Go NOLA!

Dear Friends,

As you may know I began attending Crossroads Community Church 2008. It has been a wonderful and rewarding experience for me, and I have had the opportunity to grow and learn in many ways. I was baptized in May of 2010 and began serving in Kid’s Club shortly thereafter. I did some international tutoring via Skype with children in South Africa for a few months, participated in several Bible study groups, successfully completed Dave Ramsey’s 13-week Financial Peace University Course, read the whole Bible and much more.

Through all of this the main thing I learned is just how blessed I am. My heart overflows with gratitude and love for the friends and family I have in my life, for my job that I love, for the amazing experiences and opportunities that I’ve had. Looking at all this I can only say I am humbled by all that I have and do not deserve! There is no rational reason that I should be so blessed. It is not through any of my own doing, but truly through the goodness of others and the grace of God. And through this realization I feel I must respond, first by saying “Thank you!” to all of you who have a played a part in my undeserved blessings and then by finding ways in which I can bless others with the gifts I have been given.

From July 28^th to August 5^th, 2012 I will be traveling to New Orleans, Louisiana with about 300 people from Crossroads. It’s been almost seven years since Hurricane Katrina devastated the city, and a great need persists. Members of our group will be working on various projects including building homes with Habitat for Humanity, creating new free portraits for families who lost photos during the hurricane, helping to clean and prepare public schools for opening in the fall, and my team will be working with kids at the Vacation Bible School program at the Franklin Avenue Baptist Church – a church located in one of the hardest-hit areas of the city. Along with all this we will be praying with and loving on people who probably have a very hard time remembering how blessed and loved they really are.

This trip provides an opportunity to help meet the physical and spiritual needs of a community that is still desperately in need. During the 2005 flood that followed Hurricane Katrina approximately 75,000 homes were lost just in the New Orleans metropolitan area. As of 2011 only 10,000 have been rebuilt! Many people have relocated to other areas of the country, but there are still around 38,000 families that still don’t have a place to call home. We don’t hear about this on the news. Most people have forgotten about the disaster, and I imagine that’s exactly how a lot of people in New Orleans feel… forgotten. I know there are lots of people in need, some that live here in Cincinnati. I can’t help them all, but I can go on this trip. I can’t rebuild their homes, I can’t replace all that they’ve lost, but maybe I can help one child, despite everything she’s been through, realize she is blessed, she is loved, and she is not forgotten!

 More than anything, I would ask for your prayers for our team and those whose lives will be touched through us. I believe God answers prayers, and I’m asking you to pray for our safety, good health, smooth travel, and success. Just knowing you will be praying will give me peace and hope as I head out on this trip.

Those of us going on the trip have been encouraged to ask for financial support for this mission whether we need it or not. In doing so it is hoped we will not only give others a chance to hear about how God is working in our lives, but also to give others an opportunity to share in a great work if they feel called to do so. Our group needs to raise just over $300,000 to cover the total cost of the trip. I personally need $875 for my part. I would greatly appreciate any level of support you are able to offer. Please do not feel obligated or pressured to give anything at all, but please do pray for me and for those I will serve.

If you would like to donate to my mission trip please visit the following link. https://www.crossroads.net/GOTripGive/731

With gratitude,

Jenifer Dittelberger