Send the fire, send the fire, send the fire(wood)!

Life as a Salvation Army officer has exposed me to activities and experiences I would never have dreamt about. Particularly during the last 17 years since my first emergency response, I have found myself discussing subjects that the training college never prepared me for:  rehabilitation of salt pans in India, sewerage system clearance in Iraq, cooking stove manufacture in Kosovo, tarpaulin processing in Mumbai and medicinal herb garden nurseries in Kenya - just some of the rather unexpected openings that Salvation Army ministry have provided.

Our appointment to Estonia has exposed me to another – firewood! This week, before engaging in critical meetings, my earnest prayer was, ‘Lord, send the firewood!’ Let me explain:

Our business in The Salvation Army is ‘saving souls, growing saints and serving suffering humanity’. In order to do this we use all means possible. The Estonia Region is blessed with a dynamic social services programme. Hope House is a residential rehabilitation centre serving the needs of approx 20 men battling addictions (drugs and alcohol). The intensive support programme last around 9 months, after which graduates have opportunity to transition into a less regimented ‘move on’ wing, offering more independent living while they find employment and get some money behind them. The programme – Living Hope – is being used by God in amazing ways. Our Christian faith is not hidden and our funders and government sponsors understand that the transforming power of the Gospel is at the heart of the programme. So Bible studies, attendance at worship at the Kopli corps, and other spiritual counselling are essential and mandatory aspects of the programme. If you have a few spare minutes - why not check out this video.

The other mandatory expectation is that every person in the programme participates in work therapy. Didn’t someone say, ‘the Devil makes work for idle hands’? Well, the team at Hope House make sure that everyone keeps busy – all the time! There are 2 distinct work programme activities. The first allows the guys the dignity of helping others. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays the centre is filled with around 200 needy local people who come for a warm meal and a chat. The guys are involved in food preparation and service. It’s their opportunity to serve their neighbourhood and they do it with passion and enthusiasm. On Tuesdays and Thursday local residents come to use the showers or washing facilities or just for a chat and discussion.

Firewood project - it's hard work!

The second activity is our firewood project. A large, rented yard and warehouse complex just walking distance from the centre serves as our firewood project. Logs are purchased from RMK, the state forest management centre then manually chopped down into firewood which is sold in bundles to local residents. It is hard, physical work – and it doesn’t stop for rain or snow! Known in Estonian as http://www.kuttepuud24.ee/ (check out the web page) the project generated around 15,000 euros profit last year – essential funds to help run Hope House.

Our goal is to expand the project. We now buy 24 – 40 m3 of logs each month – our goal is to

Logs arrive ready for chopping and bagging

gradually increase this to around 100 m3 and an annual profit of 50,000 euros. To do this we need a rgular supply of logs – so this week Lieutenant Alexey (Hope House director) Juri (Project foreman) and I met with Ulvar, marketing director RMK. Cash flow is a huge problem for us – we have no funds and live ‘hand to mouth’, so buying a larger monthly wood stock is difficult. So – we prayed – Lord, send the fire(wood)! From the very start of the meeting it was obvious Ulvar wished to be helpful. We left with the promise that a draft contract would be developed and a line of credit investigated. If this works out we will have a reliable, agreed source of wood and enough time to chop and sell the firewood before having to pay for the raw materials. By the way – before my friends working in International Development have palpitations – the forestation is sustainably and environmentally managed.

Reliable 3-phase supply needed for saw

For the next stage we need to equip the project to cope with the larger monthly throughput. We have no direct electricity supply on site so can’t use the second hand industrial saw that has been donated. So our ‘send the fire(wood)’ prayer becomes ‘show your power!!’ If you are a praying person – please remember us. Then we need a forklift to move the wood around the yard.

I sat in Thursday’s meeting thinking, ‘what on earth do I know about forestry and firewood?’. The training college certainly didn’t cover that in the curriculum J But that’s one of the exciting things about ministry in The Salvation Army – using diverse methods to achieve the goal of seeing lives transformed.  Lord – send the fire!