Indeed, believers in Jesus Christ can be confident that the One who died to take the penalty of their sins, who suffered every form of pain associated with those sins during His time on the cross, will carry them as they suffer through whatever difficulties they encounter in life.  Beyond that, though, Jesus is standing by those who haven’t trusted Him.  He is reaching out to them in the midst of the tragedy.  Many small children who survived the tornado have told how they had been sheltered by “butterfly people,” and most of the accounts and interviews I have heard given by adults speculate that the “butterfly people” were actually angels.  I’ve also heard a number of stories from people who survived in the only parts of their homes that were not leveled, often with just a section of drywall leaning up against their backs.  Others lived through harrowing brushes with death in their vehicles or upper-floor apartments, neither of which are a place anyone should expect to be hiding and survive a tornado, let alone a mile-wide one with 200+ mile-per-hour winds.  There is no explanation for the survival of more than 10,000 people other than the hand of God.

Jesus is continuing to reach out to the survivors through places like Mission Joplin, however.  Forest Park Baptist Church and numerous other local churches have provided places where tornado survivors can leave their unfurnished duplexes, overpriced apartments, friends’ basements, and relatives’ dens to find a mattress to sleep on, food for their cupboards (if they have any cupboards), diapers, toothpaste, and perhaps a coffee maker, frying pan, or child’s high chair.  Furthermore, they can find compassionate ears eager to listen to their tales of miracles, misery, and mercy.  Many of them are also more ready than ever to hear about the ultimate reason they are still alive, to meet Jesus Christ.  These churches could not have managed these ministries without the assistance of volunteers from other churches from out of town, often as far away as Kansas City or Oklahoma City.  Please join the effort on Tuesdays or Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. or on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.  Trust me, it will be worth the short drive.  Even if you spend a day shuttling pallets of goods and never meet a tornado survivor, your presence will be noticed.  Together, God is using us to change lives.

Written by Jonathan VerHoeven

Meanwhile, Mission Joplin continues to operate at a steady, sometimes relentless pace.  Two church groups drove down from Kansas City to volunteer this Saturday, which was good because one of the semi trailers used for storage needed to be tarped due to holes in the roof, and it took six of us all morning to get the job done.  There’s always something to be done, especially on Tuesdays and Thursdays between 10:00 and 3:00.  Those are the days when volunteers are needed the most to assist shoppers, visit with them, listen to their stories, and share Jesus with them.  Obviously, the majority of you work during those days, but if any of you do not work those days or can sacrifice a day off, your assistance will be greatly appreciated.

Many people have expressed to me their intentions to eventually help out in Joplin.  One hundred forty-nine days have passed since the tornado, and as far as I know, those people still haven’t found the time.  They probably never will find it.  They will need to make it.  The needs still exist.  They are evolving somewhat as actual rebuilding efforts gain steam, but they have not gone away.  They won’t for at least another 149 days, but a few hours of your time on a single day could change your life and that of a tornado victim.

Someone accepts Christ at Mission Joplin seemingly every week.  All go “home” (whatever that means now) with the understanding that God’s people are the ones to turn to when they have physical needs.  I continue to be amazed by the simplicity of some of these needs.  One middle-aged woman proudly showed her husband a coffee pot she had found as I helped load their truck.  Later, from across the room, I watched as another woman could barely contain her joy when a volunteer handed her a boxed frying pan.  Last week, a tornado victim who had read this very blog and is preparing to move into a new house called Ryan Martin at UBC asking if we knew where she could find some bunk beds and mattresses.  We referred her to Mission Joplin for the mattresses and have appealed to the UBC church body for the bunk beds.  Contact Ryan Martin (rmartin@ubcfayetteville.org) to assist.

If you happen to be someone who has been waiting to volunteer in Joplin because you have a specific skill you are hoping to use, send Ryan an e-mail, and we will do our best to find out when, where, and how you might be needed.  Consider Mission Joplin anyway, though, and watch the Outside the Lines episode.  As I said before, it’s powerful.

Written by Jonathan VerHoeven

Our trip went well with much accomplished and relationships with many people established, despite the language barriers for some of us.  The only seemingly disappointment was due to much rainfall the week prior to our arrival.  The road to La Cumbre, a village in the mountains, was very hazardous due to mudslides, etc. from heavy rain.  Therefore, we could not spend the two days that were anticipated with the Zapotec people.  But the Lord and Kerry had an alternate plan.

