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.

Please check out more current posts by clicking "Newer Posts" below.

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

Home from Haiti but on to the next field

Who would have thought that a week after returning from Haiti that God would provide a training ground for Crisis Response in our own back yard.  On Sunday, May 22, 2011 a devastating tornado left a path of destruction through the Minneapolis area that started in the Southwest suburb of St. Louis Park all the way to the Northwest suburb of Blaine.  The worst hit area was North Minneapolis, a relatively poor area of Minneapolis.  Many of the residents are senior citizens who have lived there their entire lives and have owned their homes forever or are renters that had little to no renter's insurance.  This is an area that is frequently on the news due to violent crime.  The poor state of our economy hasn't helped this area at all and many of the homes had fallen into disrepair far before the tornado hit.  Many of the landlords are absentee landlords.

Many homes and garages had trees come crashing onto them

With the onslaught of this crisis came a mission field of shocked and overwhelmed citizens that just needed to know that someone, anyone cared for them.  Immediately we saw neighbors stepping out of their doors and checking on other neighbors to make sure everyone was OK. Impromptu BBQ's popped up on corners and fed hundreds in an evening. I talked to the pastor of Sanctuary Covenant Church and she said people were dropping off food both prepared and ready to eat and non-perishable food for people to take home to feed their families. At some points people didn't even need to get out of their cars to donate items...volunteers stood on the corner and took the items right out of the people's cars to keep the traffic moving.  Clothing, toiletries, diapers, wipes, food, blankets and anything else you can think of were donated to several drop off points.  Laundry mats were donating washers and dryers to wash items that had been donated that needed to be washed.  So many people had lost almost everything.  Most did not have electricity for the better part of a week.

BBQ at the Sanctuary Covenant Church offices

We prayed about how we should help out in this situation and after several phone calls we decided to just go down, walk the streets and see where God led us. And he led us to Sanctuary Covenant Church and an organization called Urban Homeworks.  We have been blessed to send teams from 7 EFCA churches into the area on teams to help with debris clean up, food preparation, door to door assessments, and a variety of other tasks.  People have donated food, clothing, toiletries and time.  One lady I talked to yesterday said that this was not a curse for North Minneapolis it was a blessing.  She said to see White people working beside Black people beside Hispanics and Hmongs was one of the biggest blessings she had seen.  She said it opened up the eyes of the surrounding area that North Minneapolis was not a bad place to be.  That the people that lived there were just like the rest of us and all they needed was someone to show that they cared.  We are all the same in God's eyes.  He does not see the color of our skin, He only sees the condition of our hearts.

Volunteer, Nolan and homeowner, Tino

Volunteers cleaning up Tino's yard

I have felt so blessed to be a part of the ministry to North Minneapolis.  We have had the honor of praying with the residents and seeing their hearts, the pleasure of laughing with them and the sorrow of crying with them.   We have worked beside them to clean up their yards and feed their neighbors.  And now as the efforts go from relief to recovery we hope to have the joy of watching this neighborhood come to life and hopefully for many to come to a saving relationship with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Andrew working with joy in his heart

Please join us in prayer for this community.  That the closeness with it's neighbors continues far after the roofs are repaired and the homes are taken down and replaced.  Pray that the renters in homes that have been damaged beyond repair can find affordable housing.  Pray for continued safety for the workers and residents.  And most of all pray for hearts to turn to the only hope that anyone on this earth have...to Jesus.

Blessings,

Jackie

Crickets, Spoons, soft voices and tap tap tap

As I sit hearing listening to the sounds of the night I am amazed at the goodness of God and what He does for us each day to keep us in tune with Him and His divine plan for us.

One of the sounds I hear are the crickets.  There are windows and doors wide open and we hear the sounds of the outside all day and all night long.  There are thousands of stars in the sky tonight.  The same stars you are looking up at from Minnesota,  Wisconsin, Pennsylvania or Iowa are the same stars we are seeing from Haiti.  The beautiful sunset was the same one you all saw.  It's like the omnipresent God.  He is there with all of us at the same time even if we are in different places.

