The Big Meeting

Jeff Hutchison

Before continuing our story, we must make a correction of a previous post.  I owe an apology to my good friend Jeff Hutchison as I have misspelled his name repeatedly.  Sorry Hutch.  Perhaps the reason I made this mistake is so that I can have one more opportunity to say thank you for a job well done.   

The following story will be  the final post, on Puerto Rico at least for the near future. Surely there will be more stories to come in the future, as we try to begin a partnership there. 

The following is a continuation of our visit, and gives some idea of what a partnership might look like. 

THE PUERTO RICO STORY (Part 5)

The Big Meeting

Wednesday May 9^th.   We decided we would take a trip to Ponce, checking out other areas on the way that we thought might be in worse condition than where we are in Yabucoa.  We are looking in particular at Playa Guayanes as a key area to be considered as a place for building relationships. But we wanted to see what other areas might look like. On our way, traffic was heavy, and we veered off to another beach area in Salinas.  We later found out that too was an area that was hit very hard as well. We drove around trying to assess how much damage was really done there, seeing similar situations, and buildings without roofs like those we saw in Guayanes.  We finally found a small diner where we could have lunch, and then decided to drive back as it was already getting late.  We were discovering that it was probably like this all over the island, just harder hit in some areas than others.  There is a great depression lurking, and already people fear the next hurricane, and still there is not electricity for everyone on the island as yet.  

One of the goals we had set before going to Puerto Rico was building new relationships that would lead to a long lasting partnership. We saw the fruition of that goal all wrapped up in "one big meeting".  We might say this the highlight of our visit. 

Pastor Joe Ramos

   Thursday, May 10th our objective was to follow through on a meeting where we would introduce Pastor Joe Ramos to Fernando Silva and Zenaida Navarro.  We wanted to get a few key people together that we believe God has called out for an extra special service for the Island of Puerto Rico. These are three people that we have met for the first time, but believe they are the ones that are making things happen. Furthermore, we believe that we at might be able to come together with them in a plan to build a strategy for a long-range hope of sustainability.  It has been a long road to get here, but worth every minute of the effort.  

Fernando Silva & Zenaida Navarro

Early in the morning we met  Pastor Ramos and drove down to Playa Guayanes to introduce him to Zenaida Navarro, and Fernando Silva.  Above and beyond trying to take good notes of the conversation, we just wanted to open an opportunity for Joe, Fernando, and Zenaida to meet each other, hoping we all could form a great lasting relationship.  We believed this truly was a divine intervention, as Joe told us yesterday.  Most of the conversation that took place was follow-up of individual meetings that Norma and I had with each of these three, and the follow-up of the meeting of pastors on Monday.  

Here is a short wrap up of those conversations.  We learned that there are approximately 4000 people in Playa Guayanes, and there were approximately 24 houses with no roofs.  Seventeen of those are still unfinished. Thousands still remain across the country.

Playa Guayanes

    Joe gave his story of living through the 24 hours of Hurricane Maria.  He said that the hurricane sustained itself for a full 24 hours.  It just would not leave.  The eye of the storm hit them head on, and covered the whole width of the Island.  He said, “Just try to imagine the biggest jet plane ever made setting right over your head and never moving.”  That is what it sounded like.  He said it just set and churned for twenty-four hours.

Fernando described it by the topography of the country, and the way that the eye of the storm hit the walls of mountains creating great momentum. As it bounced off the walls, it started all over again.  Much of the soil in the mountains broke down into sand, which caused a lot more damage because the mountains began to break off causing mudslides in the highways.  

They all agreed that the greatest problem they have today is not just the material 
damage alone, but the mental anguish they are all going through (PTSD).  And because of no electricity in this area and others, they cannot keep up with enough generators because they easily burn out.  The people will sometimes jump in fear when they hear a generator sputter.  They don't know whether to shut it off and hope it will last another day, or leave it running and burn out, trying to save food for just one more day.  

The two men discussed the dilemma of the past years of Protestant History in Puerto Rico all the way back to the 1930’s. They spoke of Liberation Theology and how it got its start in the 30’s and rose again in the 70’s and 80’s. They pulled out illustrations of the time when Billy Graham was looked down upon for making friends with leaders in the Catholic Church. Much of it was verbiage, but over the years it created difficult situations.  In the past, those were subjects only for the brave at heart, but now with the advent of Maria, these men were not afraid to take the subject head on as there were fears that some of these feelings have crept back in to the churches again.  Some Evangelical Churches still have these fears. 

