Many middle school kids might spend their summer hiding from the heat and playing video games, but not the HFO Adventure Crew. Our sights were set on the Firey Gizzard Trail in Tracy City, TN, but first we had to survive training!

Training Stats:
2.5 weeks of training
40+ miles of hiking
180 lbs. of gear carried
10 days of swim training
1,000 spiders dodged at Acadiana Park

On Friday July 24th at 3am we pointed our 15 passenger van towards Memphis. Our first stop was the National Civil Rights Museum. Next we hit Beale St. but nobody had the blues because we were too busy enjoying the souvenir shops. Later that day we drove to Nashville and had just enough time to have some Jack’s BBQ before the free benefit concert featuring Sandra McCracken. We arrived late at Momma E’s ranch and set up tarps and our first campfire.

The kids were up with the sun at 5:30–with 13 acres of farm animals, the kids wanted an early start. Our day consisted of home cookin’, fishin’, horse back ridin’, pond swimmin’, and llama chasin’. It was a day of many firsts for our kids, and made us consider things from our childhood we take for granted. We stayed up late, and sang songs around a campfire long after the stars appeared.

Blueberry pancakes and maple syrup started our day. An hour-and-a-half later, we made it to the trailhead, unpacking our gear and throwing last-minute items into our packs. We had 4.2 miles ahead of us to Raven’s Point. The last mile or so was the toughest part of the trip, but the unexplainable high we had when we made the ascent to camp was well worth it. We made camp with the cow ants and cooked up a little freeze-dried chicken enchilada and some mashed ‘tatoes.

Day 2 was long, but steady. It really pushed the kids to see what they were made of. We had to go 6 miles, and at times it was a little tough. The biggest obstacle of the day was about 6 feet long and had a rattle. No it wasn’t a tall baby it was a giant rattle snake! Johnny carefully relocated the snake off the trail and we pressed on with a revived sense of alertness. We faced the feeling of overwhelm with teamwork, and made it to camp together. At this point, we decided to hike out the next day instead of staying another night on the trail at Foster Falls. Around the campfire, we talked with the kids about what the trip had meant to them, getting deep thoughts, and genuine thankfulness.

The walk out was a cake walk, but bittersweet. We were all glad to be “out of the woods”, so to say, but were going to miss the trials and new environment that were bringing us together. We swam at the icy Foster Falls lake and then packed up the van.

From Tracy City we quickly found a Western Sizzler Buffet and then headed out to Bryan College in Dayton, TN. What a surprise when we learned we would have an entire, empty, dorm to ourselves. We chased the kids with ShamWows and played Sardines. This was also an opportunity to have some one-on-one time with the kids and talk about thankfulness and respect again. The next morning, we packed up the van for the last time, and headed home.

But the work wasn’t over yet, the following morning we picked all the kids up again and cleaned out our gear, teaching the kids respect for property, and responsibility. They also cleaned and vacuumed the van, with great attitudes!

When we set out to do this trip, we had no idea what we were in for. Looking back now, we can see how the trip brought us all together as a group and gave us an opportunity to enrich our relationships with the kids on a personal basis, allowing us to influence them in a positive way. God showed up in our adventure and made it one we will never forget.

Special thanks to Momma E, Julie, Bobby, and Bruce Morgan with Bryan College, this trip wouldn’t have been the same without your assistance.

Also, special thanks to Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Nekoosa, WI and First Presbyterian Church of Riverforest for the donation from their VBS offerings. We used the money to purchase a bible for everyone who came on the trip and plan to use the extra money to buy bibles for every new student in our program this fall!

Blessings,
Loren & Tory

This summer we were anxious to reach out to more of the kids that live around the Hill House, so we hosted a two week Skills Camp that focused on math and reading and of course a few fun parties. Through this camp we were able to make connections with 15 new kids that will be involved in our HFO after-school program this Fall.

Special thanks to our new volunteers and the Woodson’s and Bassets’ for hosting our parties.

Peace,

Loren

To celebrate the completion of our first year of tutoring, we wanted to bring our hardest working students on a special trip. Loren, Tory, and Ivy Carriere, the interns, and Derrick Carriere went on down to the Audubon Zoo with the kids from HFO: Tavian, Trevon, Matthew, Megan, Amber, and Tyriana.

