Humphrey Birkenstock, CEO, Rainbow FM 90.7: Scott, the news out of Haiti this week has been very alarming again?

Scott Congdon, CEO, Amor Ministries: Yes, Humphrey, both in Haiti and in the US. Health official are now saying Haiti’s cholera outbreak could kill 10,000 people. They are also predicting that they could have around 200,000 cases of infection in Haiti over the next six to 12 months.

Humphrey: How many have died so far in Haiti from cholera?

Scott: Haiti’s health ministry said that 1,200 people have now died since cholera was first detected in the nation in late October. The number of people infected also grew to over 72,000.

Humphrey: And you have a report that cholera has now reached the US from Haiti.

Scott: Yes, Humphrey. Florida officials have confirmed that a woman who recently visited relatives in Haiti has tested positive for cholera in Florida. Two other cases are still being tested.

Humphrey, Cholera is considered a great hitchhiker. It travels by contaminated water, food or on individuals who may be not even have symptoms or are just developing symptoms. Officials have stated that there’s virtually no chance the Haiti outbreak could spread to Florida or the US via travelers, and no airline passengers were at risk. Cholera is transmitted almost exclusively by water and food contaminated by the feces of infected people, which would be almost impossible with modern U.S. water systems.

Humphrey: On another note, Scott, you have some interesting news on the King James version of the bible? Most young American’s have never heard of the King James version?

Scott: Yes, Humphrey, I started to feel a little old when I researched this story. According to a new survey out last week, 51 per cent of those under 35 have never heard of the King James Bible. Awareness was far greater among those over 55, with 28 per cent saying they had never heard of it. I guess that’s good for you and me Humphrey, since we are both under 55, right?

Humphrey: Way under 55! I’m even amazed that only 72 per cent of people have heard of the King James Bible at that age and older.

Scott: That is surprising considering it has been praised by some as the most beautiful book ever written and is set to celebrate its 400th anniversary next year, but many young people have never even heard of it. I find it hard to imagine that so many under-35s have never heard of the King James Bible despite being one of the biggest selling books in history.
A spokesman for the King James Trust was quoted as saying: “There has been a dramatic drop in knowledge in a generation. Yet this is a work which was far more influential than Shakespeare in the development and spread of English.”

Humphrey: And President Obama got hit in the mouth this past weekend?

Scott: Yes, Humphrey, Obama got “smash mouthed” as they call it here in the US during a friendly family basketball game on Friday. Twelve stitches on his lip after he took a elbow to his mouth and he was back out on the court on Sunday. Sources say that Obama is know as being a tough and aggressive basketball player, hmmm…….just like in government!

Humphrey: And on your last report you have a story about a have a very familiar song to most of us, “Amazing Grace.”

Scott: Humphrey, after more than 200 years, ‘Amazing Grace’ is still a fixture across spiritual and secular culture here in the US and in South Africa I imagine.

Amazing Grace” has been recorded more than 6,600 times. “It may be the most recorded song on the planet,” according to Jerry Bailey at Broadcast Music Inc.

Humphrey: When was the song first published?

Scott: It was first published in 1779, written by John Newton, an English poet and clergyman who died in 1807. Newton, as a young man, deserted the English Navy, was recaptured and punished and actually became involved in slave trading. He later had a religious awakening during a storm at sea before becoming a prolific hymn composer.

Humphrey: In 1990 it was even sung at a 12-hour rock concert that took place in London, England. It was a benefit for Nelson Mandela, thanking him for his years of sacrifice in South Africa. Dozens of big stars performed. “Amazing Grace” was sung by opera star Jessye Norman as the closing number. Despite the length of the performance and the late hour, the crowd was strongly affected and obviously felt a common experience as they joined in.

Scott: The song has had quite an international use. It was even performed in English and Chinese by a children’s chorus at a worship service in Beijing during the 2008 Olympics, with President George W. Bush attending.

Humphrey: “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
“That saved a wretch like me.
“I once was lost but now am found.
“Was blind, but now I see.”

Got to the link below for a great African rendition of “Amazing Grace” by Louis Mhlanga:

http://www.africastories.org/amazing-grace/louis-mhlanga

Broadcasting from San Diego Studio

Transcript from 11-8-2010 Rainbow FM 90.7 Broadcast:

Humphrey (CEO/Presenter at Rainbow FM 90.7): Scott, in the US you went back on day light saving time again…today!

