Hi Guys,
I see a lot of posts on the board about the "Christian Right." of which as a bible believing evangelical Christian, I suppose I am a member. Most of the posts are bemoaning our baneful influence on the nation or how we are the "American Taliban". I see the same thing when I go to the bookstore and see the titles of new books shrilly warning about an impending theocratic takeover and the dire steps we have to take to avoid it. I'm not surprised by that, like bad news from Iraq that's all we generally hear about in the media. It's a caricature, but it is persistently presented and after a while it "becomes" reality for most people.
It's not the world I live in though, I live and interact on a daily basis with men and women who are devoted to making a positive impact in the world both at home and abroad, who preach good news, who feed and clothe the poor, who visit the sick and imprisoned, who counsel the troubled, and who mostly do that expecting no reward in this life. Like myself, I know many people who could be earning much more and working less in another trade, but who gladly sacrifice that to serve the Lord and their fellow men.
Let me give you just one example of that from an email I received today. This was sent to me by a church in Biloxi in our denomination that has been assisting those whose homes were damaged or destroyed by Katrina since it happened. In that time countless volunteers have come through to help rebuild the homes of perfect strangers and they haven't received a dime of financial renumeration for doing so.
[As an aside, if some of you think your church, or YOU and/or your family might like to help rebuild in Biloxi, I've left the contact info in.]
I didn't include the pictures of the Katrina destroyed, and volunteer rebuilt houses from the original email, but they were startling.
Bob’s Going Home
Last Chance To Help Rebuild Biloxi
You can still help make the house on the left look like the house on the right.
As many of you know, First Presbyterian Church has been helping rebuild Biloxi, but the decision has been made to end our hurricane Katrina rebuilding effort at the end of this year .This is very sad as there is still a great need for volunteers to continue helping rebuild Mississippi. We have been about this task for twenty-three months now and even though we are quitting, the job has only just begun. For example, even after nearly two years, we receive requests for help faster than we finish repairing houses.
The following facts might help you to understand where we are in the rebuilding effort. Early in June, a small area of east Biloxi was studied to try to understand both what had been accomplished and what still needs to be done. The area studied has 1900 houses still standing. Just over 600 of these houses have been rebuilt and are occupied by families. The same area has another 600 properties where the houses are completely destroyed. This is in an area that has had more concentrated rebuilding effort than other areas, and still so much is yet to be done.
Life in a 240 square foot trailer is difficult at best. I tell our volunteers to make sure that they enter one while they are here and try to imagine living in one for two years. They usually comment on how cramped everything is especially the bathroom. Many of the families have to send some of their children to live in other places. Picture yourself in the place of one of our local families. Picture that the next time you return home your house is badly damaged and you can’t live in it. There is no insurance money coming and you have no way of rebuilding your house yourself. Would you need help? This is reality in Biloxi.
The people we work with are people who have no hope of ever living in their house again unless we or someone like us rebuilds it. These people simply do not have the means to rebuild them by their own efforts. This state has the lowest per capita income in our country, and many of the elderly have only their Social Security income to live on. The big question facing thousands of Mississippi families is what happens when they are ordered out of their FEMA trailers? I don’t know the answer to this, and neither do the people who will one day lose their trailers.
Despite all this, there is a good spirit among the people of Mississippi. They haven’t spent their time blaming the government for all their troubles. Instead they have done what they can to rebuild their lives. Our teams often report how great it is to work with these people. Yesterday a lady came up to one of our teams in a parking lot and thanked them for being here. The other week while my wife was in the bread store buying bread for our camp she was talking to a man who lost both his house and his business. He tried to pay for our bread to show his appreciation for our volunteers being here.
It has been exciting to have been here in Mississippi this last nineteen months assisting in the relief effort. The light of the church is shining brightly along the gulf coast of Mississippi. Many thousands of Christians are and have been working to show the love of Jesus Christ to the residents of Mississippi; the people are very aware that it is the church which seeks to help them and we are greatly appreciated by the local population. The cooperation among many church groups is wonderful to be a part of, and lives are being changed. We have seen people come to Christ both among our workers and out in the community. Lately we have had great joy in being directed by God to work on homes of fellow believers. When we show up, people often tell us that they have been praying for God to send them help.
You can make a difference. We desperately need your help. Let’s keep the light of the church shining here in Mississippi. There are three main things we need to keep this work going:
1. Prayer; keep us in daily prayer as the enemy is doing all he can to disrupt this work.
2. Send money. We can use all we will ever receive. We have no paid staff so 100% of any money donated goes to the work.
3. Read Luke 10:2 and then ask the Lord of the harvest if you should be one of the harvesters. We have over 500 unfilled beds between now and our closing at the end of the year. Filling these beds will allow several more families to move into their houses.
What is it like to be here; what can you expect? You will be living upstairs in the church in air conditioned rooms with either a cot or bunk bed to sleep on; you only need bedding and towels. Showers are outside in a building with hot (usually) and cold water. We have a kitchen where we work together to prepare food. Most of the work is rebuilding houses. You do not need to be a professional contractor to help. We match up job orders with the different gifts a team might have. Once you get away from the zone of destruction along the beach you will find lots of shopping so there is no need to bring all your supplies with you. We pay for the cost of operating this camp by faith thus there is no daily fee charged. If you are able and want to, you can donate to the cause, but it is not necessary. We allow children to come as we feel it is a good experience for them.
Expect to be changed by your experience here; I have had pastors report to me about how people have returned home with new Christian zeal. Something most people say before they leave here is,” I want to come back as soon as possible.” I have seen individuals and churches come back over and over again, some as many as ten times. There is great joy in being part of what God is doing here in spite of the hard work. You will be a part of a work in which many tens of thousands of your fellow Christians have taken part in glorifying God.
Serving here is as easy as phoning me. You can come by yourself or with a group. We accept all ages and welcome family units.
In His Service,
Bob Bolitho
Church number 228-374-6880 Cell number 864-909-0943 E-mail PTLalways@prodigy.net
