Be a part of the response:

Pray
Please pray for the people who have been impacted by the wildfires in California. May God’s healing presence give them peace and hope in their time of need. Pray that God might deliver comfort to those who mourn the loss of loved ones, and strength to those who are working diligently to contain the fires and care for affected communities.

Give
Gifts to “U.S. Wildfires” will be used to assist those affected by the wildfires until the response is complete.

Connect
To learn more about the situation and the ELCA’s response:

• Share this bulletin insert with your congregation and encourage support.
• Sign up to receive Lutheran Disaster Response alerts.
• Check the Lutheran Disaster Response blog.
• Like Lutheran Disaster Response on Facebook and follow @ELCALDR on Twitter.

A few weeks ago, Rev. Michael Stadie traveled to California to accompany our affiliate and the communities impacted by the recent wildfires. He shares this reflection:

When I visited California last month, I knew I wanted to visit some of those whose homes were destroyed by the fires. That is one of the most important things Lutheran Disaster Response staff do when visiting areas impacted by a disaster—visit not only with those who are responding but with the survivors as well. We want to make sure they know LDR and the ELCA cares about what happened to them, make sure they know they are not in our “blind spot.”

While I had seen the pictures taken from the air of the destruction in the Coffey Park area of Santa Rosa, seeing it from the ground was even worse than I had imagined. It was stunning to see for block after block the charred remains of peoples’ homes; stunning to see through what were people’s homes. (A picture I took of the scene is elsewhere on this blog post.)

When I expressed how many trees were left standing, a person shared there were many more in the neighborhood, the burned remains of the trees were the only ones left in the neighborhood.

During my visit, I heard many stories of how at 1:00 or so in the morning, people were awakened and told to flee for their lives. I also heard the heroic actions of people taking the time to insure their elderly neighbors were able to get out.

One of the hardest stories for me to hear was the one where the gentleman heard the evacuation order and got his family in the car, and promptly got stuck in a traffic jam with all the others who were evacuating. He shared as he was waiting in traffic, he saw the back of his neighbor’s home catch on fire and when he saw that, he knew his home would be destroyed.

An even sadder story was told to me how first responders found an elderly husband and wife in their garage. She was seated in the passenger side of their car, and he was near the door. Apparently, the fire went into the garage when he went to open the door to back out.

Stories like these are being told by the survivors. These traumatic events mean while people may recover physically with a new home, it will take a very long time, if at all, for people to recover emotionally and spiritually. And what is true of the people in California is also true for all those impacted by the hurricanes. With all of the disasters the past few months, please remember to keep the survivors in your prayers. And please pray for their emotional and spiritual well-being. While it is easy to be concerned about their physical needs, we are also called to be concerned about a person in their entirety. And Lutheran Disaster Response is working with the local affiliates and synods to address the emotional and spiritual needs as well as the physical one.

Rev. Michael Stadie is Program Director for Lutheran Disaster Response U.S.

Be a part of the response:

Pray
Please pray for the people who have been impacted by the wildfires in California. May God’s healing presence give them peace and hope in their time of need. Pray that God might deliver comfort to those who mourn the loss of loved ones, and strength to those who are working diligently to contain the fires and care for affected communities.

Give
Gifts to “U.S. Wildfires” will be used to assist those affected by the wildfires until the response is complete.

Connect
To learn more about the situation and the ELCA’s response:

• Share this bulletin insert with your congregation and encourage support.
• Sign up to receive Lutheran Disaster Response alerts.
• Check the Lutheran Disaster Response blog.
• Like Lutheran Disaster Response on Facebook and follow @ELCALDR on Twitter.

In late October, a small delegation from the ELCA traveled to Puerto Rico, St. Croix, St. Thomas, and St. John. They walked together in prayerful solidarity with our sisters and brothers in the Caribbean Synod and the Lutheran Social Services of Virgin Islands. Here, Johanna Olson, Manager for Relationships for the Europe, Middle East and Northern Africa in the ELCA Global Mission Unit, shares a reflection of her time as part of the delegation.

From October 16^th to the 25^th, I traveled in a Lutheran Disaster Response (LDR) delegation to meet w/ the Caribbean Synod, its pastors in Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Island and met with congregation leaders and was fortunate to worship in congregations, in the aftermath of Hurricanes Irma and Maria.  We also met with Lutheran Social Services of the Virgin Islands and with FEMA and other voluntary organizations active in disaster. 

We were also hosted by the Caribbean Synod, in Puerto Rico and LSS of the US VI, in the Virgin Islands.  Colleagues, who were also hit by the hurricanes, found us housing, picked us up and drove us to various meetings.  They drove us through horrible traffic without traffic lights, because of downed electric poles and downed electricity.  Staff also welcomed us into their homes, dear reader, without electricity or running on expensive generators to feed us and for us to just talk and eat good food and relax.  For some of us, this was a time to re-connect with old colleagues, and for some of us, a time to meet colleagues we’ve been talking to over the phone for the last several weeks, hearing updates from the disaster and the church response.  Receiving robust hospitality, in such a challenged setting, is a humbling gift from God. 

This togetherness that we explored and lived with our island colleagues, in our conversations, meetings and car rides set in the destruction from Hurricanes Irma and Maria in Puerto Rico and the United Virgin Islands has a name to it:  accompaniment.  In Global Mission, in ELCA synods and congregations across this country, with our companion churches throughout the world, we talk and endeavor to live this, this quality of walking together in a solidarity that practices interdependence and mutuality.  

This is hard work.  How does my nine-day visit afford interdependence and mutuality with our Puerto Rican and Virgin Island brothers and sisters?  They don’t leave the disaster site.  The electricity doesn’t suddenly turn on for them, the jobs they’ve lost suddenly do not return, the friends and family they have that have moved to the continental United States suddenly don’t re-appear.  The life they once knew doesn’t immediately come back.  It won’t come back.  The things I am describing to you are mourning, this is compounded grief. 

The ministry of Lutheran Disaster Response is about the long-term recovery, commitment to serve people impacted by the disaster years after the event.  LDR is a wonderful ministry of accompaniment. 

We stay in close communication, amid cell phone communication challenges, to promote awareness of things going on and the things that change, it seems, daily, and to support them in their steps into recovery, for their parishioners, their congregations and of course, the broader community.   And we pray into new ways of being together, of listening to God direct our minds and actions.

I imagine if you’re reading this you’ve contributed funding to Lutheran Disaster Response.  If you haven’t, please consider making a gift today.  If you are interested in volunteering, the response is not set up yet to receive volunteers for rebuilding.  Please be patient.  LDR is here for the long-term, so come back to this site again for further information. 

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Be a part of the response:

Pray
Please pray for the people who have been affected and are in the path of wildfires in California. May God’s healing presence give them peace and hope in their time of need. Pray that God might deliver comfort to those who mourn the loss of loved ones, and strength to those who are working diligently to contain the fires and care for affected communities.

Give
Gifts to “U.S. Wildfires” will be used to assist those affected by the wildfires until the response is complete.

Connect
To learn more about the situation and the ELCA’s response:

• Share this bulletin insert with your congregation and encourage support.
• Sign up to receive Lutheran Disaster Response alerts.
• Check the Lutheran Disaster Response blog.
• Like Lutheran Disaster Response on Facebook and follow @ELCALDR on Twitter.