Floods in Pakistan have reached CCF supported missions in Gilgit. The Gilgit Eye Hospital and Blind School that CCF supports as part of its mission outreach have had to close due to the flooding. The ministries are a part of Earth Mission, of which Chuck Odegaard is Executive Director. Below is part of an e-mail update that was sent by Earth Mission on August 17.Dear Friends,
I am sending this update regarding the floods in Pakistan. We want to inform you on how this has affected the work of Earth Mission. There will be further information on our usual EM Prompter later this month.
Chuck Odegaard has been in contact with the Gilgit Eye Hospital as much as failing electricity will allow. The situation is horrific at best. As written by one of our workers in Gilgit:
“The situation is pretty bad. No power for 7 days, no petrol/diesel, water just came on for the first time in several days, no meat, milk and basic goods in the bazaar. It is a huge catastrophe. Many have lost property and loved ones. The village of Taliz lost 5 homes and over 13 dead. Many bodies have not been found. All roads are blocked and several bridges are gone, including 4 on the Karakorum Highway which is the main road between Rawalpindi and China and goes through Gilgit. There is no known date to reopen.
Still the rains come. The only access to the most hard hit areas is by helicopter. The military is doing what it can and local government is operating a disaster relief response but the needs are to great and with too few resources to meet them. Pray for mercy and that the people will not lose hope.” Mike
In Gilgit – we are blessed that we have no loss of life to our staff. The Keitzman’s home (doctor at the eye hospital and now on furlough in the US) was flooded. The Eye Hospital has been spared damage, however it has been closed. There is very little diesel left to run the generators, and this will be conserved to help cope with emergencies. Because of the flooding, people are not coming for eye treatment.
The Blind School has been closed and the children sent home. There is no food available to feed them.
Would you prayerfully consider helping financially?
The situation in Gilgit is now to the place where very soon we will not be able to pay our staff salaries because of the lack of income through patient fees. This would be more than some of them could bear as they have lost everything.
There are so many more needs in the area. The flood has affected so many.
Thank you for praying.
Blessings
Cathy Odegaard
Earth Mission
Office Manager
608 S. Hico Street
Siloam Springs, AR 72761
cathyo@earth-mission.org
479-524-0776
Because of the extreme need in Pakistan Chuck will be updating the congregation during Sunday worship services on August 22 and a special offering will be received for Gilgit. Please come prepared to participate. Also, Please pray for all of those in Pakistan who are having their lives torn apart by this disaster.
Youth and adult sponsors have completed their three week mission trip to Ecuador. During the trip the Team had the opportunity to minister in the Ecuadorian jungle and in an urban setting. Karl Anderson, a teen member of the team described the trip this way in a letter to his supporters:
"The first two weeks our team spent in the jungle building a two story house for temporary missionaries to stay in while ministering to the native community. We were aided by some hardworking Ecuadorian men. Building a structure with nothing but three saws, several hammers, and thousands of nails is not the typical construction project. A portion of the lumber had to be hauled from inside the jungle a half hour away from our work site. Several days of this labor was definitely challenging on our strength. Teamwork was key. Encouragement and positive attitudes were a must as well. We all needed perseverance to keep working even when the burning sun was at its hottest. We were able to accomplish building all the spports and flooring of the structure in a mere ten days.
"The kids we played soccer and frisbee with were sad to see us go. The gnats were also sad to see us go, but I was less emotional about leaving them as I was the kids.
"The second ministry part of our trip was completely different from the jungle. We didn't have to rough it in tents any longer. A very comfortable hotel and bathroom were substituted for the former. Unfortunately, the delicious jungle food we enjoyed was now fattening type fast food for every meal. This portion of the trip had a new kind of teamwork.
"We stayed in a coastal city, Portoviejo, performing silent dramas to demonstrate Christ's sacrifice. Afterwards, the Spanish pastor, Patricio, explained to our audience the meaning of the dramas and invited any who wanted to accept Jesus as their Savior. We did about 3 events a day, in front of crowds varying from 25 to 600. The dramas plus the pastor's sharing were very effective and hundreds of people indicated they wanted to pray and receive Christ. God was obviously on our team! One of the biggest blessings for Patricio was the doors that we opened in a couple of high schools and a university that he can follow up on after we leave.
"It was an amazing trip to Ecuador. Please pray for Pablo, Igo, and Diego, three Ecuadorian men who helped us build the house, the missionaries that will be staying in the house we built, the hundreds of high school and college students who accepted Christ into their lives, that they would get plugged into a church and continue to grow, Patricio and his church as they are still getting started, the Team and myself as we are back home, that we would not forget what we have experienced and it would drive us to further our relationship with Christ."
Christina Skelton has arrived in Ivory Coast, Africa, after spending 6 months in language school studying French in neighboring Burkina Faso. Christina shares this excerpt from her jounal entry on July 18th, 2010:
"I got to see Fatou on Thursday. She stopped by at my teammates' home. To say that she was thrilled to see me, I think would be an understatement. She hugged me tightly then finally let go, but then she grabbed my hands and held on to those for awhile. Then when she let go she embraced me again. We just stared at each other for a few seconds both wondering if it was real. It was hard to believe it was happening.
"She has waited with anticipation for my return. She told me of the pain in her heart because she has been tested positive for AIDS. She is dealing with the bitterness and heartache because there are consequences to other people's decisions. She cried as she told me her story. She was sad that her husband, baby and self have to go through the shame of taking antiretroviral (ARVs). I held her as she spoke."
Fatou is a dear lady. She was one of my closest friends during my internship in 2005. She is from a family of Djoula speaking Muslims. She was raised with the values and customs of Islam. Her husband and her were part of a Chronological Bible Storying group. They became Christians as a family. They knew the costs of becoming disciples. Many friendships have been severed. So this dear sister is facing hardships, but at the same time she will tell me how great and faithful God is. She has been yearning for someone to come and disciple her more. Pray for the Muslims to be drawn to Jesus during this Ramadan (Islam month of fasting) season.
Sanjek and Elsa Kykeyev have been able to purchase an apartment in Kalmykia, Russia. Sanjek writes "We are thankful to God for the generous hearts of the people who helped us purchase an apartment. The apartment is SUPER! Every day we think about how the Lord loves us and we are reminded of that. We have a three room apartment (two bedrooms, living room, kitchen and bathroom) and we started finishing out the interior (the apartment is in a brand new building and according to the contract, the builder turns it over with raw cement walls and floors and each new owner must finish out their own apartment) in April and moved into it in June. We are the first family to move into our building entrance, so the stairs and walls of that entrance have not been completed either. We still have the kitchen and the children's room to finish along with the entry way. Thank you so much!" CCF assisted the Kykeyev's complete their kitchen with a gift of $750 above the budgeted monthly gift. The majority of this gift was from the 2010 Mission Banquet Fund.
Check out the huge World Missions Map across from the Welcome Center. You will also find out much more about CCF supported missions.
