Final Day - New Orleans

Today, Elev8 went on a swamp tour and saw many different animals from alligators to snapping turtles. Our tour guide Captain Joey, did an awesome job explaining to us all of the life forms. We learned about the life style of the alligators that live there, and the Spanish moss. When we started to go down the swamp, we found out that it was a man made canal created to carry oil drilling equipment. The canal joined into a bayou where we saw different types of vegetation.When we started to head back, captain Joey brought out a baby alligator and passed it around to everyone.

Swamp Tour
'You are now entering gator country'

An American gator, who likes American food, cool ranch Doritos's!

 After the swamp tour, we had a little time to go shopping! We went down to the French Quarter, the famous shopping market. We got there and we had a plan to all walk down there and end up at the end all together but knowing our group we went different ways. By the end of the day we had purchased lots of treasures to bring back to Texas. We had the pleasure of  visiting the the Saint Louis Cathedral. And on the way out we stopped and watched a live jazz band comprised of several young men not much older than us.

French Quarter

Silver man in the street playing it up, with a trumpet.

 Although separated at the beginning, we all found each other at the cafe' Du Monde enjoying the delicious beignets.

Heading back home on the ferry, we caught a glimpse of the China shipping line.

A painting on the ceiling from the Saint Louis Cathedral.




When we arrived back home from our dinner, we all gathered in the kitchen for one more talk. The leaders put together individual awards for every one of us. Rawd, Justin and Pastor Jon also received their own individual prizes. After the awards the mood in the room changed immediately. We did one last exercise called 'pass the candle'. We all shared our, what we called an 'ah ha' moment that we experienced on the trip. We also passed the candle to a friend who we saw grow over the Mission trip and we pointed out how they contributed to the work we did through Jesus Christ. We all saw with our own eyes, and felt with our hearts, the love and the light of Christ. All of the individual moments were special and changed lives forever. We all came here blind, and now we see. All the glory to God.

Please see more photos at www.lifechurchdfw.com/no/missions

Contributing writers:
Cori
MK
&
Kori