On the Level - MDS July 2021

July 21, 2021

Greetings!

What three words?

I have an app installed on my smartphone called “what3words.” It is a proprietary geocode system that is designed to identify any location in the world with a resolution of about 10 feet with three random words. Rather than write out the longitude and latitude coordinates of many digits and symbols, I can use only three words to identify that location.

For example, for the mailbox location at our MDS office in Lititz, Pennsylvania, the three words are “platter.newsreel.relate.” For the entrance to the barn I grew up milking cows, the words are “heaped.ants.swallowing.” If lost, these three words will bring me back.

In the scriptures there are many three-word phrases that are not only poignant and life-affirming, but may also help us navigate together.

In the beginning.

Abide in me.

Praise the Lord.

It is finished.

Lazarus, come out.

It is I.

Alpha and Omega.

God is Love.

Love never fails.

Love endures forever.

Peace be still.

Come, Lord Jesus.

What three word phrases give you life? What brings meaning to you? For MDS, the tagline we use is “Respond, Rebuild, Restore.” It brings people back home. Mennonite. Disaster. Service. I pray that God will continue to work through our volunteers to bring people back home.

Executive Director

Mennonite Disaster Service

MDS in Shenandoah Valley celebrates creativity of volunteers during pandemic

Dozens of Mennonite Disaster Service volunteers in Harrisonburg, Virginia gathered for a picnic in May to celebrate the creative ways they had responded to community needs during the pandemic.

Click here to read more.

MDS organizes and empowers volunteers to respond in Christian love to those affected by disasters in Canada and the United States. While the main focus is on clean up, repair and rebuilding homes, this service touches lives and nurtures hope, faith and wholeness.

Click here to volunteer

Congregational Relief Fund kept church doors open amid COVID-19

When Urbano Gonzalez heard about the COVID-19 Congregational Relief Fund in early 2020, he decided he’d fill out an application. Launched in April 2020, the fund was originally seeded with a combined $800,000 commitment from Everence®,

Mennonite Central Committee U.S., and Mennonite Disaster Service in the U.S., plus an additional $220,553 in contributions from other donors.

To read more click here.

A hallway and a house key: what hope looks like in small-town Texas

After living in her new home for two months, Willie Green still likes to walk up and down the hallway.

“Never in my life have I had a hallway to walk down,” she says. “I’ve never lived in a house big enough to have a hallway.”

Click here to read more.

Thank you for your support!

MDS has volunteer opportunities for Summer and Fall 2021.

Your continued support helps with recruiting volunteers, moving equipment, setting up accommodations, replenishing supplies, and many other things needed to get going.