Partners on Mission

Greetings Friends!

We trust that this update finds you well with the Lord, walking by the Spirit on the path that He has laid down before you.

Weather

If you have been watching the news, you know that there is a "disturbance" east of the Yucatan Peninsula. The local news channels here are all over it. As you might imagine, the entire gulf coast is concerned about the possibility of even a tropical storm developing ... weakened buildings, thousands of FEMA trailers, broken trees that have not yet fallen .... Lord help them! Please do not let this deter you from coming to their aid. Recall that Katrina was the 29th of August and the season did not end until late November ... in the interim there were thousands of volunteers on the ground. Ministry is not easy ... it requires us to go beyond ourselves. I recall a discussion from the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe ... Susan asks "Is Aslan safe" to which Mr. Beaver replies .."No He is not safe, but He is good" My point .. God is sovereign and knows exactly what He is doing when He calls you to ministry ... it may be to a furnace, a lion's den, or a jail cell ... or the Mississippi Gulf coast during hurricane season ... whatever ... He is sovereign and trustworthy ....

Volunteers

It appears that the volunteer dry spell is about to relent. To augment the volunteers who come from out of state, in the face of a growing list of work orders and 300 pod requests, we have been coordinating with other camps, the Hancock County Emergency Operations Center and with the city of Waveland. Each has volunteers that they need to put to work and they have agreed to make those volunteers available to us. We are encouraging a spirit of cooperation with the goal of ensuring the residents get the help they need. The first group shows up for work Monday morning. Recently a few local residents who are on the list have agreed to help build pods with the incentive that if they build 5 pods, they can go home with one. We believe that this is an answer to prayer ... your prayers, so thank you very much and praise the Lord from whom all blessings flow.

Community Project

We are assisting the City of Waveland in an effort to reach "middle town", an area on the north side of the tracks and south of Hwy 90. This area has many lower income families, both black and white. It seems Waveland received a grant that they want to use to rebuild the community center in Middletown and to encourage the establishment of a small grocery store. Kathleen Johnson, one our long term volunteers has been working with the city and the residents to bring this meeting and assistance into being. There has not been a lot of cooperation in the past but today we are hosting a town meeting with the mayor, other city officials and middle town residents to provide them an opportunity to discuss the the planned improvements. Little Zion BC has agreed to let us use their facilities. Please be in prayer about this.

Local Ministry

During our visits this week we met a wonderful woman ... Julia Leddy ... she lives alone in her FEMA trailer .... has a heart for the Lord and a recently acquired hunger for His Word. We invited her to our Bible study on Thursday night ... she was right on time ... BTW, Miss Julia is 90 years old ...

Martie and I plan to pass the daily mechanics of the camp operations to the volunteers who are staying with us so we can focus more on personal outreach to the people, like with Miss Julia. For now it is balancing act but we are making progress on the transition ... I plan to provide oversight but pull out of the day to day operational decisions which will free us up for other ministry

Computer training

The City of Waveland received a donation of computers last week. They weren't sure about their disposition, so we suggested that the local residents be offered a basic computer training course. Martie and I are going to teach the classes ... how to use a computer, how to use e-mail and how to use the internet. We will limit the training to those areas for now, but I can see an opportunity in the future for other classes that could be taught by some of our IT friends on using EXCEL, WORD, etc. If you have not already noticed is that I see possibilities that are down the road ... sometimes over the next hill. This expanded training may be over the next hill, but I believe as the Church, we should be known as a place you can come to for help ... God has shaped us ...

Rebuilding Mississippi

Martie and I attended a meeting held by the Mississippi Commission on Volunteer Services in Biloxi yesterday. The purpose of the meeting was to hear from volunteer organizations about lessons learned and what the most pressing needs are. There were representatives from FEMA and Homeland Defense who spoke as well. RAND Corporation has established a Gulf States Policy Institute to support the development of affordable housing in Mississippi -- Here are some numbers they shared in their report to remind you of the scope of the devastation ... 90,000 square miles, 134,000 homes damaged, 65,000 completely destroyed, More than 50,000 Mississippians living in FEMA trailers, the counties that received the most damage - Hancock, Harrison, and Jackson -- Mississippi has the lowest per capita income in the US. "Low income residents have limited means to invest in rebuilding, developers have less incentive to rebuild affordable housing" ... There are many very difficult problems that have risen out of the ashes left by Katrina ... the Church needs to be involved in finding and facilitating solutions for the people. If you are interested in reading the RAND report click on the following link ... http://rand.org/pubs/occasional_papers/OP162/ The hard copy costs $ 18.00 but you can download he PDF for free ...

While at the meeting we met Ms. Betty Byrd who is with Bellsouth. We told her about our work and ministry. She offered to send volunteers to configure a network for our computer training and possible give us a grant to pay for the DSL access as well. Betty wants to send volunteers from Jackson to build pods as well.

Well that's it for this week, Thank you again for your prayers. So many I talk to tell me that they are praying for us every day.

