Touching the Heart!

Well, we have made it to the end of our trip and are about ready to start packing to head home! Our week here has been extremely influential and will have an everlasting impression on us all. Today was more of a wind down day. We went to the Mardi Gras Museum this morning along with the Aquarium. This afternoon we went on a Riverboat ride and enjoyed the sun in New Orleans on a different level. For the past week we have been working in the sun, which means after we are done working we try to stay out of it. But not today, we were able to relax on the Mississippi River while getting some rays. Yesterday was our last work day. My group (Kip, Jenna, Sara, Cindy, Alex, and I) have been basically doing finishing touches on both of our houses this week. Things like painting, a little bit of sheet rocking and mudding, and some cleaning. Unfortunately we were unable to meet the families that will be living in our houses. All we were able to find out was that one of the families are living in Georgia and they don't have any information on the other family. As most of you have read we were able to meet Thomas from our first house who made an imprint on our hearts and we know we will never forget. Even though we were to meet him we felt a little discouraged that we hadn't met either of the families that would be living in the houses we worked on for the last 4 days. However, yesterday Jenna and I were painting the outside of one of the houses with the radio blasting. We saw this lady walking up to us looking as if she was limping. She yelled from the street, "Do you live here?" We both stated, "no we are just working on this house". Then she yelled "where are you from?" Since we had the radio blasting we were unable to hear her so we quickly got off our ladders and went down to the road next to her. We stated that we were from South Dakota here with a church mission group. Her name was Joanna and she was had a back brace around her waste and like I said she was limping. Instantly Joanna started crying asking us if we do any other work besides painting. We said of course, we work on housed from start to finish. She then went on to explain that her house had to be demolished after the storm. She was able to get the frame work up and then had someone come in and do the electricity. The electric man/woman she had come stole all of her money and left her with nothing. Then she had someone come in and do her plumbing, which she later found out was all done wrong and to fix it would be around $3000. Jenna and I stood there helplessly listening to this woman of such faith. Alex entered the conversation and we were able to call our leader, Len, and tell him about her. Len said to give her People's Mission's number and to contact them to get come help. After we gave her the number and a flyer she continued to thank us and tell us how much it would mean to her to get someone like us to help her out. Jenna then told her to spread the work about People's because they want to help as many people as they can and she stated that she new MANY people who still need help. As she was leaving we all hugged her and teared up also. I told her to keep praying and keep her faith and she said that's all she does everyday is pray and thank the Lord for what she does have and that is the only way she makes it through the days. Then she ended by saying your hugs are enough to get me through this day, you have given me hope. This is a huge eye opener for us. As discouraged as we were for not getting to meet our family, Joanna had made our work all the worth while. Our hearts grieved for this woman of such profound faith. We feel as a team even though we were unable to build her house, we may have been the best help she has received because now she will be able to get a hold of People's and have her house built. Speaking on behalf of all my team, we just want to thank all of you for your prayers and unconditional love for us. We could not have done it without all of you. Please keep Joanna in your thoughts and prayers as you go on with your evening.
Good night, God Bless, and we love all of you very much!!
Kayla Wingen