Invitation

Hello All Stockholders/ Investors,

This is the unofficial invitation for the Slideshow and Dinner at the Cathedral Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. (official invitations will be going in the mail tonight or tomorrow morning so watch your mail box)

We will be presenting a slide show on August 16, 2009. Dinner and the show will start at 6 p.m.

If you cannot make it please contact Kim at 484-388-1173 or email her at kimberly.rowles@gmail.com.

If you need directions please use googlemaps or mapquest for

321 Wyandotte St

Bethlehem PA 18015

Thank you again for all your support and love,

God Bless,

Kim

Prayers of the Posses

This week every night during compline each of the posses were asked to lead intercessions on Wednesday night while we were anxiously awaiting news for Marirose's return, Jim's posse lead the prayers. They asked us to reflect on our Thanksgivings for the week thus far these were the groups reflections:

Mike - appreciates where we live and what we have

Will - Gained sense of accomplishment and the greatness of what we're doing

Sebastian - sense of accomplishment

Rebekah - Building stronger bonds

Annika - Thankfulness of the people of New Orleans

Amanda - Thankfulness and hopefullness

Matt - Realised the amount of damage

Kyndra- A greater understanding of the problem

Jim - It puts everything in perspective

Kayla - Strong house is great, thankfully

Taylor - greater sense of community

Cal - Talked to couples who experienced Katrina first hand

Corey- Air conditioning

Jensen - still so much to be done

Katie K- appreciates Dad for his yard work

Isaac - appreciates team work

Bobby- how far small a gesture can go

Zowie- making a difference

Emily- thankful for the reality of being here

Katie G - How much it means to help

Kim - a greater respect for God, we have so many talents to offer the world.

We also had nights where we created a prayer chain, handed out popsicles because we were so cool, handed out glow in the dark bracelets because we are the light of the world, and double bubble because .... well because Kim had bubble gum.

Thanks and God Bless, this has been an amazing week.

Hier & Aujourd'hui

Well,

Hier: (Yesterday)

After a late start, we continued sheetrocking and cleaning at the house. We picked up all of the debris surrounding the house, and nearly finished all of the celings. As the end of our last working day approached, we cleaned up the rooms and waited for Liz to come and debrief the team. We then returned to the house to finish packing our belongings to move to the Hampton Inn down the street. After a round of refreshing showers, we piled in the vans and ate at The Dragon Cafe soup kitchen, where we heard the Katrina stories of the homeless of New Orleans. We then assumed our new and luxurious living quarters for a good night's sleep.

Kyndra, Taylor, Zowie, Annika and Kim worked with Beacon of Hope and met Gail and Donald whose stories about New Orleans spanned generations. We helped scrape paint and prepared their car port for a new paint job. We started to paint after a few thunder showers, and left after hearing Gail's heart wrenching story about how her son was murdered in 1998 and yesterday would have been his 31 birthday. She sat and talked with us for a while after she came home from the cemetery. After witnessing to Gail we returned to the Urban Ministry Center and showered, and headed to St George's Dragon Cafe to serve the volunteers and homeless of New Orleans. We met some people with interesting and amazing stories about survival and the storm. It was a true testament to the nature of Hospitality and Christianity at it's best.

Aujourd'hui: (Today)

Today was our last full day in La Nouvelle Orleans. We drove to the scenic Lake Ponchartrain to the north of the city. We spent 2 hours searching for the elusive Lower 9th Ward, finally resting from our quest for a meal at the Round House. After another hour, we stumbled upon our coveted destination. Words simply cannot describe the destruction that we witnessed.

We returned a la hotel and prepared for an evening in the Big Easy. After some shopping, we enjoyed some traditional New Orlean soul food. Sleep time!

Tomorrow we rise before the sun (the internets won't even be turned on yet.) See y'all later.

- Bro'Gorman & Broyd

The day began at around 6:45 with breakfast. We then loaded up the vans and headed over to the construction site. There are now no more roots and stumps in the ground and the ceiling is well on its way to being complete. Bobby and Corey were kind enough to climb above the ceiling into the attic in extreme heat to begin insulating.
After the day's work we somehow got everyone in and out of the shower in only one hour. Our freshly clothed bodies were then shuttled over to St. Anna's Episcopal Church for a healing service. Later, the church invited us to dinner and we all ate Spaghetti while "jamming" to some Nawlins jazz. On our way back, Marirose had a little fight with the car roof and the car won. She is now on her way to the Emergency Room for a check up. She will soon be fine and back with the rest of us.
(Pictures to be loaded soon...check in later)

****Added by Kim **** on July 30, 2009

Marirose returned from the hospital with her fearless chaperones Brian and Ellen at about 1 am. She has a concussion, and has spent the day in bed. Ellen stayed with her and monitored her meds and her pain levels through out the day. We are very greatful that she is feeling much better now. There will be a blog entry from the youth later this evening. God bless.

Day 4 Blog by Bekah and Zowie

Well, Today our group was split up!! ;( But we were able to help more people!!! :)

So, the under-sixteen people (Taylor, Kayla, Sebastian, and Zowie) went with Father Cal to Beacon of hope. We had a little trouble getting there because, right before we left, the dishwasher regurgitated suds all over the kitchen so we had to clean it up. Then the GPS didn't work right, and we went to the wrong office. We were a little late, but we made it and that's what matters! :)

We helped finish painting a house for a really nice old couple (Who gave us cookies!!!!) We worked hard & had a great time with us and some people from New York, but the stair and railing paint WOULD NOT COME OFF so we all look like dalmatians.

