Where have all the people gone....

Well I just spent the day tearing out plaster on plaster board,  I don’t think anything could be worse. The devastation is a lot worse then I thought it was going to be. 11,000 people out of their home and 4,000 houses affected. There are very, very few with flood insurance as the corp. of engineers, the mayor, all said it could never happen because there were so many emergency routes for the river. Insurance companies said they didn’t need flood insurance, mortgage companies said they didn’t need it. Guess what? They needed it. 

No windows, doors, drywall, siding, furnace, AC or duct work.  Everything has been removed.

As I was coming into town I was driving up the river and could see how deep and how far out of the banks it was. I was thinking how nice it was going to be to work with all the parts of the body of Christ. To see Jesus work in situations like this, can fill the community with such hope. Then I arrived at Trinity E Free Church and no one was here. Trinity has opened their doors to all volunteers. They have set up bunk beds in four class rooms. They have a game room they have built into a shower house, and no one here. 

There are 17 families from this church affected by this flood including two elders and the pastor. Because of all the work from the oil wells there is a shortage of housing anyway so now most of the people with flooded homes have moved in with friends or family. So this makes more people affected by the flood. The water has been gone three weeks and the work is ongoing, but they need help. They are so tired and their friends and families are the only ones to help them.  They all have jobs so it is a long, slow process. The construction companies are not here because there is no insurance so they are stuck doing it themselves. We need to get the word out that these people need help. They had a 36 hr. notice to get out of their homes. Imagine if this was your house, your town with winter coming and FEMA planned on bringing you a trailer to live in over the winter when they have temperatures at -30 for at least 4 weeks every winter. Sounds lovely doesn’t it. 

Notice the water lines up to the bottom of the roof line

We need to pass the word. The news doesn’t even mention it. FEMA said this is the largest disaster since Katrina. These people need help and they need it now. They need to hear the Good News of Jesus in this time where they feel like everyone has forgotten them. There is work to be done.  Not just gutting homes and helping to rebuild but prayer walking the streets, praying with a neighbor or inviting a homeowner to church for some encouragement.  It is 7.5 hrs. from the cities and you could come for a weekend or a week, it doesn’t matter. There are no teams at all for during the week next week and many other opportunities are available in the weeks/months to come before the snow flies. Please Pray and please come.

Thank you

Rob

Please contact Touch Global Crisis Response for further information about volunteering at:
http://www.efca.org/reachglobal/reachglobal-ministries/efca-touchglobal/crisis-response/minot-flooding

Minot or bust!

Well, Rob just left for Minot, North Dakota to help out with flood relief with Touch Global and Trinity Church in Minot.  We have been so blessed to have Rob available to go to help out in these crisis areas.  The flood waters have finally gone down and Minot is now in the clean up stage of their recovery.

How would it feel if 25% of the families in your church had major flooding in their homes making their home uninhabitable for several weeks to several months?  Trinity Church in Minot is that church.  The Sr. Pastor's home is one of the homes that was flooded.  11,000 homes were flooded in Minot.  Trinity church has started a grass roots effort to help their body and their neighbors recover from this devastating flood. As I read their blog last night I was amazed at how the body of Christ has come together to help folks gut their homes, give advise on how to dry out basements and offered to feed the teams that are coming in to help out.

Not only are there 11,000 homes affected but very few of these families have left the Minot area.  That means that family and friends are offering housing to most of these families.  This entire community has in some way been affected by this flood.  Whether they are opening their home to house a family, your home was flooded and you are helping your neighbor gut his house or you are cooking food for volunteers that are showing up out of the blue, they are affected.

The prayer right now is for teams to go to Minot to help in this effort.  Please consider taking some time off of work to go to Minot for a week to help.  They have housing available for volunteers and are providing at least one meal a day to the volunteers.  A new shower house was just built to accommodate the harvest of workers.  Shoot me an email if you are interested in serving in Minot at jackiekpasser@gmail.com .

Pray also for safety for Rob and others as they drive to Minot and as they work in the homes to help people recover.  Pray for lives to be changed due to this flood and that people can see the hands and feet of Jesus right in front of their eyes.

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Blessings to you!
May all the glory go to God Our Father
Jackie