Scott(CEO, Amor Ministries): Yes. Humphrey we America’s have lost another hour….and I was wondering if you had found it in South Africa.  Man, we lose our economy, we lose the value of the US dollar, and now we’ve lost a hour of time.  When will it every end.

Humphrey: Well, Scott, I’m sorry for all that.  But, I have no idea where your hour went.  We sure haven’t seen it here at Rainbow FM 90.7!

Scott: The good news out of all this, Humphrey, is that I get to actually do this broadcast from San Diego, California a hour earlier than before….. at 8:50pm instead of 9:50pm.  I like that. I might actually get to sleep on time tonight.

Humphrey: So, I heard the Democrats also lost the majority of representatives at the House of Representatives in Washington…..  but they kept the majority in the Senate.

Scott: Yes, Humphrey, Washington and Obama have lost something else too!  They have been handed a balance change in the House of Representatives and even some in the Senate.  This may very well  radically changed how Obama is going to have to lead for the remaining half of his Presidency. Its going to be interesting to see if he moves more to the center and starts to support any of the reforms the Republicans are claiming, which, Humphrey, includes repealing or severely modifying the national health care plan, and serious budget cuts and supports for continuing the tax cuts for rich Americans which expire at the end of this year.

Humphrey: American’s were enamored with the rescue of the Chilean miners who were recently rescued.  Amidst all this, you have something to report on how this experience in the mine had a major effect on many of their lives?

Scott: Absolutely.  A report this week from one of the trapped minors rescued last month in Chile has told of the conversion of many of his colleagues during the ordeal Jose Henriquez was the 24th man to be brought to the surface. He told thousands of people at the Luis Palau festival in Santiago last week that 22 out of the 33 trapped miners turned to Christ while waiting to be rescued.  That’s two thirds of the miners!

Humphrey: Did he explain how this had come about?  Did they have a revival or something while they were trapped underground?  I’ve heard that some places around the world they have to go underground with their revivals (laughing)!

Scott: Well almost…..During his time underground, Henriquez had become something of a spiritual leader to the trapped men, who called him ‘The Pastor’.

He told the Palau festival crowds that he had requested and received biblical audio messages from Palau while underground.

Humphrey: Has the Luis Palau festival been a big event this week in Santiago, Chile?

Scott: This six day week was attended by 145,000 and was actually held the coastal city of Vina del Mar.

Humphrey, something else one of the miner said was that following the successful rescue of the miners, many of them praised the faith of the miners’ families. Some of the miners were seen praying in the moments after they emerged from the escape capsule.

Mario Sepulveda, the second miner to be freed, said he had “held on to God’s hand” throughout the ordeal, while another freed miner, Jimmy Sanchez, said God “never left us down here”.

Humphrey: Scott, so Haiti was just hit by Hurricane Tomas a few days ago and your colleagues Steve Horrex and Ryan Perkio, who work for your organization, Amor Ministries, were in Haiti when it hit?

Scott: Yes, Humphrey, and they are still there.  As a matter of fact the last contact we had with them was on last Thursday.

As you may already know, Humphrey, more than one million Haitians are still homeless and living in fragile tent cities with poor sanitation after the January 12 earthquake. “Branches and trees will fly around and houses can lose their roofs,” said Laura Nairn, Tearfund Programme Director, according to Christian Today. “The risk of flooding is huge and with that comes the risk of landslides and increased risk of waterborne diseases.”

The most recent report I could find says that the flooding caused by hurricane Tomas worsened the sanitary situation in Haiti, which has been affected by a cholera epidemic with 501 people being killed.

So, as you can imagine I am very concerned about the safety and condition of Steve and Ryan.

Humphrey: Well, Scott I actually just got a Skype call from Steve in Haiti on Saturday.  He said they were both doing just fine.  When did you say you last heard from them?

Scott: On last Thursday, November 4^th at 12:27pm.

