Acoustic Jam, Indaba
Acoustic Jam at Indaba Coffee. Bring your guitar, banjo, ukulele, djembe, harmonica. . .whatever you got, and we’ll see what happens.
Yeah, yeah, the guy in the front has an electric guitar, but its unplugged and the painting is cool so relax. Just bring something to strum.
Water
Many of you have been praying for and following Brian Graffenberger as he helps set up water filtration units at key spots in Haiti. A couple of weeks ago he had to come home because equipment was moved off the plane and onto a boat. That slowed everything down, but he is back at it this week. Equipment is there and being installed. Clean drinking water is being provided. Here is Brian’s latest facebook post:
“Great day one unit set up and another location scouted. We are going to Leogon tomorrow to setup another unit. The area has been hard hit. The road has shifted in several places it dropped 6-8 inches. Some places there are cracks a foot wide and 10 feet deep in the road. Not a place to drive at night. Saw humanitarian workers from Japan, Equador, Canada. USA, Mexico, Teiwan, and the DR just today. Pretty cool. It is evident that the whole world is here. Very encouraging. Looking forward to another great day.”
Thank you for your continued prayers everyone. If you want to follow Brian Graffenberger directly. Search for him on facebook and become his friend.
Haiti Update
Thank you for all who gave to Haiti relief last week. Brian Graffenberger is back home in Oregon after a week in Haiti gathering supplies and making preparations for water filtration unit installations. Thank you for praying for him and giving money as he went. The trip was successful in that the 6200 lbs of sugar that is needed to make the filtration units work was secured and waiting to be used when the equipment is set up. There has been a delay. The water filtration units that were supposed to be flown in were moved to a boat instead. This slows the process down, but a team will be ready for them when they arrive. Since Brian came home early the money that he was given has been passed on to OMS International (one of the organizations that he works with in Haiti) to go to relief as it was intended.
As the allure of the disaster wears off many will forget about our brothers and sisters who will feel the affects of this for years to come. The Porch may have a continuing role to play. Please continue to pray for Haiti. Please continue to pray for those who will help rebuild. Pray for those (like Richard Brown, Joel Brown’s dad) will care for the relief workers. Pray for the people. Pray for specific ways that we can bring healing and blessing to Haiti.
Some messages from Brian in Haiti. . .
Last week we took an offering for Brian Graffenberger to take with him to Haiti. Brian is in Haiti trying to bring some amazing on water filtration systems to people who need clean drinking water ASAP. We talked about him tonight with Justin from Kaleo, You may want to become Brian’s friend on facebook so that you can get updates For those of you who have not been following him here are a few of his most recent posts:
Sunday 9:44p.m. Drove around today to scout possible sites. One spot may be where the Ortlips lived on top of the hill in Dikinie another at a spot near a refugee camp and a clinic in Carfour. Now we need the equpment to come in. We understand that it is on a plane in Ft. Pope. While driving I find myself getting used to the destroyed houses, then the smell of death hits you and it becomes a reality that there are people under there. That is a reality that is hard to take. Almost every person I ask has lost family, no matter what part of the country we are in. There is food in the markets, problem is people have lost there jobs and have no money to buy food, no credit cards or ATM. It will be a long long rebuilding process. Sorry this is so long. I needed to share. These are our brothers and sisters. Sunday 8:44p.m. From Haiti….very frustrated that the units/equipment that we are here to set up at medical clinics/hospitals etc. are still loaded sitting on a plane that has not left the military base in the States. We are ready to roll but have to wait. Please PRAY!!! Saturday 3:52p.m. Drove past the amphatheater on the Champ de Mars. It was full of people singing praise songs and worshiping God. Quite a humbling expierence. Saturday 3:44p.m. I am at the Plazza Hotel meeting with in country contact. Drove around town, WOW the pictures don’t tell the story. Can’t imagine what the first night was like. Plazza is fine, full of journalist and Dr. We are only a couple blocks from the palace. But a world away once you get in the gate. Friday 7:48p.m. Went to the border today and picked up sugar. Always harder to get things done than I think. Sugar came across border on wheelborrows 125 lb sacks. 5 sacks each. That is 625 lbs in a garden style wheelborrow. Then 3 on the back of a small motorcycle 1.5 miles to the truck. 50 sacks. Didn’t get to the compound till 9:00. Long day.Become Brian’s friend and follow him yourself at http://bit.ly/62iDa3.
Immediate Relief For Haiti
We are taking an offering this Sunday that will go immediately with Brian Graffenberger as he travels this week to bring water filtration, food, and medical supplies to Haiti. For those of you who would like to give in a different way to help ease the suffering in Haiti here are some great organizations:
Partners in Health (Paul Farmers organization)
Also Joel Brown’s dad is going to take a team soon. Go to facebook to talk to Joel about how you can help.
Haiti Earthquake
Yesterday, Justin Bryeans and I hopped in a car and drove to Oregon. Our goal was to talk to some friends about a potential long term partnership with a community in Haiti. On our way we heard about the tragic earthquake that struck the island nation. You’ve seen the images by now: bodies lying dead on the streets; people lined up for medical treatment that is in short supply; buildings in shambles. It’s awful. So what do we do?
Give – There are many great organizations who are in position to help immediately. One of them is CAMA services. Funds are being raised for some possible immediate relief and also for longer term needs as those arise. Contributions can be sent to our regional office at PO Box 3020, Wilsonville, OR 97070. You may simply designate your contributions to ‘Haiti Relief’ and we will forward it to the CAMA office in Colorado Springs. If you’d like to send your contributions directly to CAMA Services you may do so by going to their website at www.camaservices.org where you will find their contact info. It is not possible to send contributions directly to Haiti at this time due to the overwhelming devastation.
This is crisis mode. The world is paying attention for now, but in the next weeks and months this will fade from our televisions and blogs. The sexiness of crisis will be gone, but the devastation will remain. Let’s pray as a community about what it will mean for us to walk with our Haitian neighbors for the long haul. . .
When Justin and I set out yesterday, we were serious about forging friendships between The Porch, Kaleo, and a church community in Haiti. This seems even more important today.
More soon.
Follow Up – Sexual Tension
We had a great conversation about sex and the gospel as part of our series: Tension. We covered a lot of ground, but also left much up in the air. We have the next few weeks scheduled with other topics, but will revisit this topic at the end of the month specifically the topic of homosexuality. In the mean time there are a couple book recommendations that I threw out last night that I think are worth looking into.
For those grappling with sex and chastity Real Sex by Lauren F. Winner is amazing.
For married or engaged couples thinking through sexual intimacy in marriage I recommend Sheet Music by Kevin Leman.
Update on Jeremy Colvin – Choshen Farm
Dear Friends and Family,
Thank you to everyone who prayed for me while I was in the hospital.
For those who did not hear. I was admitted to Mansa Hospital Tuesday with ++++Malaria. +Malaria is the most common with +++ being critical. The fact that I was 4 plusses was taken very seriously. In 3 drops of blood they counted 2,080 parasites. I also had a 39.4 degree Celsius (about 103F) temperature that wouldn’t come down without being shot in the rear once per day. Upon admittion I was also too incoherent to know where I was, what was going on, and I couldn’t even tell Bethany her name when she asked. Very scary for her.
This morning I was discharged with no malaria count and only a slight fever. My body is weak from fighting so there is still quite a bit of rest in the next few days but we are excited to be going home.
Thank you again and please keep praying for 100% recovery and praise God for His loving kindness.
Faithfully,
Jeremy
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