Team Leaders, Secretaries and DOMs,
Here are the most resent updates on what is going on in DR.
Maria – Our team of 20 from East Tennessee left out yesterday and traveled to Atlanta for their flight out to Puerto Rico this morning. Last work I received was that they were all checked in, through security and on the flight waiting to take off. By the time of writing this, they should have arrived to start their great adventure to see how the Lord will use them over the next two weeks.
Please pray for them as they look for opportunities to serve the people in Puerto Rico through whatever means available. Some of the things this may include may be cleaning up and salvaging people’s property, cooking and hooking up the portable water purifier and simply giving out clean water to the residents around them. Pray for God to open-up doors of ministry to share about the love of Christ in a difficult time. Pray for their safety and living conditions as they will be camping out in a church facility with very limited access to food, water and electricity. Pray that each night, God will give them good rest.
Doors are starting to open-up for other DR Teams and Church Groups to serve in Puerto Rico. Most of the work will be in the recovery area. If you are interested in taking a DR team, let me know by sending me an email and I will send you the instructions as I have been given them. They are now looking for teams to go for a one week stretch. If a group is going as a DR team, you will ALL have to be DR trained and have your certifications up to date. Numbers are limited for this, so the sooner you gather your group and are ready to go, the more chance you have of space being available.
Irma – We have a team out of East TN in Florida helping with work in Immokalee. They are helping to supervise groups of untrained volunteers as they seek to serve. Next week we will have another team consisting of East and West TN volunteers going to serve in the same location as team leaders, chaplains, administration and cooks. Keep all these in your prayers as they travel and serve.
Harvey – This week we have three teams from the Plateau and Middle TN serving in the Orange, TX area and a group from West TN continues to serve in the Beaumont area as well. I am grateful for the teams that have continued to prepare and respond to the needs in TX. You are doing a great job and the work is moving along quickly. Pray for their safety as they continue to serve, clean and share the Good News of Jesus.
Nate – Praise God, Nate did not do a lot of damage as he moved through over the weekend. I have heard from both the MS and AL State Directors and they say they are in good shape and do not see the need to have other teams come in.
Through the gifts of TN Baptists, churches and our partnerships we have among the different SBDR teams around the state we have seen at least 7 truck/trailer loads of goods shipped to TX, LA and FL. God’s Warehouse in Nolachucky Association has done the heavy lifting on this project. They have also recently sent the first container of goods to Puerto Rico and are working on putting together a number of other containers of supplies. May God receive all the Glory from the giving of His people to help in a time of need.
In Christ Serving Together,
Wes Jones