Woman named Daphne puts her love into action
BAYOU LA BATRE, Ala. — This impoverished fishing village 130 miles east of New Orleans needs Jesus. Daphne German has no doubt about that.
Even before shrimp fisherman Lam Luong was accused Jan. 8 of throwing his four young children off an 80-foot-high bridge to their deaths, German was working hard to bring hope to a community still recovering from Hurricane Katrina.
“To me, when we’re out delivering food or clothes … we’re witnessing for Christ,” said German, a mother of seven and grandmother of 17 who came here two years ago to help with the relief effort — and stayed.
Since Katrina, dozens of Churches of Christ and relief organizations have sent volunteers to clean and repair homes. Members from across the nation have played a role in the new Hemley Road church, which met on the beach, under a carport, in a member’s home, in rented halls and even on lawn chairs before members raised $125,000 to buy an old Methodist church.
But neither the new congregation nor a relief work dubbed “Bayou Recovery Project” would exist without German, said Carol Ogle, a relief ministry coordinator for the White’s Ferry Road church in West Monroe, La.
“Daphne loves people and puts that love into action by giving herself unselfishly to help and teach them,” Ogle said. “She has been able to use virtually every resource she could find to help in the repair of damaged homes and crumpled lives.”
German picks up vanloads of residents for Sunday worship and cooks for teenagers before each midweek Bible study.
The congregation has baptized more than 30 people — many in a bayou near the bridge where the children were tossed Jan. 7. Billy Spaulding, a post-Katrina convert himself, baptized a woman and four students on a recent Sunday. All had studied with German.
That same week, German and other members brought homemade cakes and cases of water to the family mourning the deaths of the four children.
“It’s affected our community with the loss of these babies,” German said. “I will say that it’s helped church attendance. We’re letting (the children) talk about it and draw pictures and trying to let them understand that these babies are safe in the arms of Jesus.”
Even before shrimp fisherman Lam Luong was accused Jan. 8 of throwing his four young children off an 80-foot-high bridge to their deaths, German was working hard to bring hope to a community still recovering from Hurricane Katrina.
“To me, when we’re out delivering food or clothes … we’re witnessing for Christ,” said German, a mother of seven and grandmother of 17 who came here two years ago to help with the relief effort — and stayed.
Since Katrina, dozens of Churches of Christ and relief organizations have sent volunteers to clean and repair homes. Members from across the nation have played a role in the new Hemley Road church, which met on the beach, under a carport, in a member’s home, in rented halls and even on lawn chairs before members raised $125,000 to buy an old Methodist church.
But neither the new congregation nor a relief work dubbed “Bayou Recovery Project” would exist without German, said Carol Ogle, a relief ministry coordinator for the White’s Ferry Road church in West Monroe, La.
“Daphne loves people and puts that love into action by giving herself unselfishly to help and teach them,” Ogle said. “She has been able to use virtually every resource she could find to help in the repair of damaged homes and crumpled lives.”
German picks up vanloads of residents for Sunday worship and cooks for teenagers before each midweek Bible study.
The congregation has baptized more than 30 people — many in a bayou near the bridge where the children were tossed Jan. 7. Billy Spaulding, a post-Katrina convert himself, baptized a woman and four students on a recent Sunday. All had studied with German.
That same week, German and other members brought homemade cakes and cases of water to the family mourning the deaths of the four children.
“It’s affected our community with the loss of these babies,” German said. “I will say that it’s helped church attendance. We’re letting (the children) talk about it and draw pictures and trying to let them understand that these babies are safe in the arms of Jesus.”
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