After riding the ferry across the Mississippi River (a first for most of the kids), we got our tickets and entered the aquarium. We saw eels, sharks, whales, jellyfish of all sorts, and encouraged the kids to read the information tags at each exhibit. I am sure they learned many things they hadn’t known before about aquatic life. The kids got a kick out of the white alligator, and all took crazy pictures putting themselves on magazine covers.

After the kids were done exploring the waters, we walked to the iMax theater and saw a 3D movie about dinosaurs and new discoveries about their origins, prompting a good discussion by the kids about “why information changes about the origin of the earth” as we headed to the Insectarium. This museum was entertaining, colorful, and informative, and was definitely good preparation for our upcoming camping trip!

When the kids were completely exhausted, we drove to Bradley and Crystal Dunn’s house to eat some delicious boiled crawfish with corn, onions, sweet potatoes, and garlic (mmmm)–but not before a heated water balloon fight! That night, the boys slept out under the open sky and saw shooting stars, after a time of worship and Bible study.

The next morning, we made pancakes and headed to the Zoo to smell the flamingos and watch elephants roam. The Cajun exhibit was especially interesting to the kids because it was unique to our area. Later that afternoon, we walked the French Quarter and some brave kids even tried raw oysters!

This trip was a great time with our kids, and a fruitful time of teaching them things–not just about God’s creation, but about staying together as a group, and being respectful of each other.

-~Tory

Hi! My name is Molly Gerdes. I am 18 years old and just finished my freshman year of college at Northwestern College in Orange City, IA. My hometown is Wisconsin Rapids, WI where I graduated from Community Christian Academy. My family includes my dad and mom, Greg and Teri; my older brother Codi (22); and my younger brother Noah (10). After much prayer, God has shown me that I will not be returning to Northwestern next year. I don’t know what I’ll be doing, but I am trusting that God will clearly show me and direct me in the path I should go.

It’s so crazy to think that I have been in Opelousas for a month already—it went by so fast! I got here May 24—by a complete miracle! I had forgotten my driver’s license in Iowa—so I did not have any photo id. In reality, I should not have been able to get on the plane. But through God’s amazing provision and the crazy ways He works, I was able to get on the plane and come to Opelousas. There is no way I would be able to put into words all the things that God has done in my life and the things He has done while I have been here. It would take pages to even begin to try and explain! So, in this short blog, I am going to try and explain just a bit of what God is teaching me. Coming to Opelousas during spring break was a complete eye opener for me—and made me realize how incredible and big God’s grace is. And that was only for a week! Being here for a month, that realization has been even more imprinted on my heart. I have heard so many amazing stories of lives being changed by God’s infinite love that every day I see God working in ways I would have never seen before. His love has so permeated every part of every day that it’s hard to look at someone or something and not see Him. I have seen this especially in the kids. For two weeks, while I was here this summer, we did a summer skills camp, working especially with math and reading. Basically the purpose was to bring in new kids to Hope for Opelousas so they can be involved in the fall with the tutoring program. And God was definitely faithful in that! He brought almost 20 new kids to us! God was so evident every day—but there was one day in particular that He really showed Himself to me. So, I get up, only to find out that Kristina has a really bad migraine and can’t open her eyes—and Jeff called Loren to tell him that he was sick and needed to sleep. I was the only one that felt ok. This kind of threw my day off—since I was used to getting up and being able to spend some time with Jesus and everybody else before our day got crazy. So I talk to Loren and he says that we’ll just meet at 12 or so and see how things go from there. Eventually, Kristina feels better and we go and get Jeff and head over to the Hill House. There are already a few kids there, so of course we need to hang out with them for a bit. Then we realize we need to get snacks and drinks for the kids, so Jeff and Kristina do that, while Loren and I pray together. But of course while we are praying, the kids come in and start talking and interrupting. Even though this shouldn’t have frustrated me, it did—because things were not going the way I wanted them to. But, Loren, being the awesome and gracious man he is, invites one of them to pray with us—which in all honesty, frustrated me at first, but afterwards, I realized how awesome it was for that kid to see us pray and see how we get ourselves through the day. So Loren and I get done praying and Jeff and Kristina get back and right away Loren has to go deal with one of the kids. So Jeff, Kristina, and I sit down to pray—with kids yelling and playing basketball outside. Not the most quiet prayer session I have ever had, but it was awesome nonetheless. It seemed that day that all of the kids were wired—they were really high strung, didn’t want to listen to what you told them to do, and just didn’t get along with each other. And all of this built on top of what the rest of the day had been made for a very stressful day for me. My patience was cut a lot shorter than it normally was. My attitude was really bad. And my heart was definitely not in the right spot. The focus of the day was on myself—so when it came time for tutoring the kids, it was the last thing I wanted to do. I felt like I had nothing to give. And to add to it, the kids that I did tutor had such a horrible attitude towards what we were doing that day—math. They didn’t want to try. They gave up so easily. And there just didn’t seem to be a connection. I was so ready to just give it up—to be done—and I thought I was. But I had to tutor one more kid. I put the smile on my face, but my heart was groaning and very irritated that I had to do this. But, God knew what He was doing. Matthew Sanchez. 5th grade. He came into the room we were working in with a huge smile—his face beaming. The words that came out of his mouth are ones that I will never forget: “I am so excited to do this today! Are we doing math? I’m gonna get this. I was walking with some of my friends and I told them, ‘I have to go here so I can do better in school next year.’ I am gonna come every day this week! What are we gonna start with?” The 30 minutes that I spent with Matthew that day went by too quickly. We worked on multiplication flash cards the whole time—but his attitude never changed. We worked until he got them down like the back of his hand. And when we were done, he wanted to do them again—“Just to make sure I have it”. Matthew poured his whole heart into studying multiplication that day. He wanted to make sure that he knew every one of those problems so that next year he could do well in school. Never once did he complain. Never once did he give up. He gave everything he had. Matthew blessed me more than he will ever know. And that bond has continued even outside of tutoring. When we play basketball, I hear him cheering for me to make a basket. I hear him encouraging me—“Good shot, Miss Molly!” And the one that gets me the most: “I want her to win; she has taught me so good and helped me so much to do better in school next year.” Talk about God using kids! This is just one of many stories of how God has used the kids in Opelousas to bless me beyond what I could ever imagine. He shows Himself in so many unexpected ways—even through a boy named Matthew.

