Community on the 4th

11:30am-woke up. It was the first real sleep in day I've had in almost 2 months and it was July 4th. The day that fills me with so much conflicting emotions. I love living in the US and I know there is a lot of need here, but there is something about patriotism and nationalism that does not sit well with me. Yes, I know that is something I should work on...it would be good to be patriotic at least on the fourth. That's the mentality that I started my holiday with. For the first time in forever I was massively missing home and everyone was all busy doing their own patriotic festivities. I was not ready for an adventurous day, I was just wanting to sit home, drink coffee, and read all day.

Nevertheless, my team wanted to dress patriotic and go adventuring around town. For the sake of community I joined their festivities but, I was not that happy about it if we are being completely honest. Despite my disappointment that was the best decision that I could have made. 

After exploring the city we ended up at the French Quarter--which is so different to be at without students all around us. As we were walking along the Mississippi River we started hearing someone preaching the gospel. I immediately was turned off by what I was hearing because I am not a fan of that form of evangelism; luckily my team does a great job at keeping my attitude in check and reminding me that there are other great forms of evangelism than what I prefer. They had the idea of going up and listening to the message. We learned this group was called R.A.V.I.N. and that they had a church on Bourbin street which is exactly the kind of place that would need Christians at it. We got to talk with two of their members--Chloe and PT--which allowed us get to know more about their ministry and to pray with them. Because of my team I was able to get to know fellow Christians instead of judging their megaphone evangelism methods. They're still people, still need love, and are striving to build God's kingdom like I am.  

After this grand adventure we met up with one of the Episcopal youth groups from our previous week. We watched the fireworks and just hung out and spent time getting to know them. I learned so much about the teens, the Episcopal church, and youth ministry in general. It felt so humanizing to hang out with this group outside of work and get to know them all. It was exactly what I needed. They provided the community that I was yearning for on this 4th of July. 

After 2 hours of walking around the French Quarter and conversing with this amazing group, we departed from them to get Froyo and get to know each other more. As we walked down Canal street, around midnight, we took a journey down memory lane to our high school years. We grew closer as a team in the late hours of the night. My day of boredom was redeemed by community. Community is what we're made for.