US Attack: Things you can pray for.

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US Attack: Things you can pray for.

Forum: Theological Expressions
Re:

Come join in Prayers for the USA people........... (Emmanuel)
Date: 2001, Sep 19
From: Christopher Yip CKHY

Would you like some pointers to pray for with regards to the US attack? Here are some. Below is a report from one of our officers (aka pastors) who is participating in the rescue efforts.
These are taken off The Salvation Army International Discussion Forum at
http://www.salvationarmy.org/sadiscuss.nsf/($All)?openview
13 Sept
TERRORIST ATTACK - SA RESPONSE
Hello friends on the forum-- In 20 minutes I will leave for my second time on the emergency teams from our school to New York for the emergency we are facing. Never have I seen so many firetrucks, ambulances, police, National Guard and security around. we had the George Washington bridge (it was closed to normal traffic, except outgoing traffic) alone last night as we went into the "battle zone"amidst the debris. We had canteens in five or six spots, which were reinforced and expanded during the night as we were trying to serve thousands of people-- resuce workers from all over.
This was to be the welcome weekend for the cadets. It is-- in a different way.
The Devil chose September 11th as a day to attack-- not only us, in this way, but in other ways as well. We went into the fray, much strengthened by an excellent message on "Holy Boldness"and a special prayer time in the chapel after the disaster had been announced, with Psalm 46. I see I have 10 minutes now and a few other things to do before I leave.
I know you are praying for all of us. It is a difficult thing to deal with, but the Lord is all-mighty and sufficient.
Elizabeth J. Roby
14 Sept
TERRORIST ATTACK - SA RESPONSE
The second day was completely unlike the first-- we were better organized and had many more canteens on the scene with an abundance of food and supplies-- we did need more masks (the smoke was pretty bad in our area and the workers were running out of them)and socks for the firemen since theirs were getting wet, but people continually were bringing us supplies, restaurants were asking clients to bring us food at closing time and so forth. Entering and leaving the "war zone" were crowds of New Yorkers applauding all of the workers and carrying signs saying "Thank You," "God bless you!" and so forth. We had canteens from several divisions in our territory, and others will be deployed to replace them as needed. I counted 8 SA sites, and doubtlessly there were more. For a while the site that I was at was the closest to the burning buildings, as three sites were evacuated by the authorities when the smoke was too heavy, but one site closer was able to reopen in the evening and were permitted to go into the front lines (yes, that's what they're being called) to offer food and drinks to the emergency workers as close to the buildings as possible. One of the young men from our youth pastors' training program actually observed a live victim being taken out of the ruins. Volunteers are coming from everywhere, but we are also experiencing some looting. When I went to take water to some senior citizens who were being evacuated from their apartments further from the fires than we were, my camera disappeared, and the overnight bag of one of our volunteers also disappeared as well as cases of water, other beverages and a carton of t-shirts brought for rescue workers who need to replace wet or dirty clothing. Many of them come from out-of-town and brought only one change of clothing as they were given only a few minutes to prepare for coming to New York City for the rescue work and are finding that they need clothing. Hilary Clinton and other important figures plus secret service personnel walked past the canteen while I was on duty, but she declined refreshments. They did see that we were there. The rescue workers of all kinds are grateful for our service.
My nephew worked in the World Trade Center until just two weeks ago when he was laid off! It was the most fortunate lay-off a worker has ever had. He was at his vacation home when the tragedy occurred.
At the School for officer training we had a blood drive for the community, sponsored by our local hospital, a Catholic hospital. Thousands showed up, of all religions and racial background, so many that they ran out of supplies during the morning and had to ask some to come next week, and will be asking others to come in the future.
I just thought that you might be interested in this update. I am having respiratory problems today due to inhaling too much smoke and debris yesterday and I'm not on one of today's crews.
Keep praying! This was meant for evil, but the Lord is working. Prayer vigils are ging on all over the world. We actually feel the Lord working.
God bless you all!
Elizabeth J. Roby
17 Sept
TERRORIST ATTACK - SA RESPONSE
