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To: [log in to unmask] Dear Christian friends, Alice and LeRoy Horpedahl, married 53 years, lived in their Los Alamos house 36 years. They were with family members in Sante Fe when the evacuation order was issued. When LeRoy and his son drove back to Los Alamos, fires were three blocks from the house. In ten minutes they gathered a few items into an heirloom trunk. Suddenly their home - lovingly filled with photographs and memories and pieces of themselves - was gone. John and Jean Elder - now retired - lived 25 years in their Los Alamos house. They were out of town attending a class reunion when the fires broke out. As they watched CNN news they saw their neighbor's house fully engulfed in flames. They knew their house was gone, too, and everything in it. They couldn't get back to save anything. "We lost everything, but we feel blessed. We feel God's presence in every offer of help, in every hug, in every word of encouragement. God is in our lives every minute, every day. We are thankful," Alice Horpedahl told me. I am writing to you from New Mexico. I spent several days in the Los Alamos area, where last May massive forest fires roared. Some twenty thousand people were evacuated and watched on TV as their community went up in flames. Over 380 homes were destroyed. Pastor Ed Thomas (Bethlehem Lutheran Church) showed me how flames burned trees a few feet from his church. The building survived, while a yard or two up the hill lies a field of ash and devastation. There's not much left where the fires burned. Four-hundred-year-old ponderosa pines are blackened trunks. Almost all burned houses and trees have been bulldozed, creating large open empty areas. There are only a few foundations filled with the ashes of what once was. Lutheran Disaster Response is present and extending God's love. Working through Immanuel Lutheran Church (Pastor Doug Escue) and Bethlehem Lutheran Church (Pastor Ed Thomas), in coordination with the local interfaith organization (Allison Gregory, coordinator), case management is provided (there are already 150 cases), unmet needs are met, and long-term recovery plans are made. Six months after the fire few FEMA claims are processed because of this disaster's complexity. Rebuilding is slow due to lack of resources and builders. A "Femaville" of eighty mobile homes houses some residents. Others live with family members or rent small apartments. Those staying and rebuilding don't expect to be in new homes until next spring or summer. As we approach Thanksgiving Day, the scent of ashes and the sight of destruction are fresh in my mind. I pause to think of thousands affected this year by wind and floods, fires and tornadoes. But I also reflect on Alice's words about the living blessings of God offered through the presence and labors of others. I have seen lives and towns torn apart this year from time to time and place to place. I have also seen God's presence, even in the devastation. What do you give thanks for on Thanksgiving Day? I give thanks for the strength, faith, and courage of those who suffered so much this year, for individuals and families in Kentucky and Georgia, New Mexico and Missouri, Minnesota and North Dakota, Montana and Ohio and Florida. I am thankful for the long-term patience and perseverance of survivors in Oklahoma, Kansas, and North Carolina. I give thanks for you, who pour out your love, prayers, financial support, compassion, and caring. I give thanks for pastors and lay members who proclaim the Gospel by word and action. I give thanks for volunteers who travel to unknown places to rebuild houses and lives. I give thanks for staff and colleagues in the church, for Lutheran Coalition members and for other faith partners who offer Gospel help and hope. And with the whole church I give thanks for God's grace present in every offer of help, in every hug, in every word of encouragement - God who is present every minute, every day -- upholding and sustaining us all. Yours in Christ, Gil Furst GILBERT B. FURST (written on Thu, Nov 23, 2000, 2:35 pm). Director for ELCA DOMESTIC DISASTER RESPONSE (Division for Church in Society) and LUTHERAN DISASTER RESPONSE (a cooperative ministry of the ELCA and LC-MS) 8765 W. Higgins Rd., Chicago 60631 PHONE: 773-380-2822 FAX: 773-380-2493 Please visit our website: www.elca.org/dcs/disaster