Sunday Morning Hangover
Feb 8th
Sunday Morning Hangover [suhn-dey mawr-ning hang-oh-ver]
- noun – the Monday experience for pastors after a long, usually enjoyable Sunday
I’m going to start a new segment here on my space of the internet(s) called Sunday Morning Hangover. It’s a place where I can post all of my thoughts from the previous weekend. So much of what I do on the weekend breezes by without much thought or introspection. It’s been my experience that reflection can often times help in clarifying vision and bringing about a thankful spirit.
- We started a new series this week called Once Upon a Marriage and talked about the sordid love triangle of Jacob, Rachel, and Leah. It’s truly a soap opera-esque story. Most importantly, we unpacked the idea that God should always be our #1 while our spouse is our #2. As the Gospel of Matthew says, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (6v33)
- State Streeters, you guys step up every weekend and do a great job. There’s so much time and energy to be put into the weekend experiences. I’m blessed to be a part of this community.
- Someone came up to me this weekend with tears in their eyes to tell me about some life change that was happening to someone she loves. God had grabbed a hold of this person and his life is changed. I never get tired of hearing those stories.
- The Colts lost the Super Bowl. I have many friends that love the Colts. I don’t. They beat my Bears in the Super Bowl a few years back. I’ll never forgive them for that. For as long as I live. Never. It was a fun game, though. Some State Streeters got together to watch the game. Here’s the crew…
Surprise Update
Jan 22nd
Because of the nature of what was happening, we’ve been keeping this under wraps… until now.
Yesterday, as was reported, our teams were broken up. I told you about the two medical teams that were diligently working on doing some incredible medical work. I didn’t tell you about what was happening with our third team; Jay Loucks, Erin Mungia, Jean-Claude Pierre, and Noahdson.
This third team waited in the Jacmel airport for transportation to Port-au-Prince for a visit to the American embassy. They eventually flew to PaP and waited for 36 hours to be get their turn with the embassy officials. Those of you familiar with the Mungia’s know that they’ve started the process in adopting a young, Haitian orphan; Noahdson. Because the government made some concessions on in-progress adoptions in Haiti, the team decided to capitalize on the lienency and to try and get to the States under an evacuated orphan visa.
I’m happy to report that Noah is now in Orlando, Florida with Jay Loucks and his soon-to-be mother Erin Mungia. This has been a highly stressful time for these guys and there’s been a bit of uncertainty through the whole process. But, all of it paid huge dividends in the end. Welcome to America, Noah!
EDIT: Just because I think they’re neat, here are some pictures sent to me from Erin during this process…
Waiting at the embassy. All of these kids were waiting for their visas to be processed.
Immediately after the papers were finalized, they took them to the airport to fly them into the States. That's a big bird.
Haiti Update | 1-22-10
Jan 22nd
Dr. Dave Miller is leading one of our medical teams in Grand Goâve. He’s currently partnering with another organization with which HSM has ties called Lifeline. Within this group is also Dr. Lavera Miller, Dr. Laura Hannon, and Starr Nyby. Dr. Miller sent us this update tonight (sent from an iPhone so edited a bit for context and complete sentences);
What an incredible day. We started at 7:30 with an 8 month, still born baby. We saw tons of injury and disease and ended tonight at 9:30 with the birth of a healthy baby girl. Pretty much sums up the whole of the joy and sorrow in this country and this world.
This region is bad, probably worse than Jacmel. 12% of population is dead. 20% is seriously injured. Most local hospitals are not functioning and are out of supplies (and not just antibiotics). Their generators are out of fuel, their food is gone, their nurses missing, and their doctors swimming in the deep end without lessons.
There are dozens of humanitarian workers arriving but minimal coordination. It’s an imperfect system smashed into this imperfect world with thousands dead, dying, or fearing such. Everyone sleeps in the street for fear of being caught inside during the next big one. The only real hope lies in a supernatural power. I think we all should ask specifically for God to heal Haiti.
Heal Haiti.
Heal Haiti.We are humbled by how little we can do with antibiotics and wound care. They have plenty of needs for that plus more. For instance, their house was flattened with their son inside. They have no food or water and are living under a tarp out front of their former home. There is some stinky green puss flowing from a leg gash. God please heal Haiti.
The road to restoration in Haiti is a long one. But we believe it can happen.
You can continue to support the work of Haitian Support Ministries by donating online. Every dollar you donate truly matters.