We got to know Felipe, Kerry and Mauri’s right-hand man, and also Felipe’s close brother in the Lord, Oti.  Both of these men presented their testimonies of how God has changed them into a new person in Christ, following years of disobedience and turning their backs on God’s plan for their lives.  I am reminded of 2 Cor. 5:17, especially from hearing the testimonies of  how Christ is using them now.

Oti now leads a rehab or restoration ministry called La Consecha, where approximately twenty plus young men are helped in their recovery from addiction, abuse and neglect, and are in need of shelter and food.  Oti himself, previously was in this lifestyle before he came to know Christ and totally surrendered to Him.  We heard Oti deliver a very heartfelt and passionate message on Sunday afternoon.  There were people that lived in the nearby area and families in attendance, in addition to the residents of La Consecha.

I can’t remember all of the names of these men, but their faces and genuine smiles of friendship, thankfulness at our willingness to get to know them, as well as communicating the love of Christ will be remembered for years to come.

I came to know the reason for my being in Oaxaca early Sunday morning at breakfast.  We met a young lady named Julietta, who is the daughter of the couple who own and manage the La Villada Inn where we stayed.  Mike and Dianne had previously met her on an earlier trip and also her mom and dad.  They talked with Julietta about her need for a personal relationship with Christ, in her life and trusting in Him.  Through our conversation, I became aware that her father, Papa Chi had passed away last January.  Before we had to leave for the day’s activities, I just hugged her and told her tearfully about my wife, and having a common understanding of what we were both experiencing.  I expressed to her to start each day in prayer for God’s help in getting through the day, and pointed to scriptures that have meant so much to me, as I have sought the Lord through my time of healing.  So over the course of no more than five minutes with this young lady, it became abundantly clear why God sent me to this place.

Written by Mike Raybon

The Lord began this ministry about five years ago using a saved, former alcoholic and drug addict named Otiniel (Oti).  They have two properties.  One is nearer town where most of the men live, work, eat, sleep, and worship.  The second is a piece of land farther out where they raise Talapia, pigs, corn, and now rabbits and chickens.  It was a wonderful experience to get to know the men, to work with them and for them, to encourage them, and to worship with them.

The rabbit hutches were designed with an area below them to collect the rabbit’s droppings.  To this area we added three kilos of worms/compost from a worm farm out in the country and some dirt.  This will provide a place for them to compost their kitchen scraps along with the rabbit´s droppings to produce a nutrient-rich compost for them to use as fertilizer for their crops.  And, as the worms increase in number they will be fed to the Talapia and the chickens they are now raising to reduce the amount of fish and chicken feed they must purchase.

The picture to the right is a picture of the first three rabbits and their cages that we purchased and delivered.  Kerry Johnson is on the right, Felipe (his “Timothy”) is to the left, and Oti is in the middle.

Toward the end of our week there we visited a chicken hatchery and met a Christian named Julio Jorge and his wife.  After visiting with him, we were given 2,000 newly hatched chicks.  The folks of La Cosecha came to pick these up in their pickup and delivered them to the farm site.  The men had prepared an area inside a small shed/barn for the chicks.  We prepared feeders and waters for the chicks under the supervision of Bobby Highfill, who had forty-two years of experience working with raising chickens.  (I am always amazed how the Lord directs the right people to be a part of each mission trip I have been a part of.)  To the left is a picture of the chicks before we got them out of the crates in which they were delivered.  As the chicks mature a coop will be built for them.

One of the many ways that Kerry ministers to the poor throughout Oaxaca, Costa Rica, Haiti, and Africa is with water projects that make safe to drink the contaminated water that most of the world’s people have available to them.  One afternoon we installed a water filter in the kitchen for La Cosecha that will enable them to filter all their drinking water for many years instead of purchasing bottled water, as they now must do.  Based upon their current usage of potable water they will be able to save over $1,000 per year using the filtered water instead bottled water.

