Send Workers!

Workers from Iowa District West and East continue to share God’s love by traveling to Louisiana to help others. As of March 1, 2006, I have worked with 115 workers and 21 work teams. There are 16 more teams with 190 workers from Iowa lined up to go to Louisiana in the next few months. Praise God!! I asked Pastor Mick Wolfram, Trinity Lutheran, Des Moines, to share his thoughts and emotions after he and Vicar Chris Matthis returned from Louisiana. As you read Pastor Wolfram’s account, prayerfully consider how you can be involved in the Katrina relief.

"The King will reply, `I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." Matthew 25:40

As I drove from the New Orleans airport to Camp Slidell on a late Monday afternoon in February, the destruction left in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina was apparent. Litter lined the road, trees lay on the ground, houses and apartments stared vacantly back at all onlookers. The destruction was so vast that it reminded me of an old sermon illustration that I relayed to Vicar Chris Matthis who was riding with me.

The story is told of a man who was walking along a deserted beach at low tide. In the distance he noticed someone approaching him. He curiously watched the person bend down, pick something up, and throw it into the sea. This routine was repeated numerous times as the two walked toward each other. When they finally met, the man asked the stranger what he was doing.

“I’m throwing these starfish into the sea,” he said, “You see, if I don’t they will die in the sand.”

“But don’t you see how many there are?” the man protested. “And these are just the ones on this beach. There are hundreds of beaches and thousands and thousands lying on each beach. You can’t possibly make a difference.”

Without saying a word, the stranger bent down, picked up another starfish and threw it into the sea. Looking the man in the eye, he replied, “Made a difference to that one.”

In many ways when we first drove into the area, that is exactly how we felt. How can we possibly make a difference? There is so much destruction! There are so many needs! But that is how it was for us workers. It was one person, one job, or even part of one job at a time as we reached out with God's love to other people with our words and deeds.

On Tuesday we "mucked out" a house in Chalmette. The owner was a 90 year old woman, now in Hospice care. Her two daughters joined us in clearing out the debris left in the house by the 10 feet of flood waters. Nothing was salvageable; they were praying that the structure itself would be reusable. You can imagine my surprise when I got in a conversation with one of the daughters and found out that not only does she know my brother, who used to live in New Orleans, but that her daughter and my nephew were best friends in High School! That gave me a little extra energy as I shoveled the wet mud out of her home. We didn't get the house done, but we did make a great start. Words of appreciation assured us that we "made a difference to that one."

Wednesday found us power washing the inside of Gethsemane Lutheran Church, also in Chalmette. It had been stripped to the studs and needed cleansing from the black mold that was present everywhere. One individual from the congregation was present as we sprayed the interior floors and frames. He spoke for the congregation as he thanked us. His handshake was firm and we walked away knowing that we had "made a difference to that one."

Wednesday evening we met my congregation's adopted family from Village Lutheran in Lacombe. This family of 4 had lost their home, cars, and their business. They are movers, and both of their trucks were washed away. Now they struggle to survive in the cramped quarters of a FEMA trailer. As I presented them with a check from Trinity they could not hold back their tears, and words were not necessary. I knew how thankful they were that we had "made a difference to that one."

Wednesday evening Bible Study at Village Lutheran Church in Lacombe began with a delicious pot-luck supper followed by the study led by their pastor, Rev. Edgar Homrighausen. This man of God retired a few years ago and then was called by God to start a new congregation which now worships over 160 people every Sunday! Our visit gave us opportunity to interact with people whose faith was making a difference in their own lives. "The National Guard has left. The government is too slow. It is the church people who are coming here to work that are holding these communities together," one person said to me. We listened to stories and brought back to our camp 70 box lunches which they had prepared for the volunteer laborers for Thursday.

On Thursday we were back in Lacombe cleaning up trees in the yard of a young man who lives with his elderly blind father. Chain saws in hand, we attacked the once mighty ones, now fallen. Eight hours of intense labor was enough to clear up all but the trunks of the largest of the trees. A can of Coke, a grateful handshake, and a smile affirmed that once again we had "made a difference to that one."

