she is.
Kavon – big beautiful eyes and great big dimples and what
love he gave. My heart was so full
of love, yet breaking because I knew we’d be saying goodbye soon.
Before leaving, I encouraged Kavan to stay close to the
Lord, keep coming back to Eagle’s Wings and make wise choices when it comes to
friendship.
I don’t quite know how to sum this whole New Orleans Mission
Trip – but to say – I will never quite be the same. It was an honor to have served with such dedicated servants
of Christ, who showed the love of Jesus.
Praise God for this experience!! What a Gift!
I’ve been blessed by this.
John
Mayer. It is difficult to
condense what happened this week.
A highly power packed spiritual journey unmatched by few other Christian
experiences I have had in my life.
Team: It was
wonderful to work with and bond with the special blend of 11 individuals on
this trip. In comparing this team
with others, the theme and highlights would be the unconditional love of Christ
radiating through each and every member, wherever we went to serve. At Eagle Street the children bonded
quickly and through the course of the week so may connections were made that
there were many tears leaving these kids.
They were held and hugged and blessed though each member. Knowing their background and needs made
our mission even more urgent as there was so much violence in the neighborhood
this year.
Of course, working with spiritual mentor giants like Hy and
Libba is highly transformational.
I personally was stretched and taught by the Holy Spirit
this week. I sensed the power from
all the prayers as we saw and ministered to so much pain, sadness and
suffering.
The prayer support empowered us to work easier and
more effectively. The praise and worship bands brought a new understanding of
how important music is to the culture of New Orleans as well as calling on the
Heavenly realm to connect it to the earth.
We witnessed God’s angels protecting us and sensed His
presence every day. My faith and
hope in God’s power to restore and heal has been brought to new
heights.
Wes Slawson is a fantastic guide for leading a mission of
love. A must experience for any
Christian at any stage of their journey.
Sam
Gerken. Prayer is a
wonderful thing! I have always
known prayer was important but I have never seen God use it in so many powerful
ways.
Our first day of ministry at Eagle Street was the first time
I saw this on the trip. There was
a one year old baby that I felt drawn to. As I held the baby, I could feel he was tired. It was very loud in the main room so we went into a side
room. I could hear the chaos
occurring outside my room and I felt I should pray. I specifically prayed for patience for all the leaders
working with the kids. I just kept
asking God to give them patience because I knew they really needed extra help from God. Later that night, John had said he had
so much patience and he didn’t know where it came from. He said looking back on the difficulties, he would have
normally lost it and would have yelled.
It showed me that God will answer prayers in many ways we cannot
imagine.
This week, I prayed more than I ever do. It gave me so much joy and peace while
I was constantly talking to God. I
want this to continue forever.
Morgan
Walker. This has been my
fourth mission trip to New Orleans.
God has used me differently on every single one. This week I really connected with some
of the nine and ten year old boys.
I have known them for three years now and so I have seen them grow up a
little bit. In their neighborhood,
shootings have been recently common and so are gangs. In these boys I see two sides. One is the thug act that they put on to try to seem tough to
everyone around them so no one will mess with them. And the other side is their true personality, the children they
really are. These boys can go from
making jokes to threatening to kill someone, to swearing, to sitting in your lap
with a thumb in their mouth - all in a single minute. And they need love.
They need to have Christ’s love poured into them so they can have the
strength to love like Jesus does.
They need to see the gospel lived out so they can believe that God has a
wonderful plan for their lives. I
can’t help but love these boys and all the kids. It breaks my heart to think of what could happen to them if
they are not shown that love on a continual basis. As missionaries we have the chance to impact lives for
Christ. So I encourage you to go
on a mission trip. It will change
you, it will break your heart and the rest of the world will be better off
because of it.
Myra
Burns. Somebody somewhere
needs you – Those words ring true, God called me to go to New Orleans. Not sure of what I would find, what I
would do…. Feeding many hungry, homeless people will change you forever. Handing out water on a hot day was an
important task, however small it may have seemed. And it was more than just giving them water. A smile, a “hello” just for one person,
and waiting for their answer when you ask, “How are you?” and holding even a
short conversation. It shows you
care, when maybe they think no one does.