Haiti Update | 1-21-10
Jan 21st
“I’ve never witnessed anything like this. People are dying in front of our eyes, Lou.”
This evening, Jay Loucks called Lou Hoekstra (the President of Haitian Support Ministries) and I (the guy that spends far too much time on the internet) and filled us in on some of the emotional scenes that our team is witnessing in Jacmel, Haiti. Though I couldn’t see it or have the same experience here in the States, you can feel it in Jay’s voice that the situation in Haiti isn’t just another tragic occurrence in a long line of devastating events for Haiti. This was something even more. This is a catastrophic tragedy unfolding right before their eyes that was affected them in profound ways.
But there is hope.
News came to the doctors that a city to the north (Grand Goâve) had been devastated by the earthquake and a clinic had 1200 people waiting in line to get medical attention. One of these people was a baby that desperately needed an amputation. After hearing news of the tumultuous medical situations in this small city, some of our team (Dr. Millers, Dr. Hannon, and Nyby) went to the Jacmel airport and waited on a helicopter. As you can imagine, there is very little order in Haiti right now and there wait for transportation took hours. Hours that could have been used for saving lives. I asked Jeff Brown if he needed his passport when he arrived in Haiti, his response,
Don’t think there is any customs here. I asked about showing our passports to immigration last night and the lady who received us from our flight just laughed and thought I was joking. Then said there isn’t any immigration department anymore.
The team that was headed to Grand Goâve waited at the unorganized, mismanaged airport most of the day to be finally ushered to their destination. Dr. Dave Miller sent a message to us tonight saying,
Made it to Grand Goâve. Staying at Life Line tonight. Working with medical group from Massachusetts. Four doctors, three nurses with Mission of Hope. God is good. We are working and doing great. Tremendous needs here. We are blessed to get to be here.
The other team (led by Dr. Ben Mannix) went to our girl’s home to set up a base there. They checked the health of the kids and got a better grip of what’s happening in Jacmel (specifically by our mission). The Red Cross might be helping us at this location. More to come about that later… if anything comes of it.
I’ve really come to appreciate the power of twitter. Last night, I received this message…
franklinpolanco: @nateloucks @MelyMello @JoyInHope any orphanages in #jacmel?
Because we have an orphanage in Haiti and I’ve got fingers built for shooting six-shooters, I quickly replied back to him…
nateloucks @franklinpolanco Yeah, we have two orphanages in Jacmel (boys and girls). 70 kids. One of the buildings was destroyed.
After a few messages, we had a helicopter and plane load worth of supplies ready to be delivered to our team in Jacmel. Incredible! Here’s a picture of some of the stuff…
Tomorrow, another load will come to Jacmel for our team as well. All of this because of a 140-character or less connection through twitter. Nice.
Tomorrow brings a new day with new problems and new people. Continue to keep them in prayer. They need it. They feel it.
You can continue to support the work of Haitian Support Ministries by donating online. Every dollar you donate truly matters.
Haiti Update 2 | 1-20-10
Jan 20th
Wow. Where to start?
Today was such a hectic day for me and the rest of our team left here in the States. I can’t imagine what our team in Haiti is feeling right now. Troopers; that’s what they are. To give you a clear picture of what happened today, let’s look at a time line…
8 AM: I received the email from Jeff Brown that was posted earlier.
8: 30 AM: As the team in the Dominican scrambled to find another plan to travel to Haiti, the HSM Director (Lou Hoekstra) and I worked on getting facilities for our team to use when they arrived in Jacmel. We always assumed they would arrive; we just didn’t know when!
Throughout this process, we were able to foster a friendship with some missionaries serving with The Haitian Children’s Home in Jacmel. They’ve been in Jacmel and have served as our eyes and ears. Without them we wouldn’t have known the whereabouts of Jean Claude or any connections to set up our medical people. In short, these guys and girls have been an incredible blessing to us.
8-10:30 AM: We kept in contact with our team as the pursued other means of travel. At 10:30 AM, they were able to get access to a plane that would fly them into Jacmel. Though it was going to be a hefty (and unexpected) expense, we knew that every minute was important and keeping our doctors in the DR would not, in any way, help our friends in Jacmel.