Friday invited us to hit the streets of the French Quarters in New Orleans with Bibles and Cross-in-the Pocket coins bulging from our pockets. We sought out the locals and shared the Good News with them. One man, upon receiving a Bible, informed us that his unbelieving son-in-law was coming that day and that he had promised to give him some religious literature. He now had in his hand what he would give to him. Through strangers God had provided the Bible he needed! There are other stories, but we know that we had "made a difference to that one."

Saturday we packed our gear and flew back home. Tired but inspired! The week had gone by fast! So many people and so many needs, like starfish on the beach. We could not meet them all. But this I do know: as I lay my head on the pillow that night and drifted off to sleep thinking of what I would share with God's people in my sermon the next day; God looked down on me from above, smiled, and said, "made a difference to that one!"

-- Rev. Michael C. Wolfram

(Rev. Michael Wolfram, Vicar Chris Matthis, and Dennis Trollope from Trinity Lutheran Church, Des Moines, IA volunteered their services to Lutheran Disaster Response from Feb. 13-18, 2006)

For additional information, to schedule a trip to Louisiana or to inquire on how to get involved in the Katrina outreach, contact Ellie Menz (515) 386-8420 or ellie.menz [at] idwlcms [dot] org

How can I help in Louisiana?

WORKING TOGETHER
Lacombe, Harahan, New Orleans, Louisiana
Several weeks ago, I headed south to check out the Katrina disaster and to see how we in Iowa can continue our help. I visited the three churches that Iowa Districts East and West sponsored. I received hugs, smiles, tears and huge thank yous for you Iowans who love Jesus. You showed that by adopting families and by going to Louisiana to work. They are soooo very grateful!!!

THANK YOU to the many churches and families in Iowa who showed their love for Jesus by adopting a family in the Lacombe, LA area. I had the opportunity to visit with a number of the families and with sincere thank yous, they shared that it was overwhelming for them to receive the prayers, gifts and cards from strangers in Iowa. They said, “It gave us hope!”

This is the most open mission field that I have had the opportunity to work with. It makes a MAJOR impact on the family who received the help, but also on those around them who hear of the generosity of Christians.
A 25 year old man thanked me for the help he received and continued by telling me that he told the people at his work about the gifts he received. He told me that he had a very wealthy Jewish employer. His employer was so impressed by the generosity of Christians in Iowa that he asked who to contact so he could make a contribution. He said he wanted to make a contribution but did not know who to trust. The connection was made and he donated $11,000 to the Hurricane Relief being done through the Village Lutheran Church in Lacombe. Part of that donation is being used to continue the outreach of the Iowans who are going to work in the Lacombe area.

CALL ME--There have been many and will continue to be many teams going to lend a helping hand to God’s people in Louisiana. Call for information and orientation packets. Let me know when you are interested in going to help and I can possibly connect you with another group or establish your own group.


PLEASE PRAY for the many people who are without a home, who are ‘making do’ in very cramped FEMA trailers or living in cramped conditions with other family members. In many cases, there are three generations in one house.

PLEASE GO to Louisiana if you are physically able to lend a listening ear and a helping hand. I heard repeatedly, “If it weren’t for the Christians, we would be in much worse shape!” People of all talents are needed, but especially needed are those with knowledge of hanging sheetrock, plumbing, roofing, electrical, and any construction skills. Food and lodging is being provided for the volunteers.

MONEY NEEDED for food and building supplies. Make checks payable to either Iowa District East-Disaster Relief or Iowa District West-Disaster Relief

Questions? Please contact
Ellie Menz
ellie.menz@idwlcms.org

"Seeking to Serve" (Mission Trip '101')

“Seeking to Serve” --You are invited to Mission Trip ‘101’. It will be an informal informational meeting. We will be discussing the ‘Who, Where, What and Why’ of mission trips. Sunday, February 26 at 2:00 PM at Trinity Lutheran Church, 801 W. Lincolnway, Jefferson, IA. No charge

Ron is Planning 3rd trip to Lacombe

Helping in Lacombe

Many groups of Iowans with loving, servant hearts have gone to Lacombe, LA to help with the devastation that many of our fellow Christians are dealing with. One of those servants, Ron Aschbrenner, Concordia Lutheran Church, Cedar Rapids reports:

In October I took a group to Louisiana to help with clean up. We met another group from Des Moines and South Dakota. It was a fun and energetic group to work with. We stayed in motor homes and the fellowship hall of The Village Church in Lacombe, LA. Our motor home had the community shower and we ate in the fellowship hall. We worked hard, but I doubt if anyone lost any weight. We had a lot of good food to eat which the ladies prepared for us. The Village Church had only tree damage, because an old railroad bed acted like a low dam and kept the water from coming into that area.

