Christmas Letter
from the Texas Straatmeyers – 2009

To say the least, it has been an unusual year, a year still defined by Ike, who came storming through our community over a year ago leaving nothing but absolute chaos in his wake. Although fourteen months have passed since his destructive appearance, this community/peninsula is still in recovery mode, mentally and physically. In this Advent season, many residents are still living miles away from their former homes in apartments, placed there by FEMA, while others are living in FEMA trailers both away and nearby. But time is running out. FEMA says there is no room in the trailers after March 12^th and there aren’t even any barns or caves where these orphans of Ike can find shelter here on the Peninsula. In addition to everything else, 10,000 cattle were lost to Ike and neither they nor their barns have returned. So, the inns are full and the animal shelters are gone. Tenting on the beach seems to be dangerous for the homeless. We helped one such person last week who had been beaten nearly to death and then robbed while camping at night. Thus, this Christmas, many former residents will again be exiles from their homes where they have previously spent many years and the homeless who attempt to live here in canvas shelters on the soft sand near the sea have no guarantee they will be safe from harm.

                After last Christmas, we joined with others who rolled up their sleeves and pitched in to do what we could. Our first task was to help get food and water to the army of workers who came to clean up this horrendous mess and as we did that, the few of us who were camping out in our homes waiting for water, sewer and electricity to be restored were supplied with drinkable water as well. Cafes and stores had not yet returned. Semi load after semi load of both food and water was placed on the parking lot of the local Methodist Church and so began an almost constant line of takers of these needed nourishments until food and water returned to the stores and faucets.

Then we learned of Galveston County Restore and Rebuild, an Interfaith Group, which was offering up to $15,000 per eligible persons and families for home restoration. I had written new by-laws for the Bolivar Peninsula Community Outreach (henceforth just called Outreach) about a year before that expanded its original mission from a Food Pantry open weekly, giving food baskets to the poor at Thanksgiving and gifts to needy children at Christmas. I became the president of Outreach by default, since I was the Veep when the president lost his house and became a displaced person.

I formed an ad hoc committee of Outreach, Jean used her sociology degree to write grants and train as a caseworker. Soon we were using work crews and volunteers to restore homes. We have seen eight homes restored using funds from Galveston County and volunteer labor; there would have been more, but we had a dearth of skilled volunteers available when we needed them. Luckily, there was another group working on the Peninsula called Nehemiah’s Vision doing the same thing we were. In September, we were able to get Catholic Charities to open up an office in Crystal Beach to help us with the increasing need for social services. They took a great load off our shoulders.

This is the home of an 87 year old woman who bought the materials for three volunteer groups.

                Volunteers, however, still have Katrina on their minds. Even though she is four years older than Ike, we became the forgotten survivors even though I believe I have read Ike was the fourth most destructive storm in our country’s history. However, now more help is on the way. The Reformed Church of America will be here in the middle of January and into next March with skilled laborers. They will be restoring an old Methodist Church which Outreach has leased for 20 years to house our food pantry, used clothing store, and office space for case workers. Jean is busy writing grants for the money needed to buy the materials needed to make the space usable.

                There have been both joys and sorrows this year. Other than Ike, Jean finally got her third book published, “Tales of an African Dog in Texas.”   The $10 from each book sale goes to three orphanages in Malawi. The first recipient is the orphanage in which Jean volunteered in Area 25 of Lilongwe. The second is Nkhoma Presbyterian Synod’s orphanage and the third is the Ministry of Hope, started by a Presbyterian candidate for the ministry while he was attending African Bible College in Lilongwe, the capital city where we lived. We know the people affiliated with each orphanage personally. With the sales this year of the previous two books and now the new book, Malawi, the African dog by birth, has made a contribution of $9,000 to the orphans of his former country. More will be shared with the sales of the new book.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that Malawi, the subject of the books, broke out of his temporary yard on February 3^rd and was hit by a debris truck on Highway 87 just about a block north of our home. Mike and his friends came over for the burial. Because of his long journey with us from Africa, he was especially close to both of us and we had to go through a long period of grief. We consider him another victim of Ike.

