Prayer Update July 15, 2009

I'm a bit embarrassed to have let over a month go by without posting a prayer update. Where does time go?

Anyway, thanks for praying for this ministry, even when I don't give you new fodder for prayer.

Praises:

1) Praise God for the gradual opening of hearts of our patients to explore His Word. Last night we had a young man at the clinic who didn't want a Bible last month when he was in but this time gladly received one. Please pray that him and others who receive Bibles will have a genuine curiosity to read God's word and that it will change their lives.

2) Praise God for a patient named Steve who so graciously helped move some very heavy exam tables. We received 2 new tables from another office that upgraded, however, at the last minute, I had to find someone who could help move them and take the others away. I knew Steve had a trailer and when I called him he eagerly came to help. Please pray for a special blessing and encouragement for Steve.

Requests:

1) An on-going prayer request is for protection and safety for our patients, volunteers, and facility. The crime in the area has seemed to taper, but we continue to pray for safety for all who are coming and going.


2) Please pray for favor for a grant we submitted last month for an equipment upgrade. All of our current medical equipment has been donated after many years of use and some of it just doesn't work well any more. We desperately need things like otoscopes, thermometers, and blood pressure cuffs-which are all pricey. We ask God to provide what is needed.

Prayer Update

Many of you are busy getting ready for Healing the Heartland, family reunions, or summer vacations. The last couple of days I have tried my hardest to be efficient and get as much done as possible. This morning, it suddenly hit me that the most important thing I can do is pray. If you have never read the book, Too Busy Not to Pray by Bill Hybels,I highly recommend it! The title says it all.

Here are some things to keep in prayer:

1) Praise God for his provisions to allow us to do blood pressure screenings at Healing the Heartland. For awhile, I was unsure whether or not our insurance would allow us to participate but I got word today that yes we can! Also, thankfully, we have enough volunteers to staff our booth.

2) Please be praying for Healing the Heartland Festival this weekend. Please pray for good weather, safety for all, and for soft hearts to hear the Gospel.

The Festival is a time for people to come together, celebrate, and enjoy some family fun following a tough year. However, the larger purpose in it is for people to hear the Good News of Jesus and how they can put their hope in Him.

3) Please pray for a grant proposal we are submitting this week to the Greater Cedar Rapids Community Foundation requesting funds to help us upgrade some of our medical equipment. Many of our volunteers have experienced missing equipment, dead batteries, or malfunctioning items. By getting some newer items, our volunteers would be able to spend more time with patients and less time fixing things.

4) Praise God for his continued financial provision through many individuals, churches, and now some grants. Just this week we received money from Wells Fargo & Farmers State Banks as a result of grant proposals we sent to them several months ago.

As always, thank you for your prayers and your on-going support!

Healing the Heartland Volunteer Opportunities

As many of you know, Healing the Heartland Festival is coming up on Saturday, June 13.

There are many opportunities to be a part of this event:

1) We need people to help give out His Hands info and nurses to take blood pressures. We have various 1.5 hour shifts between 11am-5 pm. Contact me at director@hishandsclinic.org if you can help out.

2) Become a FRIEND during the festival. Through various festival events, speakers will give an invitation for people to know Jesus personally. They need people who can come stand beside those folks, pray with them, and take their information so a local church can follow-up. This is mostly an informational activity, not a counseling event.

There are 2 training events (you only need to attend one):
Thursday, June 4 at 7 pm at River Of Life Ministries, 3801 Blairs Ferry Rd. NE
OR
Tuesday, June 9 at 7 pm at Peace Church, 6600 C Ave NE. If you are interested in attending the training on Tuesday, please let me know.

3) There are other volunteers opportunities, find out more here and scroll down to "Opportunities to Serve". You can sign up at your local church or email me with your serving preference.

Together, we can help our community celebrate the recovery following the flood and provide healing to those in need.

Community Walk

I'm so proud of our volunteers! Thursday night there was a community walk to help show people that we are concerned about the recent violence in our neighborhoods and we are going to speak out against it. Six volunteers and their spouses came out along with hundreds of others to walk through the Wellington Heights and Mound View Neighborhoods.

As I was walking, I saw an older woman sitting on her front porch, with tears streaming down her face, telling passer-bys "Thank you".

We pray for God's protection for this woman, these neighborhoods, and those who live and work in them.

Check out the following news sites for pictures and information:

The Gazette

Fox 28/CBS 2

KCRG

2 Prayer Walks this Week

This week, there are two opportunities for prayer walks.

1) Community Walk through Eastside Neighborhoods Thursday, May 21, starting at St. Paul's United Methodist Church (2nd Ave & 13th St SE)

BBQ from 5:30-6:30 pm
Walk starts at 6:30 pm

2) Prayer Walk around Kingston Stadium for Healing the Heartland on Friday, May 22 at 3pm. Meet in the Ice Arena Parking Lot.