On Monday and Tuesday we pulled tack strip and nails from walls and ceilings. We also cut and drug trees to the street. The lady had paid a group of boys $6,000 to remove her belongings and all the drywall from her home. We finished up what they left undone.
On Wednesday cleaned up more downed trees and gutted Belinda's home. She lived and worked in New Orleans and had 5-6 feet of water which stayed up for a long time. We went across Lake Ponchitrain to get to her home. We removed all of her personal belongings and a wood parquet floor that was buckled. Her cupboards, fireplace and walls were all covered with mold. We saw many flooded cars in the area abandoned. It reminded you of a war zone movie.
The area near the church that we worked on had only 2 feet of water and went down after a few hours. However, it destroyed everything on the floor and the drywall was moldy a couple feet up on the wall. One home had water moccasin snakes in it, so we had to wait till animal control removed them. We heard that they had to remove an alligator from a school.
We pulled the carpet, insulation and drywall from a home. A tree fell and put a hole in the roof that allowed the water to do damage. This home belonged to the pilot that you saw removing stranded people from the Holiday Inn.
On Thursday we removed trees all day. That night we were going to Biloxi, Mississippi to veiw the beach and do some metal detecting. We got as far as Waterville. The #90 highway bridge was washed out, so we drove along their beach. This area had a 30 foot wall of water come in from the gulf. We saw some sidewalks and many driveways where homes had been. A pile of cement blocks, bricks and some trees were all that was left.
I've told people to imagine everyone in Cedar Rapids 120,000+ having a flood like New Orleans and taking all their belongings and putting them on a pile by the curb. Think of it and thank God that we have not had to do this.
On Friday I worked with a group from Minnesota. We finished cleaning up a yard at a home that they had worked on earlier.
In the afternoon we went to a 2 bedroom home of a family of 6. There was mold 5 feet up on the drywall, mattresses were still soaked with water and moldy furniture warped and buckled. I saw the mother go to a closet and take her wet moldy wedding dress down to save. We carried most of the rest of their belongings to the curb.
I plan on going down again to volunteer in January. Let me know if you would like to go along or donate something for me to take along.

On January 26, Ron reports: Hi Ellie, We had a good week. We finished 2 jobs that were started by other groups. Some painting and mostly mucking out a house that had had 7' of water and 2-3 layers of everything; paneling, drywall, carpet and lots of mold. We really need to spread the word that they have room for 80 people [workers ]. Ron

Note: Ron is referring to the Lutheran Disaster Relief Tent City in Slidell. Volunteers are provided lodging and food at the Tent City. For more details, contact Ellie Menz @ 515-386-8420

Trinity, Davenport--Mission Outreach to LA

Trinity Lutheran Church, Davenport adopted George and Elizabeth Gay who were forced out of their home in the Lacombe, La. area by the Katrina disaster. They are 88 and 91 years of age! They went to Atlanta to await repairs on their home. We received grateful communication from them expressing much appreciation for our help.

When the call went out to our Trinity members regarding the many physical needs of the people in Lacombe, bins in our narthex quickly filled with canned goods, groceries, drug store items, etc. These were transported to Lacombe by persons going that way.

Our people have been responding both to the needs in the Lacombe area and to those in Biloxi, Mississippi. Last fall Bob Baker personally took a trailer load of groceries, tarps and other needed items to Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Biloxi. At the present time Bob Baker is in the Biloxi area as an employed worker. Also going to Mississippi to give of themselves and their time have been Sue Yoder and Michele Kerr.

