this morning we worshiped with the congregation at mount olivet episcopal church in the algiers community of new orleans parish. it's a gentrifying community with some really cute houses and a great feel as one walks the streets. the church was a small congregation, but they fed us like they were a large catering group. shrimp & pasta or chicken & pasta with a desert table that easily filled what was left over space in one's stomach.
the afternoon we were swamp bound. drove across one of the bridges and stopped at a swamp tour place. got to see some cool scenery that was kinda crazy in the same breath. caught a look at a number of alligators, turtles, fish, birds, and two raccoons. probably the best story from this little excursion was when they allowed us to feed some of the gators with this stick and wire contraption. the guide guy asked who would wrestle with it and so michael jumped at the chance. he had a chunk of chicken on the stick and the gator maneuvered and bit the chicken.. michael held on and the gator spun around a bit and then hit his head against the boat and then swam away with his food. this was the "ooooh" moment, as in "oh, that must have hurt." gator came back for more, so it must not have been that bad. the "awww" moment was seeing the raccoon.. not sure why the raccoon looked so cute, but it did.. plus everyone seemed amazed that it had opposable thumbs and could eat what we threw at him.
the big part of today wasn't planned though. a group of the guys and girls wanted to play some basketball outside, but the courts at the school next door and locked up and protected so that no one gets hurt on them and then sues for money they system doesn't have. so our crew walked a few blocks away to plan on some street-ball courts. as the scene progressed we had a hendersonville / new orleans pick-up game going with jr. highers and some young adults from the neighborhood playing our folks. everyone came back sweaty and the locals were wondering what time tomorrow we will be back. it's our first part of not being a fix-it group and really being missional in immersing into the culture we seek to be Christ like among.
we've started a flickr set to view more pictures. more to come for sure