Son Mike has been working hard since Ike blew and tidal-waved his home into Galveston Bay. He has been living in a temporary travel trailer which he purchased and pulled to his property. The good news is that there was a lot of work even in the middle of the Great Recession. He has his architectural plans drawn now and as the work falls off because of what they call winter here, he will begin the process of rebuilding his home.

Daughter Sandee and her family of five kids still living at home lost her beach house. She still has kept the lot and may rebuild again one day. Her loss has had the most effect on our family life. They used to be here almost every weekend, so we saw the grandchildren regularly. Now we don’t see them nearly as often. Sandee still teaches. Her two older boys, Aaron and Tyler, are living and working in the Houston area. Husband Doug continues with his profession as a CPA.

Daughter Cindee Karns and her family are away from it all in Alaska, still living in Eagle River. Cindee teaches and Curt, a Presbyterian minister, is the Presbytery Executive for Yukon Presbytery. Granddaughter Jeanie Talbot is studying for a Master’s Degree at the University of Alaska Fairbanks while her husband Dan is teaching in the Fairbanks school system. Grandson Keith is working on his Master’s at the University of Indiana and his wife Courtney is teaching in the Indiana school system.

Although our own home was only slightly damaged, nevertheless there was damage. An 18 ft tidal wave swept over the shore line of the Gulf about three blocks from us, dislodging seven homes in front of us. The ground on which our house was built is seven feet above sea level and our house is built on pilings so that our living area is eleven feet above the ground – making us 18 feet above sea level. The result was that the powerful surge went right under our deck and home taking everything under our house except the pilings out to Galveston Bay. The Insurance Companies have never insured anything under the main second floor. So, we lost a garage, storage, a complicated sewer system behind the garage, the electrical wiring and meter, the plumbing under the main floor and everything in the garage. On top of that we had 3-4 feet of sand on our lot and debris buried in it and lying on top of it. The pilings in the garage held pieces of lumber, wire, curtains, mattresses and other household furnishings from the other homes in our neighborhood.

Electric lines had to be rebuilt from 35 miles away. They were all down. Water mains were underground, but the boiling waters of the surge messed with parts of them and they broke apart. The water inside of them became polluted and crews worked night and day to find out where the leaks were. It took a long time to get drinking water back. We have very sophisticated private sewers and the cost was unbelievable, in my opinion, to get them working once more. Our roof and chimney had been damaged slightly – there was insurance for that.

So, since last Christmas, we have done the following: Son Mike cleaned off the sand and debris with his tractor/loader. Son Mike rebuilt the garage underneath the house. Son Mike rewired the electrical system and got us ready for hook up. Son Mike did the re-plumbing to enable us to hook up to the sewer which was fixed by a contractor. Son Mike fixed the few parts on the deck and the stairs that needed help. Son Mike pulled out two palm trees that died at the hands of Ike. How do you count the value of a good son? With great appreciation for his love and care!

Our last task was to repaint the house. The debris going under our house left scars on the pilings and the new garage needed to be the same color as the house – so everything became a different color. We are now whole again – physically. The emotional strains of Ike tend to be not so visible or easily remedied. The volunteer work in the community is so great and the laborers are so few. The trouble with Jesus is that he puts us on the Jericho Road and won’t let us walk past those who have been beaten by this killer hurricane. This is the hard part of our faith. We are retired – but not from the cause of our Leader.

In the light of all of the above we felt we were near burnout twice during the year, and so we got out for a couple of weeks at a time. I have been working on former German Presbyterian Synod of the West individual church histories, so we used those times to get to South Dakota to visit Jean’s sister, stop at individual former Synod churches and finally ended up at the archives at the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary for several days. Jean and I both came from the spiritual wombs of these churches so we have a real interest in preserving their history. Cousin Al Straatmeyer has already written a general history of the group but I am specifically interested in the individual churches scattered over five Midwestern states that were a part of the group. Sadly, Ike has nearly brought this research project to a dead stop.