Healing the Heartland is a festival sponsored by Serve the City (which His Hands is an affiliate) June 12-14 to commemorate and celebrate the survival and healing from the 2008 Flood. We will be helping on the Saturday event by providing a mobile medical clinic.

Each affiliate has signed up to pray prior to the festival and our day to pray is Friday. If you are unable to join us you are welcome to pray on your own for all of the planning details to come together as well as opportunities for people to come to know Jesus in a real way.

Prayer Update on National Day of Prayer

Here is the prayer update. Don't forget it is also the National Day of Prayer!


1) Praise God for a wonderful evening at our Volunteer Appreciation Dinner on Friday evening, May 1. We had a great meal, a great speaker, and a great prayer time for volunteers heading to Africa on a medical mission in June. Praise God for providing such great volunteers!

2) Praise God for providing a couple to do prayer support for our Friday morning chiropractor clinics. For the last 2 years, we had a volunteer who has been providing prayer support during one of those clinics but due to her husband's job relocation, she is moving away. A week after she notified me, David & Dixie Estrem, sent in their volunteer applications and indicated there were available and willing to pray! Praise God for his provision at just the right time.

3) Please pray for more physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants. We have been turning away more patients recently because we don't have enough appointment slots. To be fully staffed with 2 providers at each of our clinics we need 5 more volunteers. God, provide us with what we need!

Thank You to Our Volunteers

This is a letter I wrote for the program of our Volunteer Appreciation Dinner, thanking our volunteers for their GREAT work.

Dear Volunteers-

To each one of you, thank you for your incredible service. This ministry literally wouldn’t exist without the offering of your skills and gifts.

Thank you for coming to serve when you are busy, when you are tired and want to go home after a long day, when you would rather be out enjoying the nice weather, or when you feel like you have nothing to give. Often. that is when God uses us the most.

Last fall, when we surveyed our patients, 100% of them said they felt like they were treated with respect & dignity while at His Hands. This is proof that the work you are doing is excellent and that you are serving the patients in more ways than you know.

I’m proud to serve in a place where it is evident that the Church is coming together to meet a real need in our community. May you not grow weary but continue to trust in God for strength, energy, and encouragement so that you can continue to display His Love to those who do not yet know Him.

Blessings,

Andi Doane

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-this is your spiritual act of worship.” Romans 12:1

Volunteer Appreciation 2009

Friday, May 1 was our annual Volunteer Appreciation Dinner. I don't know about others, but I had a great time and was reminded of the privilege I feel of being part of the His Hands community with some many great friends.

If you missed it, here is a synopsis!

Mercy Medical Center provided us with a wonderful facility & volunteer Linda Palmer decorated the tables with African Artifacts to go with our "Africa" Theme.

Volunteers coming in and mingling before the dinner starts.


Our speaker, Valerie Dorsey, a nurse missionary with Children's Relief International to Mozambique, spoke about how God's plan is not always our plan but that he can use all of our experiences for his glory. She had a lot of great "nuggets" to share with audience.


These pictures are of the dolls Valerie brought and lined up along the steps of the stage. These yarn dolls were made by a local craft person and volunteers got a chance to "purchase" a doll for $5, name it, and pledge to pray for the child that is going to get the doll in Mozambique.

We also had a prayer time for Pam Skelton, a His Hands volunteer, who is going with a team from Hillside Wesleyan Church on a medical mission to South Africa and Zambia in June. We can't all go to Africa, but we can pray for those who are going there to care for people and share Jesus' love.

Lastly, and most memorable for me was ending the evening with the song, "Sanctuary". But before we sang it Jim Bell went through to words with us, that this song is a prayer-that we would be a dwelling place for God.

Sanctuary

Lord, prepare me to be a sanctuary

Pure and holy, tried and true

And with thanksgiving

I’ll be a living sanctuary for you

Prayer Update

Thank you for your prayers for this ministry. Please pray for the following:

1) Protection for volunteers and patients as we come and go from the building. There seems to be a recent rise in crime in Cedar Rapids and there was a woman who had her purse snatched a few weeks ago near the clinic.

We prayer for God's protection for our well-being.

2) Praise God that a long-time patient has volunteered to replace our rusted, drafty backdoor.

Last week, a quiet patient who has been coming to the chiropractor clinic for a couple of years asked if we had any projects that needed to be done. When I showed him the backdoor, he grinned and said that this was a standard door and that he has replaced 100's of doors and windows in the past 30 years in his job as an apt maintenance man!

The awesome thing isn't just that we might get a new door at no cost, but is that he is recognizing that he has something to contribute to this ministry.