The next sound I hear is a table full of 20 somethings fighting over spoons in a WILD game of spoons.  The laughter and joy of these young people is contagious.  Before Saturday I had met only one of these 6 "kids".  I have watched them work hard, play hard and sometimes cry hard all week.  Their love for God is so present and all they want to do is serve Him.  Each of them has followed God's call to come here, New Orleans, Ghana, Indonesia and many other places around the world. They talk about their future work in Alabama and Japan and their past work here in Haiti.  Each one loves the one sitting next to them and they even included a gray haired 50 something in a game earlier tonight.  Age means nothing to them.  All that matters is that God has called them here and they have listened.

The next sound I hear are the soft voices of a team debrief going on on the front porch.  This team from Minnesota has worked so hard this week.  They, along with some of the above 20 somethings, built 10 homes this week, have cleaned out a huge army tent at the orphanage, played with many orphans and come home with smiles on their exhausted faces.  They asked for nothing all week except... what's next for us to do.  4 of the 7 on this team are staying in Haiti until next Wednesday.  They they are adopting 5 kids from the OLTCH orphanage between 3 couples. It was their kids that I helped with yesterday.  2 spouses will meet them tomorrow and they all go to court on Monday for the first of a few court appearances in the long process of adopting a Haitian orphaned or abandoned child. The love that these people show to each other and to everyone else  is amazing.  God shines through each one of these people and I have had the honor of traveling here with them, working with them, crying with them and laughing with them all week.  They have truly been a blessing to the people of Haiti.

The last sound I hear is tap, tap, tap on a keyboard.  A pastor from the Congo is on his laptop working at a table a few feet from me.  He has had visa issues and has been "stuck" here with us a few more days than he had originally intended.  He has asked for nothing since his arrival on Sunday night and when he is called for lunch or dinner he is so grateful for whatever is put in front of him.  What an amazing man of God to come from the Congo to visit his two compatriots that are living here in Haiti and ministering to the people here.  God has created this world wide network of missionaries and pastors to make sure that the gospel is spread to all people before the end of the age.

This trip to Haiti has been wonderful.  I have learned so much about crisis response, medical care in a 3rd world country and people in general.  God brought me here to experience the sounds of Haiti but to also be a servant to the people of Haiti and those that want to spread the gospel here.

What an awesome God we have...

Jackie

8 orphans and the missionaries

Thursday, May 12, 2011

We had quite an interesting day here in Haiti.  The day started out with a  question....do you want to stay here at the house and clean up a bit, do some laundry and help here or do you want to go with the teams to build homes...Oh and if you stay here you may be called on to take kids to the Dr for their adoption labs and xrays.  Hmmm....supposed to be 100 degrees today and I am beginning to look like a lobster so I’ll take the clean up, laundry and house duties for the day...but just in case I have to do the Dr thing I better put a skirt on.  We finished with devotions and breakfast and the decision was made that I would be a dr visit helper but it wasn’t going to take all day because they were only going to end up with 2 kids and I could still get most of the things I needed to get done at the house done.

OK...if you have ever been on a mission trip you know that flexibility is the name of the game.  I was to meet the 2 kids with caregiver at the clinic a block away and help to get them back here and then back home again.  At the appointed time I walked to the clinic and saw over 100 people in line to be seen by a dr and it was still 1/2 hour before the clinic would open...and no caregiver or two children.  After being asked if I would give someone my water bottle, wedding ring, eye glasses and flip flops I decided to ask the only person I saw that may speak English if they had seen a white woman with 2 Haitian Children...alas they were not there.  So I walked home and finished the dishes.  About 10 minutes later as I’m eating a snack I hear the laughter of children...more than 2 children!  In walk a 1 year old, 2 year old, 3 year old, a 14 year old and the baby was put onto a bed because she fell asleep in the car...you say...I thought there was 8 orphans and that is only 5!  The other 3 are sitting at the clinic I just left with a caregiver and they will be here soon!  We were to take 6 kids to the dr and 2 of them were sent along to be our translator and a helper...and we were all to ride in a pick up truck with an extended cab! Now you are all saying...what about the car seats, seat belts and are you ladies crazy?  Plan C had kicked in...of the tthree that were at the clinic near us one is a pretty sick little guy named,. Amasiah.  He has a nasty upper respiratory infection but is getting better.  One is our translator and the other just needs the adoption tests done.  With a line by that time of 200 very ill people what do you think the chances of a few “well child” tests are in a field clinic?  You know it...none!