As the Recession deepens, we are now feeding about 200 families a week – that’s between 6-800 people, counting 3-4 as an average family. There are very few jobs for locals. Many are now living in trailers. Every Monday a semi load of donated food comes in. The line starts forming at around 1 pm although the food distribution usually doesn’t start until around 3 pm. The people are very grateful for this help. At least one per week comes to me with tears telling how much they appreciate the food and how without the extra help they don’t know how they would survive.

So, this Advent, we are feeling much as we felt in the famine and poverty of Malawi while we served in Africa. And seen through the eyes of hunger and homelessness, burns brightly, sometimes dimly and seems to always be on the verge of fading out. The light is dim for those who want to come back to their former life when there are no resources to help. They may never return to “Bethlehem” and the result is tears and hopelessness. However, government community block grants are on their way to help the poor and the moderately poor rebuild their homes. For them hope burns brighter. They may be able to get a semblance of order and routine back into their lives next year.

Here is the building the Reformed Church in America will be repairing for the Outreach Food Bank & used clothing

A larger question is how the hope that Christ brings to this season works out for the survivors of Ike?  We aren’t sure because we are in a different culture in the South – we are strangers here. We are in the heart of the Southern Bible Belt in a small community and it is hard to judge the spiritual impact of how the Christian faith is implemented at our “ground zero.” There is a lot of Christian vocabulary used in the daily public routine of life, a lot of praying at public functions and sports events and a lot of easy Jesus talk in private conversation but for the total number of people on the Peninsula, the churches are weak and not greatly attended or joined. Is the spirituality here just a veneer or can’t we see what is really there, something deeper, more profound? We hope for the latter but our visible sightings cause doubts.

Now, weakening them further, Ike has taken away so many of their buildings and members. The ones who attend have joined the struggle to reach out to the people in need on this narrow, outcropping of sand along the Gulf. Our prayer is always that our Lord will multiply all our efforts like he did with the loaves and the fish. Is that miracle too much to ask in this age of reason when we believe Jesus did it 2000 years ago but we really don’t expect him to do it now?  The question comes out of our own doubt. We keep struggling believing God can bring good out of this chaos. But for everyone? And we keep praying for all the others around this globe who suffer because of disasters, poverty and hunger. There are many around the world who need shelter, food, clothing and love in this season and every season. If the hungry and the naked of these disasters are the people of whom Jesus speaks in Matthew on Judgment Day, how often do we deny our Lord shelter, clothing or food? Has our American Gospel become too easy or too insulated in the capsule of materialism? Is our Christmas worship and celebration out of focus?  I am not condemning, just thinking “on paper” hoping those who read this will think with me. Does our preoccupation with the cultural Christmas help us avoid or miss the truth of the Christian Christmas?  I always thought our Lord came to enable us to go to the fields, but after all these years the harvest is plenteous but the laborers are few.

Christmas will be simple and traditional for us this year. Ike stole our artificial Christmas tree, the ornaments and lights and as yet we have been too busy to replace them. Only the Texas family members will be here with us.

Our Presbyterian Church in Galveston is still under repair but we are now worshiping in the Social Hall. Jean is still involved with the choir. I received a year-long medical pass to the ferry when I had my cataract surgery on July 1, so it has made travel to Galveston and back much shorter. The pass means that we always get to move to the front of the line of cars waiting to board. We are averaging five one-way crossings per week or 260 trips a year. Just the ferry ride on the water takes 20 minutes, so you can see how much ferry travel is part of our lives. We never believed in ferries until we moved here.

Christmas greetings and blessings to all of you!

Gene/Jean Straatmeyer
P.O. Box 2035 (New Box Number) 
Crystal Beach, TX 77650

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