12 PM: The team boarded the plane for Jacmel.
1: 45 PM: After an event-less flight, the team arrived in Jacmel. Immediately, they met one of our partner missionaries (Danny Pye) and were briefed about the situation in Jacmel. A text came through to us from Erin Mungia saying, “Where is Jean Claude? He’s not here!”. As you probably could guess, cellphone service in Haiti right now is spotty. Actually, it’s always spotty. Now, at least there’s a reason!
3 PM: After multiple attempts at contacting Jean Claude from the US, the team decided to find a ride to Jean Claude’s house outside of Jacmel.
The team broke up into three parts. The doctors went to a location to start facilitating medical care. The nurses and soome of the team went to the orphanage. Jay and Erin Mungia waited at Jean Claude’s house for JC to arrive.
5:30 PM: The team at the orphanage brought Watson to Erin for what was surely an emotional reunion of mother and son.
Tomorrow: Our team will get an early start on assessing the situation in Jacmel and working at the hospital. As I hear more, I’ll update you.
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Just in case you’ve missed these articles, here are some publicity HSM has received lately. Remember, you can donate to HSM online.
- LaPorte Volunteers Headed to Haiti (WSBT) and (SB Tribune)
- Haiti Earthquake: Heartbreak and Joy in Jacmel (Examiner.com)
- Haiti Earthquake: Jacmel, One Week Later (Examiner.com)
- Area Man Uses Facebook to Connect With Loved Ones (Herald-Argus)
- LP County Physicians Off to Haiti (Herald-Argus)
Haiti Update | 1-20-10
Jan 20th
The team got up early this morning and tracked down a plane (thanks to the help of some contacts in the DR). Though it’ll be quite costly, they’re hoping to share some of the expenses with another group going to Haiti. If all goes as planned, they’ll be leaving this afternoon for Jacmel, Haiti. I’ll continue update this situation as I get more info from them.
There are four doctors on this trip (Dr. Lovera Miller, Dr. David Miller, Dr. Ben Mannix, and Dr. Laura Hannon). If the reports from the media can be believed, the medical situation in most of Haiti is dire. Continue to pray for them and that God will guide their hands as they do what they can to provide help for the people of Jacmel.
Also, a 6.1-magnitude aftershock earthquake hit Haiti this morning. Here’s the latest from CNN.
Haiti Update | An Update from Jeff
Jan 19th
Jeff sent this to me tonight:
Nate,
Well, we have arrived in Santa Domingo, Dominican Republic. It has been an interesting trip so far. Nothing to unique about the long process of getting to the island of Hispanola. However, now that we are here and were sitting down for dinner, one of Jay’s contacts met us and welcomed us to his country. The next words out of his mouth were not the ones we wanted to hear. He said, “Well, I have some good news and some bad news for you. The good news is that you have made it this far. The bad news is that one of the planes is out of service and won’t be ready for some days from now as a piston needs replacing and the only one is being shipped from Chicago.” If only we would have known this in advance, we could have picked it up and delivered it!
There is still another plane that is available, but it can only carry cargo, no passengers. So we are looking at our options. I have emailed MAF in Haiti to see if they could transport us and we could ship all the medical supplies separately. Another option is to drive for 8 hours to the coast and try to catch a boat for another couple hours to some port in Jacmel. Yet another option, and the least desirable to us (and anyone who ever encounters adversity), is to wait– wait for God to present a solution or for his direction.
Jay is planning to meet with the guy who arranged our flights to Jacmel and see if there are any other options that we don’t know about and we will try to update you as we learn more. We are all racking our brains to locate individuals who might have planes, or people who might have contacts in aviation that might be able to make some connections on our behalf. We are stumped right now, but everyone is in agreement that we need to be praying for a solution. We would love it if you all could be praying with us that God will move in a mighty and unforeseen way to glorify himself through this.
Jeff
State Street Update | 1-19-10
Jan 19th
Last week we continued talking about having margin in our lives. We’ve narrowed the idea of margin to being the amount available beyond what is necessary. We’re putting our lives under the microscope and asking the question, “Do we have margin?” This could include financial margin, relational margin, margin with our time, and everything else that takes something from us.
When we live our lives with margin and aren’t constantly stretched to the limits, we can more open to responding to God’s will. For example, someone came to me last week and wanted to give money to our mission in Haiti. Unfortunately, because of some poor decisions in their past (we all know how that happens, right!), this person had no financial margin to give to something that they sincerely felt led to be giving to. It really comes down to re-prioritizing and re-orientating your life and having margin enough to respond to God’s calling. As the writer of the book of Romans so aptly put it,
“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:2
In other State Street news, we continue to see some neighbors visiting us on the weekend. It’s always been our goal to be a neighborhood church (hence the name chosen). This weekend two children found their way over to State Street. This is what Lynn Weiler said about it:
Two small children came in and walked through the building. They found the Sunday School room.