It was an email stating that they had made it back to Port Au Prince. They mentioned that it took them about 6 hours to travel less than 100 miles. “The roads are rough, wet, and hilly”, Ryan wrote. “Our drive took us down a dirt road for about half of the trip, to a village way back (and I mean way back…) in the mountains. It was a trip I’ll forever remember…but not sure I’ll do it again.”

Ryan also said, “During our travels we were able to get a good perspective of the damage. It’s incredible. WAY more than I anticipated. There are tent cities everywhere there’s an empty lot. There are people everywhere. There are tents in the street medians in some places. The task ahead in incredibly overwhelming…but one at a time, we can make a difference. I’m excited to see what God has ahead.”

So, Humphrey its just great knowing you heard from them and they are doing fine. We would appreciate the loyal listeners of Rainbow FM continuing to pray for their safe and productive return from Haiti.

Have a great rest of your week Humphrey and Tracy, and God bless you and all the loyal listerners of Rainbow FM 90.7.

Its one of the greatest mysteries  to me how the poorest of the poor, of whom millions spend their youth without a home, without any sort of decent shelter, and who have gone to bed at night hungry more times than they can recall.  How does a young person grow up in such lack and have any kind of chance of carving out a healthy, meaningful, crime free life?

Recently a great tragedy be-felled a white South African farmer and the 15-year-old co-accused in his murder. The murder itself has shocked millions of South Africans but the admission by the accused, that life is better in prison than outside is a startling indictment how life, society, and government are failing such marginalized people.  The accused said he was happy and had not even been asked to be released on bail because he had three meals a day, his own bed, and can watch television- all for the for the first time in his life.

After having dropped out of school at the age 14, he is attending school again.  He left school originally to start tending for the murdered farmer for reported wages of sixty six dollars a month.  He had taken this job in order to help support his family and look after himself.  He lived in the cattle corral of his employer in conditions that I can only assume were lacking even the basic necessities.

“That prison should be a better alternative to his everyday life raised loud alarm bells about whether a jail sentence is enough deterrent to would-be criminals,” wrote a South African journalist.  What chance do kids have in a world where life behind prison bars will protect him better from the reality of his miserable existence.

“There is no object of desire quite like a house,” writes Meghan Daum, a columnist for the Los Angeles Times. “Few things in this world are capable of eliciting such urgent, even painful, yearning. Few sentiments are at once as honest and as absurd as the one that moves us to declare: ‘Life would be perfect if I lived in that house.’”  What a timely sentiment of how most people in the world think of what the ‘perfect house’ would or should be like. After all, it’s the American dream…to own a home.

Perhaps more meaningful for a youngster accused of murder in a  South African prison cell tonight would be to re-quote Ms. Daum’s last sentence, but add one small caveat, “Life would be perfect if I lived in ‘A’ house.”

Amor builds homes to keep families together.  Amor serves the poorest of the poor to share the love of Christ.  Amor helps keep kids out of prison.  I won’t ever take this for granted.  I hope you don’t either.

What a week; so much living, seeing, hearing and interacting. Amor Ministries is incredible. Scott Congdon, staying home and coordinating Amor’s website so thousands all over could see and hear what we were doing – as we were doing it! Thank you Scott! This was the most promoted Amor project ever, and for good reason – the future of hope and reconciliation, which God has been working on and planning for all along. We are all so blessed to be part of it.

So many stories to talk about. So many people to thank God for. Let’s start by thanking Humphrey Birkenstock and Rainbow 90.7 FM for making so many wonderful things happen for us in South Africa; the meals out, SOWETO, the tented-church service, the buses, the historical information and the Lion Park, he along with his beautiful family, Anita, Raymond and Jerod accompanied us every step of the way in love. Thank you Sir Humphrey! “Amor,” what can we say about Amor Ministries who worked so hard to make this happened. The ones who are seen and the ones behind the scenes. Thank you Steve Horrex, Luke Makwakwa, Forest & Carrie Fowler, Scott & Gayla Congdon and all of their unbelievable staff. You are AWESOME MAN!

