Lovely Dancing Lights: Eye miss New Orleans.

since this past tuesday was Fat Tuesday, i got to thinking. Seeing all the pictures and videos on the news of New Orleans and various spots around the great state of Louisiana celebrating Mardi Gras, i started to miss the one area on my mission that i lived the shortest in... New Orleans! Served there for only six weeks, but in those six week i learned so much and saw things that i would never see again (well in that same condition) again.
I had only been out on my mission for 3 months and had been spoiled by having the oppoutunity of having a car to get us around. When i got the call to inform me that i was being trasfered to mid-city New Orleans, it was a wierd feeling cause i had only heard stories and never thought i woud ever serve there. And i wasnt very excited to be on a bike.
Upon arriving to the back room of a 100 yr old house in downtown New Orleans where i would spend the next 6 weeks of my life ( our living quarters were known around the mission as the "One room mansion" as it was only 1 room). I was pretty scared the frist couple of nights. The second night i remeber vividly as we turned out the lights for the night only to hear gunshots right outside our window, needless to say i didnt get that much sleep that night.
Besides the extreme humidity and heat the sights were beautiful, the architecture, the historic houses, the streetcar, the 200 year old trees, the mississippi river, the levees, and the wonderful people were all so memorable.
I wish i could fish through my memories and take pictures and videos of the smells and sights that are so hard to explain. and looking back to my last night in the N.O. was a solemn night. Disappointed to hear that i was going to be leaving, we had to meet at the church for a meeting with the Branch presidency, we stopped at the corner store and i got some skittles and a cherry Coke, and we hopped on the street car and as the sunset we rode through the Garden District to get to the church, and for some reason there was this tragic feeling in my heart, a foreshadow of things to come.
Some 9 months later when the news of Katrina had come to us in northern Louisiana and actually seeing the pictures of that beautiful place that i loved so much, my heart sunk and i knew why it was such a tragic feel that night on the street car with my skittles and cherry coke. seeing the pictures of my old neighborhoood immersed in 8-12 feet of water and wondering if all my friends had made it out alive. They did and im grateful.
I miss New Orleans and i cant wait to go back. If you get the chance to go you should, despite the rumors...the people of New Orleans are awesome and loving.