Blessings

Charley

Charley & Martie Elgin

Pathfinder Mission

Waveland, Mississippi

^{http://www.pathfindermission.org}

^{(228) 493-1081

Isa 58:12…. you shall raise up the foundations of many
generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of
streets to live in.}

	Greetings Friends! We trust that this update finds you well with the Lord, walking by the Spirit on the path that He has laid down before you. Weather If you have been watching the news, you know that there is a "disturbance" east of the Yucatan Peninsula. The local news channels here are all over it. As you might imagine, the entire gulf coast is concerned about the possibility of even a tropical storm developing ... weakened buildings, thousands of FEMA trailers, broken trees that have not yet fallen .... Lord help them! Please do not let this deter you from coming to their aid. Recall that Katrina was the 29th of August and the season did not end until late November ... in the interim there were thousands of volunteers on the ground. Ministry is not easy ... it requires us to go beyond ourselves. I recall a discussion from the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe ... Susan asks "Is Aslan safe" to which Mr. Beaver replies .."No He is not safe, but He is good" My point .. God is sovereign and knows exactly what He is doing when He calls you to ministry ... it may be to a furnace, a lion's den, or a jail cell ... or the Mississippi Gulf coast during hurricane season ... whatever ... He is sovereign and trustworthy .... Volunteers It appears that the volunteer dry spell is about to relent. To augment the volunteers who come from out of state, in the face of a growing list of work orders and 300 pod requests, we have been coordinating with other camps, the Hancock County Emergency Operations Center and with the city of Waveland. Each has volunteers that they need to put to work and they have agreed to make those volunteers available to us. We are encouraging a spirit of cooperation with the goal of ensuring the residents get the help they need. The first group shows up for work Monday morning. Recently a few local residents who are on the list have agreed to help build pods with the incentive that if they build 5 pods, they can go home with one. We believe that this is an answer to prayer ... your prayers, so thank you very much and praise the Lord from whom all blessings flow. Community Project We are assisting the City of Waveland in an effort to reach "middle town", an area on the north side of the tracks and south of Hwy 90. This area has many lower income families, both black and white. It seems Waveland received a grant that they want to use to rebuild the community center in Middletown and to encourage the establishment of a small grocery store. Kathleen Johnson, one our long term volunteers has been working with the city and the residents to bring this meeting and assistance into being. There has not been a lot of cooperation in the past but today we are hosting a town meeting with the mayor, other city officials and middle town residents to provide them an opportunity to discuss the the planned improvements. Little Zion BC has agreed to let us use their facilities. Please be in prayer about this. Local Ministry During our visits this week we met a wonderful woman ... Julia Leddy ... she lives alone in her FEMA trailer .... has a heart for the Lord and a recently acquired hunger for His Word. We invited her to our Bible study on Thursday night ... she was right on time ... BTW, Miss Julia is 90 years old ... Martie and I plan to pass the daily mechanics of the camp operations to the volunteers who are staying with us so we can focus more on personal outreach to the people, like with Miss Julia. For now it is balancing act but we are making progress on the transition ... I plan to provide oversight but pull out of the day to day operational decisions which will free us up for other ministry Computer training The City of Waveland received a donation of computers last week. They weren't sure about their disposition, so we suggested that the local residents be offered a basic computer training course. Martie and I are going to teach the classes ... how to use a computer, how to use e-mail and how to use the internet. We will limit the training to those areas for now, but I can see an opportunity in the future for other classes that could be taught by some of our IT friends on using EXCEL, WORD, etc. If you have not already noticed is that I see possibilities that are down the road ... sometimes over the next hill. This expanded training may be over the next hill, but I believe as the Church, we should be known as a place you can come to for help ... God has shaped us ... Rebuilding Mississippi Martie and I attended a meeting held by the Mississippi Commission on Volunteer Services in Biloxi yesterday. The purpose of the meeting was to hear from volunteer organizations about lessons learned and what the most pressing needs are. There were representatives from FEMA and Homeland Defense who spoke as well. RAND Corporation has established a Gulf States Policy Institute to support the development of affordable housing in Mississippi -- Here are some numbers they shared in their report to remind you of the scope of the devastation ... 90,000 square miles, 134,000 homes damaged, 65,000 completely destroyed, More than 50,000 Mississippians living in FEMA trailers, the counties that received the most damage - Hancock, Harrison, and Jackson -- Mississippi has the lowest per capita income in the US. "Low income residents have limited means to invest in rebuilding, developers have less incentive to rebuild affordable housing" ... There are many very difficult problems that have risen out of the ashes left by Katrina ... the Church needs to be involved in finding and facilitating solutions for the people. If you are interested in reading the RAND report click on the following link ... http://rand.org/pubs/occasional_papers/OP162/ The hard copy costs $ 18.00 but you can download he PDF for free ... While at the meeting we met Ms. Betty Byrd who is with Bellsouth. We told her about our work and ministry. She offered to send volunteers to configure a network for our computer training and possible give us a grant to pay for the DSL access as well. Betty wants to send volunteers from Jackson to build pods as well. Well that's it for this week, Thank you again for your prayers. So many I talk to tell me that they are praying for us every day. Blessings Charley Charley & Martie Elgin Pathfinder Mission Waveland, Mississippi ^{http://www.pathfindermission.org} ^{(228) 493-1081 Isa 58:12…. you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in.}

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