I thought I had made it clear that staff and cadets were among the first on the scene-- the Army arrived at 10:30 AM on Tuesday morning.
We were formed into teams from the School and given half an hour to prepare to leave for the disaster scene. We had only one day of classes in this school year when they were canceled in order to respnd to the emergency. There are groups from the school, Army youth groups, THQ and DHQ personnel from the Greater New York division, canteens from Greater New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Rhode Island. I believe the plan is for them to be returning home when other canteens arrive to replace them, as the effort will not be a short one. Obviously, the cadets will have to have classes sometime and cannot continue doing this work full-time and the volunteers we have working at present will have to return to their jobs, but there will be others who will come to supply their places from other parts of the country and local people have responded tremendously to this. There are some of the Pennsylvania canteens serving at the Pennsylvania crash site as well. Yesterday some of our personnel was asked to help out at one of the morgue sites, and obviously, this was something that not all are prepared to do. One of the cadets told me how she watched trained psychotherapists at the immediate excavation scene take a fireman by the hand who was holding a transparent bag of body parts and saw her turn white. A fireman later came up to the canteen and touched her and said that he just wanted to touch something that was alive and pretty. These men are working tremendously hard and are working long hours, take a short break and want to go back on the scene. There are ambulances, fire trucks, police, and volunteer medical personnel from all over. Some from nearby areas are going home and working their shifts at their local fire departments and come back and work another shift in the rescue and recovery work. The school also was the site for the community blood drive and is the donation site for this area. Rumors are flying around about rescues, but we are finding that there is much more bad news than good news. There are 110 floors of rubble from two buildings, plus the other buildings at the site, and fires continuing in nearby buidlings.
My nephew worked at the World trade Center until two weeks ago, and is now glad he wasn't there any longer. I haven't heard about any Salvationists being in the buildings yet, but there were friends and children of friends in the building or on one of the planes, but all I know is what I've heard so far, so I cannot confirm that there were no Salvationists or family members involved in this. One of our cadets had many former business associates and friends in the WTC.
I know we had at least 9 canteens and feeding centers the other day when I was there, and if anything, that would have increased.
I was so moved when entering and leaving the restricted area, that there were crowds of people applauding and cheering us-- as they do all workers coming and going. They can't do much else, so they are there to support. Others are having prayer vigils.
Just continue to pray for strength for all of the workers, for those injured, for those bereaved, for those family members and friends who are suffering so much right now. Thank you.
Elizabeth J. Roby
17 Sept
TERRORIST ATTACK - SA RESPONSE
Today we observed the National Day of Mournign and Prayer. Our replacement team for the 2-10 PM shift had to wait to enter the city and the morning crew couldn't leave the city because of President Bush's visit and heightened security. Donations of clothing for the workers, eye lubricant, coffeemakers, food, water, ponchos, boots, work gloves and all sorts of things have been arriving past the saturation point, and fortunately funds are also arriving.
Our training principal announced to the staff in a conference today about strategy for the coming week, that any cadet stories about seeing body parts is greatly exaggerated (we've been getting several stories), and that there will not be any cadet participation in the morgue identification, and that only officers who feel that they are able to should be involved in that. There are Army officers currently involved in that difficult job, and they do need special prayer.
The public are supporting us totally in this endeavor and the rescue workers are very grateful for our presence.
By the way, Canadian friends, the Toronto Fire Department arrived today in New York to help out. Thank you!
Tomorrow we have a rather subdued welcome to the cadets. A bigger than usual march of witness had been planned, but we've had an even bigger march of witness in our service as we are applauded coming and going each trip, each day, by a grateful New York City. The Lord will conquer!
Elizabeth J. Roby
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There is very little we can do for the victims and families except to donate blood and to pray but for the rescuers, we can cheer them on.
Christopher