Living Hope Church

The Team is in Mississippi right now!!

Hello everyone!  My name is Dan Plotner and I’m part of the relief team here in Mississippi.  I just want to tell you some of the things God is doing in my heart and mind through this trip. 

First of all we have been really blessed by all the members of Fernwood Baptist Church.  They are so friendly and loving it is hard to even believe.  They are so gracious and kind for sharing their church, their homes and their lives with us.  They also really appreciate what we are doing down here.  They aren’t the only people who are glad we are here.  Everywhere we go, people stop and thank us for coming down and helping out.  It is just amazing.

We have also been blessed by Pastor Jim’s sermons this weekend.  Sunday morning he talked about being thankful to God and how thankfulness is linked with praising and worshiping him.  It was really powerful.  The whole time he was talking, God was breaking down some walls in my heart and I could just feel his awesome love and power.  I don’t usually talk like this but it meant so much to me I have to talk about it.

After the service, I went and talked to one of the lady’s we were able to help.  She had been sick since the storm and could hardly get out of her house.  She told me how much she appreciated what we did and she wished she could somehow repay us.  The tears in her eyes brought water to mine.  I told her between long pauses, (so I wouldn’t lose it) that just allowing us to be here and help her was payment enough for us. 

Just being here and doing what we are doing is giving me a glimpse of how God must feel when he sees people hurting and in pain.  Even though we haven’t even scratched the surface of all that needs to be done, what we have done just makes me want to do more and more to help them and make them whole again. I’m sure that’s the way he feels when he sees people that have been beaten down by the storms of life.  What we are doing can’t compare to what God can do but I couldn’t imagine going to someone who has lost everything and having the ability to help them but they turn us away.  They would rather live in the aftermath of devastation than to receive what we have to offer.  Would you believe that?  We gave up two weeks of vacation to come and help them, and they refused.  That hasn’t happened but I think it is a great illustration of what is like for people who turn down what God offers us.  We gave up two weeks but God gave up his son.  He gave up everything so he could give us everything but people turn him down and would rather live in ruin and despair than to accept his free gift.  I just have to praise him for his grace and mercy that he worked in my heart so that I don’t have to live in such a desperate and lonely situation.

I didn’t mean to preach to anyone but that is just something God put on my heart to say.  He is so awesome and is doing so much to us and for us that I can’t even express it fully.  This is without a doubt one of the greatest experience of my life and I’m glad Living Hope listened to God and sent us down here to help.  We have to give all the glory and praise to God.

Your friend in Christ,

Dan

Pictures from Gulfport

The second team arrived yesterday and rather than resting from long flights, immediately went to work! They plan to help as much as possible in their week long stay.  The current goals are just to help those who can't help themselves, pray with people and show people that they are loved and that they matter to God! 

Here is a picture of Pastor Duane and David in front of First Baptist Church in Gulfport.  This church of over 500 families is now meeting at Gulfport High School.   Communication has been a bit difficult with our team, but we'll continue to give daily updates and hope that tomorrow we'll have pictures of the entire team and their working conditions.  Please keep them in your prayers.

Arriving in Gulfport!

When we first arrived in Gulfport we didn't see the huge need that everyone had been talking about. We talked to the people at a church that we were able to make contact with (communication was very difficult last week) and felt that it wasn't what God was leading us toward. We then drove around a bit and were able to get into downtown Gulfport and finally see what we had been hearing about. The devastation was amazing. Buildings are completely wiped out. We then went to Fernwood Baptist Church, were we talked to the Pastors wife, Isabel and felt that this was where we needed to be. This is a Southern Baptist Church that is made up of mostly elderly people that really need our help. They are very grateful and very hospitable. They are taking great care of us and all we want to do is serve them. They have provided opportunities for us to shower.  The water is still so bad that when we shower, we have to cover our mouth and nose so that it doesn't enter our system.  We have talked to a few of their congregation members and found out that the people in their neighborhoods are also needing help. There are a lot of volunteers here, but they are mostly feeding people...Not getting out into the thick of it and cleaning up.  We're excited for our team to be arriving!

That's it for now...I'll email more tomorrow when I can.  The trucks have gotten here and the drivers were nothing short of amazing.  Our team shirts are allowing us to walk into police barricaded areas without a lot of questions asked, which will help us to begin doing actual work in the areas that need help.  There's so much to share.  I'll email more tomorrow.

Peace to my LHC family.

David