But Joe believes now, because of Maria, the bubble has finally burst, and out of desperation, rather than choice that all people can and will work together in this tedious challenge of rebuilding the nation.  These three philosophers, one strong Evangelical Pastor, one Catholic community organizer and one Christian Theologian and Philosopher lying somewhere in between, agreed, at least for the moment, the churches had to lay down their swords and come together for one human cause of survival.  They agreed they should have representatives of all churches, but that those representatives must be willing to lay aside any tendency toward denominational lines or doctrines.   

All three were in agreement that they wanted to create strategies that would help the Islanders rebuild their country.  They believed the people must come into an agreement and participate, as a community, rather than struggling alone doing small amounts of patchwork here and there on their own. And except for times of worship, the church buildings could be made available for the people to come to work together as a community for the good of all. They agreed they could work on this one cause, and let God do the dividing wheat from the chaff in His own way and time.

El Fagon is a place to bring the community together

Each church should feel freedom to maintain their own doctrine when they worship, but in the area of rebuilding the country, they could all come together for planning strategies. Perhaps churches that are willing to fit into a plan or strategy, might get priority in funding for repairs and or rebuilding.  But together they could use their buildings to make places for feeding, at the “community fogones”.  They could be used for teaching how to make use of the mosquito
nets, how to properly filter the water and teach ways for disease control.  The church buildings could also be used for a place for people to come for counseling, hoping they can get trained psychologists who speak the language to come in to counsel people with problems of PTSD. 

Joe spoke of 5 churches in his area who might agree on a three stage strategy of relief, reconstruction and sustainability.  He said he had already witnessed too much patchwork in the community, and people are just putting out fires, rather than making any real progress.  He said if he can get an agreement on a strategy like this, then he would be completely in for the long haul.  He said already, people fear another hurricane, and the trauma and shock has impaired the work that could be done. 

Both Joe and Fernando wanted to convey the message to us that any groups or individuals, who desire to help, should do so at the invitation of workers on the ground in Puerto Rico who would be prepared to receive them.  In our case, if we are able to build a partnership, anyone from our church, should only go at the request of a future committee or by Joe, or Fernando. Either they, or a newly formed committee, would have prepared the specific task for the group that would be going, and then should be totally agreed on by any participating church.  Hopefully roofs to be built would be by people who could be able to go for up to two weeks if at all possible, and with the objective of building long range relationships.

Both mentioned that safe and sound financial guidelines must be practiced. Funds and resources should go out through safe banking policies and could possibly go through Palmas Community Church, or The Puerto Rico Community Foundation.  Both men have said any money coming through either of these means would be spent 100 percent for the Puerto Rican relief effort. 

Fernando said that any funds we might send in for relief would be pooled in an organization headed up by Nelson Colon, where all money could be directed at least temporarily.  Nelson is founder of “The Puerto Rican Community Foundation", and has said his office would make sure every penny is guarded so that no expenses or fee would be taken out of gifts in any way for the furtherance of the organization until further notice.  All would go to direct rebuilding of the country.  They would not even allow cost for movement or transportation from stateside or anywhere else to be covered for individuals or organizations to come in to help.  The money would all go for supply and the cost of building. The mission statement of the PRCF states they are organized: "To develop the capabilities of poor communities in Puerto Rico so they are able to socially transform themselves and achieve sustainability."  This foundation can be found as being rated, under Guidestar, which is one of the world’s largest sources of information on nonprofit organizations.

Fernando began asking questions for which he already had answers but used them as a way to emphasize the importance to be truly organized before making attempts at helping. How many electricians have come in from the government, and other companies and organizations, and have only done patchwork.  They still have no dependable functioning electricity and water in most areas, and in some areas, none at all.  So of 300 thousand people over the past 8 months since Maria hit, who have tried to restore the grid, why don’t we have electricity? All agreed that government could not solve their problems.

The government reported that there were between 65 and 70 killed during Maria, but they are now discovering that over 4,600 to date may have died, due to related problems that followed in the after math.  How do you think these things are affecting the people?