When I found out I was going to Opelousas for Spring Break I was excited about the team I was going with but I wasn’t as excited about our location. I knew almost nothing about Opelousas or the Hope for Opelousas mission. All I knew was that we would work with kids and do some physical work. But once I showed up and we had our first day or two of work I knew this was a place and a group of people I was going to fall in love with. Being around the people here and the kids in the Hill made me feel like this was where God made me to be.

After an amazing week and a half here in March Loren mentioned the option to come back over the summer. This idea sounded amazing to me but I had already signed on in the same internship at a corporation in Des Moines that I had worked for the summer before. After some serious prayer and talking to my mentor at college and my boss in Des Moines I decided to ask for the first month of my internship off and spend it here at HFO. This is a decision that has changed my life.

But before I was to show up here God had one other challenge for me and my family. In early May we found out that my dad’s cancer had return and looked as though it was spreading. This news came just a couple weeks before I was to leave. While we still don’t know the extent of the spreading we are in constant prayer for the Grace of God as my father prepares himself for chemo and because he still does not know Jesus as his savior. This has been a trial God has laid on my family that we are working through together.

But through this trial God was also preparing my heart for what I was to learn about His Grace here in Opelousas. Every message, book, and conversation that we have here seems to focus on this one issue: God’s Grace can’t be bought, it can’t be earned, and our good works can be very selfish things if we don’t see the true reason we are doing them. We can say we are doing them for God but in reality we are doing them to justify ourselves to God. I am learning that what I often fail to understand in that God doesn’t need my good works and doing all “the right things” won’t change my life. I must invite God to change me from the inside out, daily, and then works will come from the joy and peace and love that come from the Spirit God gives.

As I continue to struggle internally with the sins Satan has always used to make me feel like I needed to prove myself to God, I continue to get encouragement and hope from those around me here and the Word God has given us. My prayer is that God will continue to move in me and show me how His Grace and continue to change me.

And as God teaches me He is giving me an opportunity to love His children. Many of the kids in The Hill don’t have a whole lot to be joyful about but they bring such joy to myself and the other interns that we can’t even comprehend how we could ever give them as much as they have given us. I have been blessed by this place, the people here, and the God who has lead me to this place beyond my wildest dreams. My heart has broken for Opelousas and HFO and I pray God continues to break my heart and show me news things every day.