After our half day of fun, food and finding our way around New Orleans, it was back to work and serving.
Our team was back at First Pilgrim in the upper ninth ward. We were the envy of all the mission teams because on this day we got to accompany the children and teachers to the New Orleans Zoo. Yes, we were really suffering for the cause of Christ. After cleaning the kitchen from their breakfast, we busied ourselves with making badges for all the children to help identify their group if they were lost. The budget constraints on what First Pilgrim was able to do was noticed in the making of the badges. We salvaged the plastic place card holders and pins from previous trips and made new ones for those badges who hadn't survived the previous First Pilgrim campers. Mrs. Juluke, the camp director, talked to us about the limited funds and how they made the most of what they had and that God made up the difference. First Pilgrim was able to do the summer camp, feeding the kids two meals a day, plus pay a small salary to the teachers, helpers and maintenance staff. Pamela and I were amazed that all this was provided for $65/child for the entire summer!
After lunch we cleaned the kitchen again, and then began boarding the buses to head to the zoo. Our team was pretty excited. Pamela and I had volunteered to watch one kid who had been misbehaving. His name was Alton. Mrs. Juluke was not going to allow him to go on the trip unless a family member attended with him. Hearing the news, he hanged his head. He knew it wasn't likely that he would be able to go with that particular requirement. Having a Messiah complex, I threw myself on the grenade and stepped up volunteering to Mrs. Juluke to watch after Alton. The wise, old sage tilted her head down, peered over her thin rimmed glasses, drew a sly smile across her face and said in a tone that surmised the failure of the future well in advance, "Alright by me."
In addition to Alton, we inherited eight other similar "problem children" that otherwise would not have been able to attend. We loaded the buses and with glee headed to our envied mission field. After arriving, filing through the front gate, and checking in we were on our own. It was like herding cats! Those boys were climbing every fence, running in every direction, screaming, crying, fighting each other, and complaining about every aspect of what were doing. They wanted to go see this animal, or that animal, then while seeing said animal they complained that they weren't seeing another animal. At one point I noticed all the animals lining up to watch us! Our crew counted down the minutes to 2:30 when we'd be loading the buses again. I can't honestly remember if the New Orleans Zoo actually contained any animals! But thankfully we lost no one, and Alton and all the misfit toys got to enjoy the zoo.
Never had I been so eager to get back on a bus in all my life, but truthfully though they were rowdy, we had the time of our life with those children. They were great fun!
The heat of the New Orleans Zoo never made a cold shower and nap seem so great. We had a fun, exhausting Thursday on mission. Never would I have imagined our mission trip taking such turns as wrangling a bunch of boys through the zoo that needed some time and attention from someone who loved them. We were thankful to Christ for the time spent with these wonderful little guys.
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