Telling children about God and His love for them, to see
their eyes light up when the words “I love you” sink in – who knows if they
ever hear that? Does anyone take
them to their lap to hold them tight? Whisper words of God’s love to them? It brings peace to them, even if for a
short moment. Perhaps they can
hold onto that.
If you open up your heart, God has a plan for you. It is a
wonderful plan, and if you follow along, your life will be so rich and full of
joy. You will truly be amazed!
Cheryl
Bradley. I thought I had an
idea of what I was doing on this mission trip since this was my second
one. God had made it clear that I
had to come here and work with the beautiful children. I had previous mission experience and a
course of action. I was ready to
go! I had prayed profusely for
patience and understanding before leaving and off I went.
Working with these children was truly a blessing. God showed me that He, in fact, had most
definitely given me the patience for this as I was scared of being frustrated
with the amount of busyness. My heart, swelled with love for these children,
broke with theirs. Never once was
I frustrated or impatient with them.
Working at Eagle’s Wings brought a new perspective to what
Hy and Libba do everyday. They can
use all the help the Lord provides.
So, I ask you, will you follow the promptings to serve Him in this
capacity? To see the power of
answered prayers on this trip was amazing. Hope that lots of people decide to follow His lead.
Nichole
Champeny. When I was called
to New Orleans, I figured I would be doing more medical stuff, I am a nurse
after all.. But right before
coming down, the medical outreach ministry opportunity (Project Lazarus) was
taken out of the equation for me.
The last meeting before going down we spoke with Hy and Libba via
Skype. They mentioned a woman in
their ministry that was having some problems. Right then, God let me know she would be my main
assignment. I met with her and
realized quickly why she was my focus.
Her past and present circumstances were something I was well acquainted
with. I understood her pain and
suffering and due to my own past and gifts that God designed me with, I was
able to help free her from her current situation (by allowing God to work
through me.) Then after I had
ministered to Susan, God had
another purpose for me for the rest of the trip. A purpose I was never aware of or would have ever picked for
myself. He directed me to be the
intercessor for this trip, the prayer warrior. At first, I was disheartened, I like to work directly with
people, but as the week went on I was filled with a joy and peace and strength
I had never had before. This role
was fulfilling and ended up being a role that was needed during this mission
trip. I can only thank God for
utilizing me as a vessel and am so honored He invited me to experience His
wonderous power.
Chris
Slawson. July 4th,
What an awesome day at Feed the Multitudes! I saw the Lord working in a mighty way and had a profound
spiritual experience. I met two
ladies from Victory Fellowship Church (they’ve hosted this event for 24 years!)
Bremmi and June, who had a deep connection with Christ and were so in tune with
the Holy Spirit. Together we
prayed with and over a very large number of people who were hurting and needed
to be uplifted and encouraged. The
Spirit worked through us in a gentle and passionate way, bringing peace and
restoration to God’s children. Know
that we all are God’s children and His Spirit wishes to restore you too!
Kierra
Krause. I met a boy that
changed my life, one thing I learned was to never give up on anyone, because
God would never give up on you.
One person I did not give up on was Randy. I met Randy at VBS and that boy has so much potential. Having issues we seemed to work out.
When I first met him, he would call himself “stupid” and
say, “No, I can’t do anything right.”
Right away I just stuck by his side, showed him love. He promised he wouldn’t call himself
names. But a little while later, a
few boys started picking on him, and he started calling himself “stupid” again. Once again, I stayed with him and he
asked me why. I said because God
wanted me to be in his life. His
cousin came over and apologized to Randy.
They made up and went off to play.
He even told me he saw God above the clouds throwing a ball. Knowing that he’s talking about God
more makes me feel accomplished.
His last words we had together were, “Bye. I love you!”
You never know who’s life you’ll impact, but take a shot and go on a
mission trip.
Cole
Bechman. I first thought
New Orleans would be way different than I dreamed. I was wrong! This has been such an experience for
me, learning how God shows His love in so many different ways! Also, my mission team family they have
been so loving and nice.
I will definitely be coming next year and no doubt everyone
else should come too! It’s a great
time to get closer to the Lord and learn His ways or plans He has for us! I met so many new and nice people and
learned to love them! Bless God
and bless every one.
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