This past week, Sovereign Grace was truly blessed to have Matt Flynn, a volunteer from Davenport, Iowa and an old friend of John Kirkpatrick’s.   He was in town for a city planner’s convention and was gracious enough to volunteer a few days of work in the New Orleans area after his time there.

On Tuesday, John picked up Matt late in the afternoon and gave him a mini-tour of New Orleans showing him the damages caused by hurricane Katrina, the bayous of the Northshore, and a tour of the church property and Homeland Missions.

Throughout the week, Matt was extremely diligent in his work with us.  On his first day of work, he helped to wash the logs of Ms. Alice’s cabin before painting, helped clean debris from the yard, and he even provided John with a ride to the hospital in New Orleans as well as company and conversation during the long 14 hour wait.

Matt, even after not sleeping at all, was willing to work that next day at Mr. Dave’s place and help do some gardening that provides food for many in the community, nail in some guard rail posts on a ramp, and fix up some stairs.  Matt was a trooper, standing out in the sun planting corn and tomato plants before weed whacking a good portion of Mr. Dave’s large yard.  After the work, Mr. Dave accompanied Matt through the swamp, looking for gators and walking to a lake area that Katrina created.

On his last day, Friday, John, Steve, Tim, and Matt took a trip into the 9^th Ward of New Orleans to help the Carpenter’s House with Charles Dillon.  They spent the day moving boxes full of clothing to a new building that Carpenter’s House is moving into and also painting some of the rooms in the new building.

While Matt was here, we enjoyed a good deal of fellowship and conversation through the daily morning devotions, during the tour, and during mealtimes with the group.

We were sad to see Matt leave on Saturday morning to fly back to Iowa.  He was a very helpful and willing worker that accomplished a lot during his time here.  Thank you Matt for all of your help and willingness to provide for the local community and serve the Lord in the process!