Recently we had a fifth grade class from Westminster Christian Academy come serve with us for half a day.  We had nearly 20 kids and a few adults here ready to work.  That age group is so fun to work with.  They got here and they were excited about helping out.  So after a brief overview of HFO they split up into teams and started digging, hauling dirt, planting, and drilling.  That’s right we put them to work out in the hot sun.  We were building raised-bed vegetable gardens for five of our neighborhood families.  The Opelousas Lighthouse Mission had been selling seedlings that they had begun growing in their new greenhouse.  The greenhouse was built to aid in their organic garden project.  They were able to donate some leftover seedlings to us for our raised-beds.  The kids really knocked it all out in just a few hours.  By lunch time we had five newly planted gardens in our neighborhood.  These gardens will produce tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, and watermelon for the families.  Many thanks to the fifth grade class at Westminster.  We enjoyed having you on the Hill.

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!!

My name is Kristina Anderson and beginning in May I will be the newest member of the Hope For Opelousas team. My relationship with HFO started about a year ago when I embarked on mission trip with a group of students from Bryan College, the school that I currently work for. I agreed to advise the trip with little expectations and even less enthusiasm. Although, I would like to think that this attitude is not characteristic of my personality, my selfishness was definitely getting the better of me in that time in my life. Within the first couple of days there God just got hold of my attitude and began to show me the things that He wanted to accomplish in that week that we were in Opelousas. There was a great amount of work being done in the city that week, but there was even more work was being done in my heart. God was stirring up a passion in me for the city of Opelousas as well as breaking down the plans that I I had for my future.

I was born in Sioux City, IA and spent the first 18 years of my life there. I grew up in a loving and supportive home, with athletics and academics taking up most of my childhood. There was not a season of the year that both my sister and I were not in sport all the way through high school. I went to college in Northwestern College in northwest IA, not too far from home. After I finished my BA in Psychology at Northwestern I moved to Pennsylvania to pursue a MA in High Education from Geneva College. I spent two years there finishing my degree and working with a college adventure and ropes course ministry. The transition from graduate school to my first full time position was one with a lot of questions on my part and my family’s. I was offered a Resident Director position at Bryan College in Dayton, TN. I had no desire or intention of moving south. I knew I wanted to move back to the Midwest near my family, but God had a different plan for me. After much prayer and wrestling with God I decided to take this leap of faith and be open to how He wanted to use me and also what He wanted to teach me. I have served at Bryan for three years and have had the wonderful opportunity to live life with the college students and engage in a very relational ministry with them. It is a blessing on my life to have the opportunity to mentor and encourage many women in this highly developmental time in their lives.

As I have shared already, working at Bryan gave me the opportunity to advise a mission trip to Opelousas and thus begins a relationship that can only be explained by God’s hand. I was able to spend my summer interning with HFO and in that time my excitement grew for how God was moving through in Opelousas. It was clear from day one that Loren’s and my gifts and working styles complemented each other. For me it was a very natural and encouraging work environment. God’s time is perfect! I knew this summer that I was probably going to be moving on from Bryan after the coming school year and HFO was growing to the point that a second staff person would be beneficial. So this summer we began to dream. I stayed in contact with Loren and Reggie and made a couple trips back to help out over the course of the fall semester. Through a lot of prayer and planning on all of our parts, the board approved the hiring of a second staff member. And during my visit in December, over breakfast, Reggie and Loren offered for me to come on staff with HFO. I was ecstatic! I am moving to Opelousas, I will be working with kids that absolutely blow me away constantly and with people that love the Lord and challenge me in my faith and to live out the Gospel in the midst of uncomfortable circumstances. I know that this is not a move that I would chose for myself, but I find great peace in God’s calling on me to Opelousas, LA. God said jump, so hear I go. Stay tuned!

Kristina Anderson

One of my most enjoyable experiences during this trip was playing basketball, talking, and tutoring with the children from the neighborhood. I worked with one young boy who needed to study for a history exam. He automatically became open to my help as he worked diligently on his homework. All of the children appeared to accept our team with arms wide open.