While Bobby, Mike Raybon, and I were working with the men our women were ministering with Mauri Johnson to women associated with La Cosecha.  To the right is a picture of Oti’s wife (Gabi), Mauri, Gabi’s sister (Mili), Dianne Lawrence, and Elizabeth Highfill.  Our ladies bought the material and taught a group of ladies to make blankets, that they can use personally or sell to help provide some income.  They also showed them how to weave bracelets.  In addition they conducted cooking classes.

We were so blessed to get to know men who just a few month’s ago were in the chains of sin, drugs, and alcohol.  It was so thrilling to get to see these transformed lives and see II Cor. 5:17 in action.  Please pray for these men who we met: Oti, Sofanías, Manuel, Polo, Juan, Antonio, Beto, Victor, Marco, Eutimio, and Ruebén.

While it is good to be able to accomplish projects like I have described above, we believe that one of the main reasons the Lord led us to Oaxaca was to love, support, and encourage the Lord’s laborers there like Kerry, Mauri, Felipe, Oti, Mili, and, Gabi.  The Lord’s servants like these tend to feel alone in their work and overwhelmed by the enormity of the task they face.  They always share what an encouragement it is for believers from the states to come and minister along side them.

Written by Mike Lawrence – (pictures forthcoming)

Tornado survivors are still discovering Mission Joplin.  Two high school volunteers from Oklahoma and I were assigned to deliver mattresses to five homes Saturday, two of which were FEMA trailers, two others were rental houses in the center of town, and another was a duplex in Webb City.  Not everyone we visited wanted to talk, but those who did told us how much they appreciated us, Forest Park, and Denver Mattress Co.  Two of the people told us their specific stories of survival.  One man lived through the tornado two blocks west of the high school, hiding in his walk-in closet.  The clothes protected him and his family, and something (we suspect God) prevented a sycamore tree from crashing into the closet and crushing them.  He spoke of how wonderfully Joplin’s churches have responded to the disaster.  He also told us that he will be living in his new rental duplex for a year before being able to rebuild.  Another lady described how she, caught by surprise, had ridden out the twister in her vehicle outside her home.  She, too, credits God not just with her survival, but with the survival of everyone else who was not where they should have been at the time.  (An incredible number of people survived in their vehicles, while more people died in their homes than on the roads.)  These are just two stories of thousands.  In a future post, I’ll recount the story of my mom’s best friend and her church family’s survival when the tornado hit their church building directly across the street from the high school.  They are still waiting to rebuild.

Last week, I introduced by cousin, Missy Lloyd, who volunteered with me at Mission Joplin last Saturday.  Today, I am also sharing her thoughts.  She is a John Brown University freshman from Hemet, California.

“I had an amazing time in Joplin on Saturday.  Being from California I had never seen tornado damage before, and I didn’t realize how powerful they can be.  While we drove through the devastated area, seeing the rubble and barrenness that the tornado left behind had me in awe. I liked some of the signs that we saw, saying things like ‘Thank You Volunteers’ and ‘God protected me.’  Also, I saw so many American flags that day, which really depicted the hearts and attitudes of the people of Joplin.  Volunteering at Mission Joplin was such a humbling experience.  I was able to visit and pray with people who had lost everything and help them get the provisions that they needed.”

Mission Joplin is still open Tuesdays and Thursdays from 12 to 7 and Saturdays from 9 to 3.  Visit Pastor Swadley’s blog at the link above to see how you can donate goods, and please consider sacrificing one day to pitch in and help.  Continue praying for the people of Joplin as well.

Written by Jonathan VerHoeven/Photo Credits – Missy Lloyd

This Saturday, my cousin Missy and I drove up to Mission Joplin together. We worked as “personal shoppers” [see August 17 post] helping tornado survivors and other needy Joplin residents find the goods they needed, listening to their stories, praying with them, and sharing the Gospel with them, even if it’s only a small part, like Pastor Mike said tonight at UBC.

One survivor, a middle-aged Hispanic lady, did not speak much. I pushed a shopping cart behind her as we proceeded silently through the shelves and the separate house where clothes are kept. She selected each item with great care and deliberation, especially when we reached the housewares section and she picked out a couple of dinner glasses and a small mirror. Glancing down at my clipboard, I saw that she had lost her home and everything in it during the tornado. When I felt that I could talk to her, I asked where she had lived and if she attended church anywhere. “23rd and Virginia, behind Sonic” came the first answer without further details, and “No” the simple second. I recalled having driven down Virginia before and frequently eyeing the remains of that neighborhood while driving past on Main, one block away. Her answer to my question about church had been so abrupt that she later surprised me by answering my request to pray with her with a resolute, insistent, “Yes.”
A few moments earlier, I had met her son, a young man probably in his upper teens, who had waited in their vehicle the entire time in the heat and barely made eye contact with me. It became increasingly apparent that both mother and son were living in a fog. Even 104 days after the tornado, they still lived in a state of disbelief, uncertainty, and fear, with the mother doing the best she could in her own strength to cobble together some random goods.

