Louisiana | Three teams of Illinois Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers served in flood-ravaged southern Louisiana this month, and three more teams are set to go. More than 65,000 homes and 60 churches were damaged or destroyed.
Jan Kragness, a chaplain serving with a team from Williamson Association, told via e-mail about the daughter of a family the team was serving. Kragness said when she gave the girl a salvation doll, “She fell apart in my arms.” Salvation dolls have a sad face on one side representing life without Christ and a happy face on the other representing life with him. The girl told Kragness the sad face “was exactly her.”
“I assured her that Jesus could be personal to her,” Kragness wrote. The girl did not accept Christ, but Kragness is praying she will soon.
A DR volunteer from Alabama died in Louisiana over the Labor Day weekend. Sonny Ellis lost his balance, fell out of the door of the team’s laundry unit and suffered severe brain injuries.
Earlier this year Don Fulkerson, a member of First Baptist Galatia, Ill. died of a heart attack while serving with a team from his church in Leesville, La., following spring floods.
IBSA has over 1,600 trained volunteers who serve as part of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Disaster Relief ministry.
Illinois Disaster Relief is accepting gifts to help mobilize Illinois volunteers and equipment. To give, send a check payable to Illinois Disaster Relief to: IBSA, P.O. Box 19247, Springfield, IL 62703, or donate online at www.IBSA.org.
– Info from Baptist Press