Today the over-sixteen people went back to the same house as yesterday and continued to screw the sheetrock to the ceiling. We finished 2 rooms today. YAY!!!! Cory and Bobby caught a chameleon and named him JaShaad. He is now sitting in the bathroom on the guys floor. They are now acting parentlike and went to check on him when I inquired on how to spell his name. It rained today and a few people didn't want to come out of the rain for the simple fact that it felt nice.(Matt, Kayla, Jensen, and Katie, Marirose, Ellen, and Annika too!!!) they add as I ask. Tomorrow we get to put in insulation I am so excited!!! When we got home today there was a mad rush for the girls shower but thankfully no one got hurt! Well more to follow tomorrow!! DINNER!!!

Rebekah and Zowie <3

working hard...or hardly working?

hey homies, get it? homies?... people at home? haha alright anyways, today was our third day here and our first day of work. Despite our title, we WERE working very very hard. So it all started when we all had to wake up around 6:30 (TOO EARLY TO FUNCTION CORRECTLY) For breakfast we had some lovely gourmet CEREAL. Then we headed off to work. We arrived around 8ish at the warehouse where we met our leaders for the week, Hannah and Mary Bess. (and surprisingly one of the guys working with us was the music dude from a camp some of us go to called kanuga.) After being told what we have in store for us for the week ahead of us, we got back in the vans and went to the house we are fixing. on the way down to the house, it was eye opening seeing how different it is here and how many houses and families still need a lot of help. WHen we arrived at the house, we were instructed how to put sheet rock on ceilings and on walls. Next, we split into groups. The one group was outside doing yardwork (with gloves of course.. it was like a jungle out there!), and the second group was inside building ceilings. It was really really hot, but dont worry they made us drink water every hour! After a long days work, we hopped in the vans and headed back to the house. But along the way, Father Cals van got a flat tire... oh no ! But in time, they fixed it. After everybody raced to get a shower, we had a meeting with a guy from the cathedral who told us about what exactly happened with the hurricane and how THE GOVERNMENT LIES!!! After that we had yummy yummy baked potaoes with a side of salad and pasta for dinner. And now were writing this blog.TTFN. (:

~Shamanda and Shanannika

The Adventures of the Crazy Kids in New Orleans; told by Kyndra and Taylor

Today was our 2nd day in New Orleans. This morning we ate PANCAKES AND SAUSAGE (courtesy of Kim's posse, Brian, and Jim :] ). We then attended church after walking a whole 200 yards; which was very exhausting. After church we came back and disscussed the plans for the day which of course were VERY exciting. We took a trolly (STREETCAR) downtown. When we got there, 10 people headed to the aquarium where they saw a dinosaur movie at the imax. The movie began with an animated bowel movement on the big screen the dinosaur pooped. That was AMAZING. The rest of it was about some random palentology stuff. It was good. The other 15 people walked around downtown New Orleans, where it started raining. They then had lunch at Popeye's, which was out of everything except chicken nuggets. So everyone ended up with nuggets. Then they wandered around town some more, where it was STILL raining. Then they went to the aquarium. In the aquarium they saw many fish, otters, birds, and other random animals. We took many pictures of us impersonating different statues and animals (those pictures will be posted later). After going through the aquarium, they stood in line to see the imax about the wild ocean. It was in 3-D. The entire thing only showed sardines, dolphins, and diving birds, and kept repeating those 3 animals the ENTIRE TIME!!! So finally when it was over, the groups met up at the Cafe du Monde, where they all ate beignets. Across the street there were street performers who were dressed and painted in silver. We got several pictures. Then Brian's and Jim's group came back and made dinner, while people with Kim, Ellen, and Father Cal wandered around town some more. They finally came back to the amazing dinner which was PASTA, BREAD, and SALAD!!! So now we are writing the blog and waiting to have our evening prayer which will be led by Father Cal's posse. That's it. Goodnight. Nothing else to say.

Jour Un: Nous Arrivons

After convening at dawn in Bethlehem, we began our trek to New Orleans.

Our flight, including going through security, was pleasantly smooth. We arrived around 11:00 and took a shuttle to rent cars. We waited in typical New Orleans weather (high 80s and 100% humidity) for two hours while our rental was processed. (Business is a bit more laid back here.)

We somehow made it to CiCi's for a much-needed lunch (déjeuner), needless to say the crew was famished. Upon completing lunch, the caravan headed into the center of the "Big Easy", to settle into our new "digs". Somehow, the group managed to become separated with Brian taking the "scenic route." After a drive through an area still reeling from the effects of Katrina, we arrived at the Episcopal Urban Ministries office, which is (to our pleasant surprise) a comfortably large and air-conditioned maison. We settled into our rooms (the girls lugging their belongings to their top-floor residence).

A small team grocery-shopped while the rest of the group recovered from a tiring day of travel. As dinner was being prepared, a small group decided to take in the setting sun and the sounds of the city. Then we enjoyed a feast of roast chicken, baked beans, peas, corn, and potato salad. Many of us dined al fresco on the porch. After cleaning up, we gathered in the sitting room for our evening prayer.

We now look forward to soft beds and hope for cool weather tomorrow.

T Minus 5 Days

Greetings from the Interim Youth Misisoner from the Diocese of Bethlehem,

We are leaving for New Orleans in 5 days. Can you believe it?

After a year of planning, fundraising, praying and packing we are finally going to see what has been done in the two years since our first trip to NOLA in 2007.

I want to thank all our stockholders, our parents, our chaperones and our churches (clergy, staff and administration) for all you have done. This has not been an eay trip to plan with everything that has happened in the Diocese of Bethlehem in the past year.

Many thanks to Demery Bader Saye for her leadership and her endorsement of the trip in the midst of her move South. We miss her and the boys very much (oh and Scott too).

As we get on with the final leg of the planning phase please be sure to get all your paper work in, your stocks and any other information that has to come to the Diocesean House As soon as humanly possible.

If you have any questions please get in touch with me.

Yours in Christ,
Kim