After I prayed with her, she had tears in her eyes. With her son sweltering outside in the car, it wasn’t the time to start a deep spiritual discussion. I simply shared very briefly how the tornado had impacted my family and me, and how much we and the people at Forest Park Baptist Church care about the tornado survivors and are continuously praying for them. When the Mission Joplin staff calls her someday to follow up on her prayer requests, I pray that they find her even more responsive than I did and that she and her son might soon come to know Jesus personally.

A final word about the Mission Joplin staff – Misty, Audrey, Lori, Brock, and all the other supervisors. They know exactly what they are doing. Misty brought the model for Mission Joplin home from repeated trips to Mission Arlington before the tornado happened, and with the support of their pastor and God’s provision of donations and volunteers, they have developed a fantastically organized operation. Misty’s mother, a spiritual rock in the community known affectionately as “Gammy,” passed away suddenly in July, shocking her family and the church, but the ministry did not miss a beat. The Chris Tomlin song, “God of This City,” is their anthem, and it could have been written for them. God is using Forest Park and Mission Joplin to bring greater things to that city. Don’t pass up an opportunity to be part of this amazing response to tragedy. In the meantime, keep the people of Joplin in your prayers.

Written by Jonathan VerHoeven
Photos by Missy Lloyd

The unexpected happened in that I started getting homesick within the first week of being in Iquitos, and that continued almost every day for the rest of the two months. The root of that struggle wasn’t so much that I wanted to be home, or away from Peru, but it was that I was not being content with whatever situation God had placed me in. I wasn’t finding my satisfaction in Jesus. Reminding myself of Philippians 4:4-13 was an incredible help for this. It was definitely hard, but I’m thankful that God allowed me to draw closer to Him through it and really cry out to Him and admit that I absolutely cannot live without Him. When my “everything” of family and friends and my comforts were removed, God remained faithful and led me straight to Him. God is so good, patient, and full of grace to constantly supply our every need according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Through this trial, I know he deepened my faith in Him.

Moments when the Holy Spirit was working around us, in us, and through us this summer were made clear to my team and I. My teammate Meg and I knew the most Spanish out of the four of us, but were far from fluent. We knew that the Holy Spirit was speaking though the both of us when we were able to share the gospel in Spanish with our classes, talk our student Loanna through how she can be saved, and even explain to Fausto, a new believer, the redemptive story of the Bible from creation to the ascension of Christ, just as Meg was led to do. There was no way we could have done that by ourselves! He also answered our prayers in His perfect timing, sometimes using dreams to make certain things known to us.

My team and I were taught to trust in the work of the Holy Spirit everyday as read and discussed 12 different Bible stories as a way of teaching English and talking about Jesus with our students. We were blessed to witness how God’s word goes out and accomplishes His purposes – it does not return to Him empty. It was amazing to see some fruit from our short time there through four of our students repenting and believing in Jesus as their Lord and Savior. My team and I are praying that these were truly seeds planted on good soil and that they each have been sealed by the Holy Spirit. Even if were were to not have seen any fruit this summer, God used our brothers Ron and Alex and sister Lidia from Iquitos, who were such an awesome encouragement to us, to remind us of 1 Corinthians 15:58 -
“Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.”
He is faithful and merciful to use us to fulfill His purposes.

Overall, my trip was a life-changing experience for me. I’ve learned that it is a gift to be able to serve God and be His witness here in Fayetteville, in the states, and wherever He wants us to go!

Written by Sydney Duerr

Joplin should have been more of a local story for us.  Granted, many of you reading this blog may be like me and have strong ties to the Joplin area, but it doesn’t seem that many other people really understand how close we live to the site of the worst natural disaster to ever occur within 100 miles of Fayetteville.