Their smiles, hugs, and excited attitudes confirmed why the Lord called me to Opelousas. As I watched the children interact with each other, I realized that the Lord desires us to love everyone, but especially children whose hearts are open to His love and truth. My life will never be the same as I consider what the gospel represents to my life and to those around me.

Melissa Longoria
Mission’s Team from Bryan College: Spring Break 2010

As we come to the end of the calendar 2009 year, we also come to the end of the second year of existence for Hope for Opelousas. I find it so easy to forget how we got here, how we remain here, and what’s really going on at HFO. 2009 was a year of stress, turmoil, and economic struggle for the whole world. I got caught up in the struggle in my role at Dupre’ Logistics, this has been a very tough business year. 2009 has been a year where my idols let me down, really stomped on me. 2009 has been a year where God’s law did what it and only it can do, lead me to Christ for Life. What does this have to do with HFO? 2009 has been a year for me to see that only through God’s Grace am I where I am and HFO is where it is.

In a year where lots of governments, businesses and ministries shrank in size, HFO expanded. Growth could be measured in number of kids tutored, number of volunteers, tutoring space at Hill House, number of ministries serving Opelousas through HFO, and number of board members. HFO was recognized by local newspapers, TV and radio stations. Loren was able to introduce HFO by speaking at civic clubs, churches, local schools and to various local political and civic leaders. At our year end board meeting, we approved the hiring of our second staff member. These are only some of the milestones of growth at HFO during 2009. We have much to be thankful for.

“What does HFO do” is a common question asked. The most visible aspect of HFO is the Tuesday-Thursday afternoon tutoring program. Many of the same children tutored are able to go on field trips which venues vary from Chinese acrobat performances to LSU football games. Several of the older children made up what we call the HFO Adventure Crew which completed several days of outdoor high adventure in the mountains of Tennessee this past summer. HFO also partners with several ministries such as Home of Grace in Van Cleave, MS. HFO provides transportation and facilitates financial support for men and women addicted to alcohol and drugs who are recovering and finding Life at Home of Grace. HFO also works closely with the Opelousas Lighthouse Mission, a shelter for homeless men. HFO and OLM have done renovation projects, fund raisers, and bible studies together. Some men from OLM are volunteer tutors. HFO has been the destination for church youth groups, college mission teams and provided summer internships for college students over the last 2 years. This gives some of the answer to “What does HFO do” but not all the answer.

As I stated above, 2009 has been a tough year in business but it has also been a trying year for another love of mine, LSU football. At a game early in the 2009 season, my Tigers were not looking good at halftime and I was really disappointed with them as I wanted a “beatdown.” Many times when I’m disappointed with one aspect of my life, the gloom colors all of my life. In this disappointed state I asked a close personal friend and supporter of HFO, “Is HFO making a difference? Are we making an impact on those we interact with?” My friend and his wife are supporters and have been from the very beginning of HFO. She is a regular tutor and interacts with many of the kids on field trips, parties and other activities. His immediate response was, “You know HFO is making a difference. It may not always show up on report card improvement but yes, HFO is making a difference.” My friend and his wife are not real religious people but God has used both of them to encourage me and show me how to love and accept people with different backgrounds and viewpoints. Through a close, non religious friend, at an LSU football game God reminded me of what we really do at HFO. HFO is a place, a platform, a point of intersection for God’s love to overflow onto us, and through us. Not just our loving the forgotten people of Opelousas, but their loving us. HFO is not a one way street where the haves help the have nots. It is a place for all of us to realize none of us has what it takes for joy, peace, and rest in this world. At HFO the haves and the have nots can come to the One who has Love and Life. HFO exists because God makes it exist to be a place where we live out of His Love and reflect that Love to each other. It’s hard to measure what’s done at and through HFO. It’s hard to measure Love and Life. 2009 was a year for me to see why HFO exists and what we do; we Live and Love out of His Love and Life. That’s how He changes us, others, and this tiny piece of the world known as Opelousas. I now realize I have been asking and answering the wrong question, What does HFO do? 2009 helped me see it’s what He’s doing!!! Thank You Lord for 2009 and for HFO.

Reggie