I am writing to you today to tell you about my trip to Dallas. When we went to Dallas there were 17 kids and 5 adults. The boys were in one van and the girls were in another one. It was 6 hours before we made it to Dallas where everything is BIG!!

Mr. Loren told me that it was just going to be about 7 kids going. Come to find out when he came to pick me up they had almost all of them in there. When we made it to Dallas they said that we were just going to down town Dallas to walk around. When we went to Six Flags we asked “what are we doing here?”, he said that we are coming to PLAY!! First we ate lunch and then went to the park. When I got in I almost rode every ride. We got on a ride that was so fun that we rode it about 5 times. At the end of the first day we got on a ride that looked ok but it was not. It was the TEACUPS!! When DD, Ty, Kaylan, and I got off it we all were sick! After all of that was that was over Loren told us to get together to take a family picture.

That night we all went to the gym to play b-ball and take a shower. When we got to the church it was so big that it was about 2 blocks long. After that it was time to hit the hay. The next day Loren told us that we were going to a play were you get wet. We went to Six Flags waterpark. Over there I went on every ride. The wave pool was so much fun. The waves were about 8 feet tall. We were there for about 5 hours playing all day. Mr. Johnny, Matt, and Keanu were on the biggest ride there, the Sky Coaster. My favorite ride was the Black Hole. When we got back to the car we were ready to eat. We got back to church and went to the showers. After that we played Hide and Seek. The next morning we went to church with the people out there. Their church was the bomb. After church we went get all of the thing and came back home.

Some things I learned on the trip were no matter how far you go in life God can always turn you around. What I mean about that is that me and DD get into a fight and look we was together the whole trip. I also learned that no matter how mean you are to somebody you should always love that person. What I mean by that is no matter how I am to my sister are anybody I should love them because that is what the Lord would want me to do.

So that was
the trip to Dallas where
everything is BIG!!

I arrived here in Opelousas on May 15 and hit the ground running. My first week with HFO was the last week of school for the students. I was excited to make it in time to watch several of our students graduate from the 6th grade. The teachers did a great job putting together the ceremony. And one of our students Ariel emceed the event. She was name the Historian of the graduating class. Some of our other students were honored with various awards. Tavian and Trevon were recognized for the Social Studies project on Tyler Perry. Their project won first place in Parish and 3rd place in the district. Loren was even recognized for volunteering with the class trip to New Orleans. It was exciting to see the support the school has for HFO and visa versa. The relationships that are beginning to be built between the schools and HFO will only continue to grow each year as God continues to build up the community on The Hill.

Later that day we had our end of the year pool party. All of our kids and a few of our volunteers gathered at one of our volunteer’s house to swim and grill out. We had a blast swimming, eating, and enjoying each others’ company. At the end of the evening we awarded the kids with awards which we thought they were deserving of based on the year of tutoring. They were humorous awards and the kids had fun trying to guess who was going to receive each award. We had everything from the “Miss Boss” award, which of course went to the one and only Tyriana Joseph to the most “Most Dramatic Receiver” which went to Isaiah Charles. Thanks to Ms. Cecette Bassett for opening her pool to us and providing some amazing food as usual.

-Kristina

We at Hope for Opelousas have much to be thankful for as we look back on our beginning year of 2008.  God called us to love our city with His Love and He promised He would be there with us and in us to do the loving.  It is now early December and as we look back, we see that He in fact was faithful to fulfill that promise.  Let’s recall how He was our Big Loving Father during HFO’s first year:

• Loren Carriere became HFO’s first Managing Director.
• Bryan College of Tennessee and Northwestern College of Iowa were our first two college groups to utitlize what we call HFO Immersion Experiences.
• We were officially incorporated and approved for 501c-3 status.
• Our first board of directors was formed and first board meeting held in February.
• Our first 2 college interns served during the summer.
• We purchased a van and our house on Madison St.
• We held our first summer camp for the kids on The Hill.
• God sent the first group of tutor volunteers and has kept sending more.
• We began our afternoon tutoring program in August.
• The children have enjoyed several field trips.
• We have met many great neighbors in The Hill and Opelousas has come to know about Hope for Opelousas even through newspaper articles.
• We have sponsored and continue to support a neighbor who is now at Home of Grace, a Christian Rehab Center located in south Mississippi.
• We have been blessed by numerous generous donors who gave time, resources, money, but most of all, love.

Yes, we have much to thankful for as we look back.  But, to our surprise most of the times, we got to see our Loving Father be Big as we sensed our smallness and inability to get HFO off the ground, and even love our neighbors.  Thanks to all of you who have joined us on this journey, you know who you are.  Thank You Father, Son, and Holy Spirit !!

This picture was taken during our mission week last spring. As we worked with the kids in the Hill each afternoon we could see the adults in the area observing curiously. I’m sure it must have been a sight to see from their point of view. Thirty white people asking for permission to play with their kids and continuing to come day after day. We not only played with the kids but had the opportunity of meeting neighbors and people that were warm and welcoming that were genuinely moved by our efforts. The majority of white people in our town would tell you that if a white person when into the Hill they would be lucky to make it out alive! Well we didn’t just make it out alive physically we left feeling more alive than words could describe. Bringing ourselves and the love of Christ, we experienced a response that broke down stereotypes in our hearts and I’m certain in the hearts of those we encountered. The last day of our work in the Hill all of the neighbors got together and cooked a meal for our workers from Northwestern college. Now in Louisiana that is the truest display of acceptance and gratitude.

This was a picture of one of our college leaders Derrick, and “Bull” from the Hill, working together to get a ball off of this trailer for the kids. A simple picture but to me a picture of progress!

loren

Hope For Opelousas held a summer day-camp during the week of July 28th, 2008 for 16 youth from our city.  The kids had opportunities to learn and sing some new songs, hear stories from the Bible, play games, do some crafts, go swimming, and even travel to Clark Creek Natural Area for some hiking and playing in the waterfalls.  Check out the photo gallery for pictures.