And then, the follow up question was, what was the answer to the greatest need mentioned on Monday at the Pastor’s meeting?   To all who were present, it wasn’t electricity; it wasn’t food, water, or even roofs.  It was the mental and spiritual health of the people.

Joe felt for the first time, the bubble of differences has been broken, and revival may be surfacing. He asked, “How would Jesus approach this situation?”  We need to make the connection between Jesus and the people.  He mentioned that a man in a real estate office wanted to get across to the people, that, “We are in the aftermath of the aftermath.”  We just need to back off, cool down, and then come together to plan a strategy. 

Fernando believes that the Puerto Rican Council of churches, has problems of it’s own and is not working together, because of wounds of the past among the doctrines etc.  It is the only organization of churches in Puerto Rico, and Joe and Fernando, believe something better could be formed than what exists now, and with much better priorities. They want to have further talks on how to make this happen. The Central government is working everywhere on the Island, only through the Democratic Party, and it is not solving the problems.  They may be making them even worse. These problems have to be outlined through interdenominational committees. Churches, INCICO and other organizations can be advisors, but it is the people who come together and work together that will make things happen.

Many churches have been destroyed or badly damaged

 Fernando believes Christians, and even Pastors, can lead these committees, but they have to let go of their religious views when they come to together to work on these causes.  He believes that it is ok to give priority to rebuild  churches  that have been damaged or destroyed, who are willing to be put to use for the community benefit.  He believes they should be used for worship an for their own doctrines,  or worship, but they could also be used for other purposes. They could be used for counseling and for medical needs.  They could also be used for discussions on forming strategies and creating work alliances and move through the community restructuring.  He believes the people must  think interdenominationally.  "We have to let denominationalism go until we get this community back on its feet." he said.  The three of them felt they need to come together with a strategy which would include a mission statement, with the priority of what Jesus would do in caring for the aged, the children, the mentally impaired etc. 

Fernando said, his idea would be to talk about His mission statement on line. 

Such a plan would include:  a. a mission statement, b. by-laws, c. principles, d. objectives, and e. the strategy. The name of the coalition is important to him, and could carry the words Christian or faith based, but in the end, it must be a name the coalition can agree on. For him the underlying basis for the group would be “sustainability”.  We have to provide a means of becoming independent.   

Fernando said, He does not in anyway want to try to curtail the help of anyone coming into the country with the heart to help on a short-term basis. But real help will come through their own resources, whatever they may be.  At the moment, the best resource is money, to try to stop the bleeding, heal the mentally wounded and get people together so they are able to think clearly in the development stages and in sustainability.  So yes, funding right now is a big key, but we must be sure where that funding is going.  It must be pooled in the right direction; otherwise it is just being squandered. We want people to be independent and doing things for themselves.  And this will happen if we are able to form this kind of coalition.  It will make the people more efficient. Having said that, we will not turn away workers who are here with the right heart.  We do not want vacationers, but if you send us people with a heart to work, we will accept them and try to organize a work plan for them if given enough advance time to devise a work schedule. For most purposes, that is at least two weeks. But we would be responsible to make the decision of priorities of who to help and where to build etc. We do no want anyone coming in from the states and doing patchwork. 

Teaching the community to use mosquito nets

Joe felt that a major priority of the coalition of Pastors and churches if established would be to put money into providing professional counselors or help in medical or mental assistance, but that too, must be well organized.  He said they have good doctors and psychologists in Puerto Rico, which is one of their greatest resources.  But that too would be the reason for supporting the building up of church property, because it would be a place that people can go for counseling, medical help and food.  These could be places they could listen to lectures on how to care for the water, mosquito control and the prevailing diseases that are killing people.  They could serve as places to work together to make mosquito nets, and gradually create businesses through this.  This kind of help would all preferably be Spanish speaking.  However in some instances we could use translators if and when needed. 

  

So how do we get a plan for the masses?  What is the next step. All were in agreement for another meeting on Monday the 14th, at the First Baptist Church where we held the first meeting. They realize this will be a long hard process, but believe it will be worth the time and effort.  And who knows, God may send a real revival to the Island. 

Note, the last two pictures at the lower part of this post are used with permission of Fernando Silva and INCICO.