How can I sum this trip up? God did it for me last night at the airport. Understand, we left on Saturday and some of us (thanks to DELTA) didn’t get home until Monday, meaning many of us spent Father’s Day traveling and in airports. To be honest, my brain is fried! It is like mashed potatoes, but God has sustained me. We had numerous groups coming in at different times because DELTA split us all up in Atlanta instead of holding our flight for ten minutes. Sure, they did what man does when the opportunity arises; they resold all of our tickets at three times the price to their line-up of standbys, even though at every stage I spoke to DELTA asking them not to do just that. They told me it would never happen; they said we would make our connecting flight in Atlanta no matter what. By the end of this trip, I could only think $(#&@ DELTA – So, I hung out at the Sacramento airport waiting for our final group to arrive (and of course much of our luggage was missing… again). I was “Dog Tired.” I fell asleep right where the passengers come down the escalator, hoping the last group would see me. As I sat there in what has become known as the “Lou Diaz Deep State of Prayer” – head bowed down, eyes closed, looking to be in prayer, but actually in a deep sleep, I felt tapping on my leg. I opened my dreary eyes, he was a blur at first; I then realized it was my son Sean! who couldn’t join us in going to South Africa because he recently took a job with HP. Sean learned Dad was sitting at the airport all by himself and he came down to wish me a “Happy Father’s Day.” It was the best Father’s Day Gift I ever received. I stood up and hugged him. Then I heard a voice, “Hey Dan! Dan Irving!” Hearing voices on this trip is something I’m come accustomed to. I looked around and just saw a blur of people. But the voice would not go away, it was persistent and was coming from above and it was getting louder, “Hey, Dan Irving, Up Here!” I looked up and right above me was Bryce Lundberg, his wife Jill and some of the infamous Lundberg clan (they were returning from a family visit in Seattle). “Hey Bryce, how are you!?”

Now for God’s loving and welcoming story! When I first went on the EV Free Amor Mission Trip I started calling Bryce “My Main Man” because of something he did, something from his heart which made me think twice. On that trip in Mexico our campsite was hit with a nasty, tent shattering, rain & mud producing Pacific storm. It was a horrendous night. You couldn’t even go out in it to help others whose tents were being blown apart. It sounded like a war zone; girls were screaming, crying and calling out for help. You’d couldn’t walk in the 60 mph winds and there was no footing in the slick, snot like mud. When a window of opportunity finally opened there was lots of work to do. Kids were shattered, wet and cold, covered in mud. Bryce went out, got a bucket of water and a wash cloth and set up his station where he knelt and washed everyone’s muddy, cold wet feet. Two of those feet belonged to Allan Fleming. As I watched Bryce, I could only think of Jesus washing His disciples feet. That’s when I started calling Bryce, “My Main Man!” That was the voice calling out to me at the airport, and the voice behind that voice is the One who is calling out to all of us.

Then I saw a familiar face in the crowd, it was Steve Raley who had driven down to help transport our last arrivals. Then I heard another voice, I turned around and there was Eleanor Southwick with a group of her family, lots of teenagers all holding up signs that read, “Building Hope, one Home at a Time. Amor. Welcome Home Amor South Africa. EV Free Chico, We love U! Welcome Uncle Brett and Happy Father’s Day – Harlo!” There they stood at the bottom of the escalator with a gift box for the last group of arrivals. When Pastor Lou, Laura Diaz, Rich Willman, Dave Newquist, and the last of our group appeared, another loud round of applause went up and everyone at the airport stopped in their tracks, looked and listened for the moment. When they kinda figured out was happening you could see heart-warming smiles everywhere. So no matter how difficult our travel was, no matter how tired we were, no matter what a pain in the @$$ Delta was, there God was with us every step of way, making this A Trip of a Lifetime!

Now, before I forget, (I’m going to do it right now, after I finish this blog) I’m going to write a check and send it to Amor Ministries and on the memo line I’m going to write: “You are Awesome!” I pray you will too, because God’s ministry needs that kind of help.

We all made it back and we are HOME. It is good to be home, even though we left part of our hearts back in South Africa. God Bless you Amor Ministries. God Bless you Humphrey Birkenstock and Rainbow 90.7 FM. God Bless you SS. Simon and Jude’s God Bless our team leaders: Pastor Lou Diaz, Dave Newquist, Jim O’Bannon, Rich Willman. God Bless the EV Free Church of Chico California and God Bless all the hard workers who came on this trip. God Bless you all!

Dan Irving