Deuteronomy 15:11— For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.
Dear Friends,
Without a doubt, many of you who receive these updates have had your lives completely changed in the past 2 weeks due to all of the flooding in South Louisiana. I assure you that our prayers and thoughts are with you, but we also desire to help you as The Lord makes it possible.
Since this letter also goes to many friends and acquaintances in other countries, you may not be aware of the recent devastating floods we have had here. Although it did not affect us here at Fairhaven, it is estimated at this time that between 40,000 and 50,000 homes were flooded, plus a great many businesses. Also, I was told that probably only about 1 in 100 had flood insurance for the majority of these areas had never flooded before. This has been referred to as a “1000 year rain”. In some areas it dumped as much as 26 inches (66 cm) in 48 hours. Words can’t describe all of the feelings that people have in having lost all that they own. I was in a shelter/distribution center yesterday, delivering supplies, and a gentleman came in. The leader of the center went to him and asked if they could help him. He said, “ We have lost everything. Anything that we can have would be appreciated”. And this is only the homes, and not counting all of the businesses and people who will be out of work and still trying to get their lives back together. At this time I believe that it is impossible to forecast the economic impact from this.
It is because of this, and the needs that will need to be met in the months to come, that I, with the blessings of others involved, have decided not to ship to Romania in November this year. For many of you who help with the Christmas boxes, we will be directing all of those assets to helping children in the flooded areas at Christmas this year. This will be the first time in about 15 or 16 years that we have not shipped in November but I do believe that it is the right thing to do, under the circumstances.
A note to those in the flooded areas who may somehow receive this, please contact me ASAP if you have needs of the things on the list that I am including in this. The Lord willing, on Tueday or Wednesday we have delivery of an eighteen wheeler load of supplies from the Baptist Disaster Relief center in Morristown, Tenn. We want to get these supplies to those in need ASAP! I do not know if many of you are noticing how little media attention this is getting, but it isn’t much. However, I believe it is another situation where our Lord is giving you and I the opportunity to demonstrate His unconditional love to those with desperate needs.
Attached, you will find a priority needs list that we have put together after speaking with some of those on the front lines in this. In our area, there are many churches/organizations collecting, or you can bring them to Fairhaven and we will see they go where they are needed.
As always, thank you all for your prayers and support of Fairhaven. Only The Lord knows how we appreciate you. May His blessings continue to be on all of you.
In His Service,
Johnny
Johnny Huffman
21066 Fairhaven Rd.
Covington, La. 70435
Ph: 985-892-1134
Fax: 985-892-1385
Cell: 985-264-5052
Email: johnny@fairhavenministry.com
Web: www.hopeforothers.org
Love is God’s will in action.
Phillipians 2:4,5–Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