Volunteers-Save the Date!

Save the date for His Hands' Annual Volunteer Appreciation Dinner on Friday, May 1 at Mercy Medical Center in the Hallogen Education Center.

Valerie Dorsey, a nurse missionary with Children's Relief International, will share how God is using her in Mozambique, Africa to provide for the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of those without adequate resources.

It will be a great evening!

Ecumencial Community Center Open House, this Sunday

Our former neighbors, the Ecumenical Community Center, moved to their new location at 601 2nd Ave SE and are having an Open House on Sunday, March 29 from 1:30 pm-3:00 pm. The public is invited to see their new facility.

The ECC houses Helping Hands Ministry, CompuPlace, Churches United, the SERVV Store, and other non-profits.

I, personally, will miss having Lois Rude of Helping Hands next door to share ministry with but am excited for their new building!

Prayer Update March

Praise God for the following:

1) His financial provision through a grant for $5,000 from the Iowa Collaborative Safety Net that provides for some computer equipment, printing of brochures, and some of my salary.

Also for $4,400 that was raised at Peace Church from their Chili Contest & Pie Auction!

2) His provision of volunteers! Two weeks ago we had 15 people attend our new volunteer orientation and 4 more attending an abbreviated session a week later. Additionally, we had 2 people trained to do prayer support!

Please pray for the following:

1) Please pray for Jan*, that she would qualify for mental health services through the county. Jan started coming to us when we had a psychiatrist but currently we don't have one. Normally, we would refer her to MHDD (a county dept) to help pay for psychiatry visits and mental health meds; however, Jan applied a year ago and was denied. This is the only resource for Julie to get comprehensive mental health care (which she needs).

Pray for God's provision healing and/or treatment for Jan!

2) God has provided us with a new volunteer to help us with our fundraising efforts! This has been a need for a long time, so we are thankful for Jason. Please pray for wisdom for Jason as he starts working on a fundraising plan and for the team as we work to increase awareness of this ministry among donors.

Ultimately, we look to God for His Provisions!

"Then Jesus asked, "What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to? It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air perched in its branches."
-Luke 13:18-19


Thank you for your prayers for this ministry!

*the patient's name has been changed

Aid to Women's Open House

It has been a long journey of recovery for the ministry of Aid to Women. They were displaced by 4 feet of murky water in June and their staff was spread across the city. Their client support services were at Cedar Hills Community Church and their pregnancy counseling services here at His Hands for the past 8 months.

But now they are back in their building and it is beautiful! I had the privilege of getting a tour earlier this week and was amazed. It is truly a picture of God's extravagant provision for His people.

You can see their facility, too!

Aid to Women's Open House

Sunday, March 1

2-5 pm

701 Center Point Rd NE.

Praises:
1) We have 15 new people interested in volunteering at His Hands! Last week, I sent an announcement to 19 churches to let people know that we are having a volunteer orientation next week. Generally, the orientations are good if 5-7 people attend, but 15! I just wonder what God has in store for this ministry.

2) Aid to Women moved back to their facility this week! It has been a blessing to have them here but I know they are glad to be back in their newly renovated building, 8 months after the floods. I got a sneak peak on Monday and it is gorgeous!

3) We have received several grants in the last few weeks! No matter where the money comes from, we know that it is God's provision.

• Alliant Energy-$1,500 for medical visits
  
• Jarod & Carol Hills Foundation-$1,000 for medical visits
• Greater Cedar Rapids Community Foundation-$2,000 for roof repair
  

Requests:
1) We pray that God would bring us who and what we need. In the past year, I've been thinking a lot about the vision of His Hands and how we can expand our reach. It seems every time I have an idea and do some research, nothing comes to fruition. So, I decided, maybe I should just ask God to bring us what we need or who we need to accomplish his plan for us. None of us know when another big catastrophe, like the flood, will occur. Nor do any of us really know how long this economic recession will continue. What we do know is that God knows, and we can trust him to give us wisdom to put in place what we need for his plan.
Isn't it relieving to know that we don't have to have all the answers?

2) Along with the above request, please pray for the volunteer orientation, that God would bring the people we need. Also, pray that I have wisdom in knowing what position to place each of the new volunteers. Specific volunteer needs include:

• 5 more providers (doctors, physician assistants, nurse practitioners) would allow us to have two providers every Tues & Thurs and would provide 40 more visits per month
• 4 more prayer support volunteers to cover every chiropractor & medical clinic
• 2 admin volunteers who could help me in the office during the day

We trust God to provide for our needs!

3) Please pray for wisdom as we modify our chiropractor services. In the last few months, we have noticed more and more people needing the services to the point we are booking 2-3 weeks in advance. Pray that we would create a policy that would help those who need the help but not create dependency on our services.