Think about that for a moment.  The May 22 Joplin tornado was the worst natural disaster to ever occur within 100 miles of Fayetteville.  No tornado, earthquake, hurricane, fire, or flood has ever killed as many people and destroyed as much property as close to us as that tornado did.  It destroyed every structure in a path that, if superimposed on Fayetteville, would stretch from Penguin Ed’s West to Penguin Ed’s East and from the intersection of Garland and Wedington/North to Deane Street (8 miles long x ¾ mile wide, with extensive damage for another ½ mile to the north and the south of the line).  Imagine if Washington Regional, Fayetteville High School, and a good portion of MLK Boulevard were also in that swathe, and you can begin to fathom what that tornado would have done to our city.  It demolished 8,000 structures and displaced as many as 15,000 people.

The retreat of the news vehicles from Joplin left the tornado as a memory for the world, but it is still a fact of life for the people of Joplin.  Fifty-five families in Forest Park Baptist Church, which runs Mission Joplin, lost their homes. The man with whom I have delivered mattresses several times now calls his daughter while we’re out to see if she and her family need him to bring them anything.  There will come a time when they will not need anything, but that time is still too distant to see.

Helping the people of Joplin is our responsibility in Northwest Arkansas.  We are too close not to serve them for as long as they need us.  Mission Joplin was created on the same model as Mission Arlington, a ministry we travel a great distance to serve.  The fact that we are so close to Joplin, however, means that no one needs to take a whole week off of     work to volunteer.  You just need to volunteer for one day at a time.

Let Ryan Martin know at rmartin@ubcfayetteville.org if you are interested in forming a carpool to drive to Mission Joplin this Saturday, September 3.  Mission Joplin will be open from 9:00 to 3:00 that day, and it is also open from 12:00 to 7:00 on Tuesday and Thursday.

For more information visit www.missionjoplin.tv.

Written by Jonathan VerHoeven

Joplin is coming back, but it will be a years-long process.  Saturday, my dad and I once again delivered mattresses for Mission Joplin to people who had not slept in beds they could call their own for three months.  I’ve written before about families whose first pieces of furniture were the mattresses from Mission Joplin.  A Forest Park Baptist Church member and I delivered a mattress to another man who is just now collecting furniture for his new rental house – a tiny shack not much larger than the garage in his old house must have been.  He described to us how the tornado had simply seemed to stop over his house as he lay curled up in the bathtub.  (Literally a mile wide, the twister took 2 ½ minutes to pass any given location and was so large that it had an eye.)  “I don’t ever want to experience that again,” he told us repeatedly with a weary, hollow gaze that told us that much more than three months time would be required to heal his wounds.

Our next stop was in a neighborhood that was missing most of the trees it once had despite being on “the edge” of the damage.  We carried the mattresses into a cramped house that looked as if it had recently undergone some repairs and found a person sitting on nearly every piece of furniture.  The homeowner ran down a roster of no fewer than five relatives who were now staying with her after losing their homes.  There was hardly room to walk as the floor was cluttered with what I imagine were salvaged belongings owned by the refugees.  My dad told me similar stories after he finished his deliveries on a separate route.  That afternoon, he and I drove through one of the two villages of FEMA trailers set up near the Joplin airport.  The lengths to which the city went to set up mailboxes, storm shelters, street signs, a police sub-station, and a trolley stop highlight the length of time the residents are expected to live there, and the number of trailers falls far short of the number that could be occupied.

The staff at Mission Joplin have mentioned a number of times that the donations they seek are the items a person might need to move into a new apartment with no possessions to their name, or that a newlywed couple might need to set up a home.  Many victims are starting from scratch.

Starting this week, Mission Joplin’s hours are Tuesdays and Thursdays from noon to 7:00 and Saturdays from 9:00 to 3:00.  Surely someone reading this blog in Northwest Arkansas can find time to drive 90 minutes or less to Joplin and fill a crucial need for a few hours.  Every hour worked is a blessing, and every task is necessary.

In the meantime, pray for the people of Joplin as they attempt to live normally in an environment that will not let them.  No matter what encouraging signs of progress fill the headlines, and no matter how many days pass, the dark afternoon of May 22 is only a thought away.

Check out www.missionjoplin.tv for more info.

Written by Jonathan VerHoeven