Our Thanksgiving feast for our friends under the bridges & on the streets of New Orleans was amazing! We had 109 volunteers that brought incredible food and we served 126 of our friends. We had a great time praying & visiting with them during this special day. They were all so grateful for us sharing this time and food with them. We also passed out 82 hygiene backpacks & some warm clothes.
I also want to share a testimony of how God works everything out for the good to those who love him & are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). We have a beautiful Vietnamese volunteer named Linda who serves with a group at our outreaches. While we were setting up the tables & food at the beginning, she dropped her wallet. Before anyone could pick it up for her, a guy picked it up and took off on his bike before anyone could stop him. A few hours later after the outreach, Linda texted me to apologize for leaving the outreach & not serving. I told her that was totally understandable & I also told her that I was praying her wallet would come back to her. I prayed that prayer each day. Three days later, my friend called me & said "you are not going to believe this! My husband just found Linda's wallet in the back of his pickup truck!" THIS WAS ALL GOD!! His pickup truck was parked across the street in a parking lot with other vehicles. What are the chances of this guy running off with the wallet & throwing it into one of the only vehicles that would have gotten it back to us. BUT GOD..... My friend mailed Linda's wallet back to her & we found out that the only thing missing was some cash she had in there. Everything else was still there. Praise God!!!
We want to thank everyone that participated in this incredible outreach. We had such an abundance of Thanksgiving food that we had enough leftovers for the volunteers to eat! We also were able to take some to the Ozanam Inn in New Orleans, which is a homeless shelter for men, and also to both Oxford Houses in Hammond (transitional housing for men & women). What a blessing this outreach was - it was truly a day full of Thanksgiving & blessings & a reminder that we are to be thankful EVERY day!