So, plan D now is in action.  We call to several places to see where we can take these kids for these tests.  They go to court this coming Monday for the first part of their adoption and parents are flying in at huge expense and these tests need to get done.  So...a driver was hired, a clinic was found in one place for the lab work and another 45 minutes away to do the X-rays.  You ask...can’t they all be done at one place?  Again I say...You know it...Nope!  

We loaded up all 6 little kids, 2 older kids as our helpers, 3 adult American caregivers with almost no Creole language skills and a Haitian driver that speaks no English and head off to drop one kid off at the orphanage because he is done and 5 kids to the lab for blood draws.  An hour later we pulled up in front of the lab and checked in.  There was “only” about 25 people in line ahead of us by what the lobby looked like and we had called ahead so we were hoping to get out soon....1 1/2 hours later and 4 crying kids late (one brave little guy didn’t even cry)  we left there with the labs done and the x-ray orders in hand. We drop one kid off at the orphanage and we take off for a 45 minute drive to the Adventist Hospital for the x-rays.  We get there and low and behold...no power.  City power had gone off and the generator was broken but they “might” have it fixed in either 1 hour or 6 hours...so we decide to wait for an hour or two with 4 kids for xrays, 2 kids as helpers with 3 American women.  As we sit in this hall way with several others waiting for x-rays, we feed them pretzels with peanut butter, juice we picked up a at a little store a few blocks away and some Bugles, yes Bugles!  The baby did get her formula though.  We let them play with the toys our daughter, Misty, had so generously sent down with us and all the kids were just awesome.  2 hours later still no power.  So we made the decision to come back tomorrow.  We got ready to walk to the truck and go one but one of the kids had a messy diaper and I went in to change her diaper.  As I walked outside where everyone else was the admissions lady runs out in back of me and says...we have power!  So because of a messy...very smelly diaper...that Michelle had we had not left yet and 1/2 hour later we were done with 4 chest x-rays and were loading back up in the truck for the now 1 hour (rush hour) drive back to the orphanage.  Everyone except the driver (thank you Jesus) fell asleep on the way home.  God took care of the details...we just needed to show up and persevere. 

The next time you have to wait 1/2 hour in a waiting room remember this story.  It takes all day to go to the Dr here.  The hospital we went to yesterday to visit Franski was a basic field hospital. Tents, temporary buildings, bring your own sheets, towels and caregiver and pray that there is a Dr there that can diagnose and treat what you have.  People with open wounds and broken bones were everywhere.  No doors or screens.  Mosquito nets protect you from Malaria and Dengue fever.  The medical care we complain about and joke about every day is so far above this.  Be grateful for the level of care we get in the states. It is amazing.

Sorry this is so long.  Tomorrow is another day. I haven’t even told you about Tues and Wed...like I said.  Tomorrow is another day.

God Bless and keep praying!