Going down to give of their time and abilities in the Lacombe area have been Bob and Beverly Baker, Ed and Karen Rogers, Tom and Varnita Barnet. The Bakers and the Rogers wrote very detailed diaries.

We continue to keep these needs of our southern brothers and sisters in our prayers and continue to seek to extend the invitation to more of our people to volunteer to go south to serve.

In Christ,

Rev. Gib Mueller, Coordinator of Care Ministries
For the Care Ministries Committee
Trinity Lutheran Church, Davenport

Trinity Youth at Glenwood Share Gifts in LA.

Hi Ellie from Trinity Glenwood -

We were honored to adopt two ladies from Hurricane Katrina. We had two
groups from our church participate.

The Youth Group (6th grade-High School) had a bake sale at our annual Bazaar in November. Part of their proceeds went to adopt a member of Village Lutheran Church in Lacombe. We purchased a Wal-Mart gift card and each youth member handmade a Christmas card during our meeting and enclosed our gift with those.

The Sunday School PreK-8th grade donated all of their offerings given from September-December to adopt another member of Village Lutheran Church. Even the youngest of the children knew about Hurricane Katrina from watching the
news on television. We explained that our offerings were going to help
someone who lost their home.

We learned about this mission opportunity from attending the Jr. High Youth Convention in Des Moines in November.

We have not heard back from these two people. I am hoping they did receive their gifts.

God Bless you for all you do!

Jackie Hembry

Youth at Hanover Adopt a Family in Lacombe

Our Jr. High Youth group at St. John Lutheran Church, in Rural Alta, (Hanover), adopted a young lady from Lacombe. We purchased things from her list at our local WalMart store. She had many things on her list. We got some things for her kitchen and bath. We raised our funds from a Valentine dinner held at our church and raking leaves for members of our congregation. The jr high youth serve the valentine dinner to members of our church and the community.

We received pictures from her of the destruction of Hurricane Katrina. It was pretty overwhelming to see that there was nothing left of the condo. Our prayers are with her and many others as they continue to rebuild.

We would like to send some of the funds raised at this years Valentine dinner to be held Feb 8th. Many of our youth have attended the Jr. high youth gathering in Des Moines, and have helped with the many projects that you organized and were willing to help with another. Thanks Cindy Glienke.

Pastor Scott Fiege -- Adopt-a-Family

Ellie,

On Sunday November 13, I announced in our worship services that St. Matthew would be involved in a very special project. St. Matthew would be adopting a family from Village Lutheran Church, Lacombe, LA and would make Christmas special for this family. I named our project, "Blessed to be a Blessing". Our adopted family, the Patrick and Eden Matthews family would be blessed through the giving of our gifts to them this Christmas. Our Evangelism Board Director, Nancy Albers headed our project. We received the gift "wish list" from the Walmart web site and went to work. Within three weeks we had a wonderful response from the members of St. Matthew. On December 11 we brought the gifts forward and put them around our Christmas tree and by the altar rail and had a dedication and prayer during the services. Between services and after the second service, members wrapped the gifts. On December 18 we packed Kurt Schmidt's pick-up truck and he and a friend Josh VanVoorst from Rodney, IA traveled to Lacombe, LA with our precious cargo. These two wonderful young men hand delivered our gifts of blessings to the Patrick and Eden Matthews family.
They took numerous pictures and a video which they have since shared with our congregation. Patrick and Eden took Kurt and Josh on a trip around the area and showed them their home and the devastation that Hurricane Katrina caused. These images will stay with these young men for years.
One thing that Kurt shared with us was that when he opened his topper and showed the Matthews the gifts, they asked him how many more stops he had to make. Kurt told them that these gifts were all theirs. They were shocked!
It was a wonderful experience for them and us. This experience of sharing our blessings from God with those who have lost everything has caused many people in St. Matthew to grow in the love of Christ for each other and for people that we don't know, but who are now enriched in many ways.

Thank you for this project. This was a wonderful opportunity for us to reach out past our church and community. I am so grateful that we were able to do this and grateful to you for that first e-mail informing us of this project. God's richest blessings to you.

In Christ,
Pastor Scott Fiege