They came with out parents. A brother and sister. A little blond girl dressing in a striped skirt. A boy with brown hair. They asked the teacher..May we stay for 2nd service too? We had cupcakes in the kitchen. The two were hungry. The cupcakes were offered to them by the teacher. The boy ran them home to his mother. He came back.
The last four months I have spent almost every Tuesday, Saturday and many other days and evenings, at State Street community church with many wonderful people.
Demolishing walls, hauling out trash, Sanding drywall, painting and scrubbing, sweeping, cleaning,setting up a sound system that hopefully will be pleasing to all who enter. Those two small children were Jesus today. He was checking us out.
Mark Bublitz (our discipleship director guru czar) and I are working on some discipleship stuff that we’re excited about. We’re hoping to kick off a few group opportunities in a few weeks. More information about those will be coming soon.
Haiti Update | 1-18-10
Jan 18th
On January 19th at 4 AM, twelve people from the LaPorte area (mainly doctors and nurses) will embark on a trip to Haiti. We’re excited about the opportunity to not only assess the situation and ministries in Jacmel but to hopefully be a part of bringing restoration and relief to the people (physically and spiritually) of Haiti.
We would be remiss if we didn’t share how this trip took shape and what we believe to be God’s hand working through it all. Last week a friend of mine who went to Bethel College when I did sent me a message through Facebook. In that message he talked about his dad being a missionary in the Dominican Republic (where he and his family will soon join them) and that his dad would soon be crossing the DR border to go to Jacmel and help in aiding the people. He said that if they could help in any way with what we’re doing, they would.
To this point, we had been praying about a way to get into Jacmel to see what was happening with the people, churches, orphans, and the surrounding community. We had received a phone call from Jean Claude (our pastor/administrator in Haiti) and he requested that Neal and Jay Loucks come down immediately. When I got the message from Brandon, I immediately knew that something very positive could come of this. We messaged back to him to inquire about the possibility of joining his father’s ministry on their trip to Haiti. Brandon sent back his dad’s phone number and Jay contacted him further. While all this is happening, we were able to make another contact in the DR that is willing to help in getting a trip to Jacmel.
Tomorrow, some incredible doctors and nurses will be joining Jay Loucks, Jeff Brown, and Erin Mungia on a trip to Haiti that will take them through the Dominican Republic. There are so many unknowns right now regarding this trip (will we be able to fly into Jacmel? will we be able to visit Port-au-Prince?) and it’s not exactly the safest or most stable time to visit Haiti. However, we believe that God is calling us to do something to help our brothers and sisters in Jacmel. We know that Jean Claude needs support.
Many people are contacting me about how they can help out with the mission in Jacmel. We’re still in need of financial support. You can go to the Haitian Support Ministries website and donate online. You can also continue to be in prayer over this situation (not only for the people of Haiti but for our people leaving tomorrow). For those of you that are wanting to visit Haiti, I will be leading a trip in June 2010 to Haiti to help in the rebuilding process. If you feel that God is calling you to be a part of this trip, you can email me and let me know. Details about this trip are being firmed up and will be released soon.
Update on Lewis
Jan 15th
Jean Claude was able to call us today. He talked with Lynn Loucks and told her that Lewis is with him in Jacmel. He also stated that Calvary Christian Church in Jacmel was able to feed 200 people yesterday. In the midst of the chaos, they have not forgotten their calling.
Jean Claude has requested that Neal & Jay Loucks come down to assess the situation with him. We are working on getting an emergency trip put together to help assess the situation for Haitian Support Ministries. After this trip, we’ll know more about the severity of the damages to the churches, orphanages, schools, and area of Jacmel.
Many people have contacted us about going on a trip to Jacmel to help assist in rebuilding. It warms our heart to think about how many people truly care about our brothers and sisters in Haiti. Because there are so many unknowns right now, we have not been able to put dates on any trips in the future. However, we WILL be going down this summer and we will be partnering with our churches in Jacmel to help restore what was lost. We will update you on when these trips will be and how you can be involved. For the time being, donations to the ministry to help rebuild can be made at haitiansupportministries.org.