The youth group spent the past week in New Orleans cleaning up from Hurricane Katrina. Mike and Susan Luka rented a van and took 15 teens and a bunch of tools. Susan says:

Everybody!
 Michael and I are back from New Orleans! We got back Saturday around 7PM.
Thank you to all those who were praying for us. We could feel those prayers and we had each request answered by God! He gave us safe travel there and back. God gave us safe travel while we were there. The Lord kept us drivers sane and focused! The Lord worked on all our hearts and did a lot of transforming! The trip was truly amazing.
I encourage all of you to try to make it down there just once in the next 6 years. There is so much work to be done. We went through an organization called CrossRoad Missions. All they ask is $100 per person coming. Which is amazing, because that is your meals, lodging, tools for work! You just have to provide transportation to and from sites for you people! I recommend them. For now, they are gutting houses, but soon they will also have a rebuilding division where people can come and rebuild someone’s home.
I went in, wishing we could have gone Mississippi instead. In fact, both need us. However, I am glad God opened up New Orleans for us because it dispersed a lot of my prejudices against them. They are just people there too. They are known for many bad things, but they are people just like the rest of us who have gone through a disaster. Many still have no power. Where we stayed we had no AC, just a generator that was able to run AC window units and a fan. Across the street many bigger businesses had power, but our side of the street had none, unless you had a generator.
The homeowners were wonderful and brought so much clarity to our lives! We were able to gut 3 houses that week. Our group came in second out of all the groups that have been there. The only other group that had the highest amount of gutted houses in a week was 5 houses. We did really well and our team (us and another church) really got to see the power of Christ work in us in very rough situations! We had to wear long sleeves and jeans and shoes. We had to wear the respirator that takes up practically your entire face. All this had to be done in 102 weather and 80-90%humidity. In all that, we sweated like pigs, but were able to see what the power of God can do do through earthen vessels! It was a marvel to watch!
We hated leaving. We wanted to just keep gutting houses and work with those precious homeowners! Know this above all. God was glorified and God has a plan for the people of New Orleans. "What was meant for evil, God will mean for Good"! I trust that. There is a lot of good being done there. Don’t give up on them just because of what they are known for. Instead pray for revival and hope to be brought there! God will hear and answer!
We love you all and can’t thank you enough for your prayers. To those who supported a teen going financially, thank you from the bottom of our hearts! Your financial gift brought blessings into a life of a teen that you can never imagine that it would bring! Thank you to all of you. We love you and we look forward to going back next summer!
Love you all!

NChrist, Susan