Jackie

Life at the Haitian Queen

It's 10 PM and it's been a long couple of days.  We arrived on Saturday afternoon, settled in and went straight to the OLTCH orphanage to see Jasmine and the kids.  They were having a birthday party for Rosey, the oldest of the children.  Cake, party favors, singing, food and fun was had by all.  The kids were so happy.  A husband and wife that are with us were going there to see their new daughter.  The wife had seen her before and had fallen in love with her. The husband had never met her in person before when he held her for the first time we all watched in tears rolled down many cheeks.  I felt so privilege to witness that. Today while we were at the orphanage he was laying on the floor with her and holding her above his head and she was laughing and giggling like that had known each other since she was born.  What an awesome feeling to watch this family grow and fall in love with each other.  Two other women on a team from Minnesota are also adopting children and they all got to spend their first Mother's Day yesterday with their new kids.  God is so amazing to match up these kids with new mommies and daddies.

Eric as he met his new daughter, Maddy

Charlotte with her new daughters Michelle and Rose-Tinkerbell

Mommy Tracey with Maddy

Denise with one of her new sons,
Emmanuel

Birthday Party

There are 30 people staying here at the Queen for the next few nights.  Dinner was an interesting time tonight with new people coming and "veterans" helping them out.  It sounded like the lobby of the church on a Sunday morning between services where people were talking and hugging and in some cases meeting each other for the first time.  Different languages being spoken, different backgrounds but all here for one reason...to see the love of Christ spread throughout the world.  I think I caught a little glimpse of heaven tonight.

I forgot my camera cord and my card reader isn't working so I won't be able to put pictures on until I get home.  Lots of pictures taken.
For those that have been praying for Franski, keep praying.  He does have TB and it has settled in his spinal fluid.  He is very weak and is not making eye contact at all.  The smile you have all seen on the pictures is not there now.  I haven't seen him yet but a friend has been to the hospital and took him to a Dr this morning and they said he needs fluids and protein really bad.  He is on IV fluids and is being tube fed.  The anti biotic he is on for the TB is a good one but he has been throwing up so much he can't always keep it down so they aren't sure how much he is getting.  Please pray that he can keep food/meds down and that he is comfortable.  His prognosis is not good right now.  Please pray for a miracle.

Tomorrow it looks like we will be putting up Samaritan's purse homes.  It is super hot and will be a tough day out in the sun all day.  Please pray for safety for everyone out in the hot sun.
Thank you everyone for partnering with us!  We couldn't do any of this without your support!
Love to all!
Jackie

Back to the Haitian Queen

It seems like just yesterday that I was packing my suitcase to go to Haiti and there was 18 inches of snow on the ground here...oh wait....that was yesterday.  All kidding aside, my suitcases are packed, my heart is full of love and my mind is full of so many details I don't know how much I'll sleep the next 2 nights. 

On Saturday morning I'll meet up with a team from Baxter, Minnesota to travel back to Port au Prince, Haiti.  How blessed I am that a team from Minnesota is going down and I don't have to travel alone.  One of the couples is going down to see there new daughter at Operation Love the Children of Haiti.  Tracey, the wife, had met Maddy but Eric has not.  Pray for this to be a blessed time for this family.  This team has 7 people.  There will be several  others meeting up with us in Miami and even more coming and going during my 7 day stay at the Haitian Queen (our loving name for the mission house in Haiti).  For a few days we will have approximately 30 people from at least 2 different countries, not including the Haitians.

Some are going down to help build homes, some to play with orphans, some to minister to Haitians, some to coach Haitians to become church planters, some to meet with other ministries but all to be the hands and feet of Jesus to the people of Haiti.  The gospel will be told literally and figuratively to many next week.  Please pray for open hearts and open minds and the God prepares all of us and everyone we come in contact with.

My role over the week I am in Haiti will be to help the in country staff with whatever they need help with in keeping those 30 people happy and making sure they all get fed and where they need to be each day.  Pray that I can minister to those that are at the house and be able to serve them and God to the fullest.  Let this be my spiritual act of worship for the week.

Please pray for safety for everyone, relationships to build and grow, the orphans we have all fallen in love with and for us all to listen to what God is telling each of us and to boldly walk where ever it is He asks us to walk.

Blessings,
Jackie