Status Update July 12th 2008 - Response From Chaplain Rusack - Packages Received!!! Thank you everyone for making this happen
From Captain Rusack - 101st Airborne FOB Summerall Iraq
Hey Brother John,
I just wanted to send you a quick note to tell you that the packages all arrived two days ago. I would have contacted you immediately but my internet on the FOB has been down for a week or so and I am currently out at one of our remote patrol bases for a few days with working internet (praise God). Anyways, I just want to tell you how blown away I was by everything. I was so blessed I almost broke down in front of my guys. I had several men with me when I opened them and they were blown away too. From us all - Thanks!!!!!
I have already used the amp and the guitar pickup (Fishman pickups are the best in my opinion) and they really sound awesome. I also began giving out harmonicas to the troops and they were gladly and excitedly recieved. I will start writing thank you's and putting some photos together next week for you and those who contributed to this mission. What a blessing! I have not had time yet to get the coffee going but it looks like it is going to be fantastico! As you may have heard, coffee is a favorite pastime over here. I look forward to enjoying it with my friends.
Once again John, my deepest appreciation and thanks for everything. Please let me know if there is anything I can do for you. I am praying for you and ask God's richest blessing on you and your ministry. It is definitely making a difference and a huge impact for the Kingdom. Oh I almost forgot, my wife Cindy also sends her thanks and blessings.
I should have internet back up when I get back in a few days and will try to do better at staying in touch.
Love ya in Yeshua!
Chris
Status Update July 4th 2008 - Mission Completed!
The Hohner Guitar and Hardcase were shipped from Harp Depot to Chaplain Rusack and FOB Summerall at the start of this week. Given the USPS is delivering packages to our soldiers at remarkable speeds (3 days from our installation in the States on several accounts now), it is possible they have already received, or will receive the guitar very soon. However, our contingency plan in sending the acoustic pickups should tide them over as Chris has an acoustic guitar ,and the amplifier as well as all the other instruments and equipment we sent should already be in their hands.
Thank you to all of those who contributed to this cause. Together, you have done something special for our guys and gals over there and you should be hearing back from them in the weeks to come. 38 of my colleagues, friends and neighbors in only 7 days raised enough to make this happen and without your generous contributions, the plan would have been dead in the water. I thank each and every one of you for what you have done for our soldiers and will look forward to hearing from the FOB in the days to come.
Please check in with our site for any updates and I will e-mail all of you as soon as we hear from them and get the pictures and video loaded onto the site.
Sincerely,
John Reynolds
Status Update June 28th 2008 - Order Shipped - Card from everyone and Chaser Packages Shipped!!!
On the 26th we gave the go ahead for Harp Depot to ship the order to FOB Summerall, minus the electric guitar and hard case as they were misplaced apparently by Hohner USA and did not ship to Harp Depot until Friday with an eta of Mon-Wed of next week..
We had a feeling that something was afoot due to lack of contact from Hohner so we gave the go ahead on shipping the amplifier, Harmonicas etc and made sure that we had a nice set of acoustic pickups for Chaplain Chris to use with his acoustic guitar and give him the ability to use the amplifier regardless until the electric guitar arrives. As soon as the guitar arrives at Harp Depot, it will be immediately shipped out and we will update again when this happens.
So aside from the delayed guitar, everything is on the way. We have tracking #s and will await a reply from Chris when they receive them. None of this would have been possible had it not been for those that joined and contributed to the effort and for that I truly thank you...
Hopefully we will hear from Chris soon and there will be no further delays with the electric guitar. At least they will still be able to crank it up a bit through our contingency plan until the other arrives...
John Reynolds
Update June 25th 2008 -
Argh...
Guitar has not arrived to Harp Depot from Hohner USA yet. Harp Depot has stated that everything else is there and ready to ship, including other equipment that was shipped for our order from Hohner-USA. They are trying to get a tracking # from Hohner and seeking further clarification regarding the shipment. Hopefully it will arrive tomorrow...
John
Update June 24th 2008 -
I spoke with Harp Depot yesterday and we are still waiting for the guitar from Hohner USA to arrive in Marion OH. The guitar we ordered had apparently been discontinued so they replaced it with a different model, hence the delay. Everything else is ready to ship and Harp Depot told me that the strings etc. came in from Hohner yesterday so the guitar should be there today. Please keep this in your prayers as we want to see this shipment in our soldiers hands for the 4th of July. Each day that goes by increases the shipping costs to meet this date...
Thank you to all that have helped to make this happen. Your combined contributions have totaled over 400.00 and have made this mission possible and I simply cannot thank you enough... I pray Harp Depot will have good news for us today...
John Reynolds
Update - June 17 2008 - Shipment Pending
Slated to Arrive in Iraq in time for the 4th of July!
Currently we have made arrangements with Harp Depot for the purchase of almost all the instruments to be shipped to the Forward Operating Base Summerall and Chaplain Rusack which will arrive before July 4th so our soldiers can enjoy them for the Holiday. I want to thank the people that have already contributed from my neighborhood in NE Philly, my colleagues, Luigi and Cosimo of the Italian Navy Liaison office, Gerasimos of the Greek Navy Liaison Office, Yan of the Israeli Navy Liaison office, and the NAVICP staff that have stepped forward to help us get this Action Item rolling in short order. Yesterday your combined contributions put us past the half way mark for our goal and I want to thank all of you for your support! It is greatly appreciated!
As soon as we receive word from Chaplain Chris, we will contact you. As soon as we receive pictures and possibly video, we will upload it onto this site and e-mail you with the link so you can see first hand the blessing you helped make happen for our guys and gals over there.
We are still in need of approximately 15-20 individuals willing to contribute approx 20 - $25.00 to this cause (and I state it this way as it shows how much easier we can accomplish a task when we work together), however any assistance you would be able to provide will be greatly appreciated. Either way, the whole shipment is going to Iraq on Monday or Tuesday and we will let the cards fall where they may and somehow shoulder that burden should it present itself. We have until June 27th to finalize our payment obligations and Harp Depot who has been absolutely great to work with and we simply cannot thank them enough for all theirassistance. We also wish to thank them for sending so many harmonicas to our soldiers with their Freedom Harps program.
Here is what we are currently sending and should we receive the support and response to do so, we will add to this total prior to shipment...
-Electric Guitar
-Guitar Hard Case
-Spare Guitar Strings
-Guitar Picks
-Amplifier
-Jaw Harps
-100 Harmonicas
-Music spoons
-Jack cords for Guitar
-Separate purchase (Not from Harp Depot as they do not carry these) of Acoustic Pickups
-Shipping costs
Thanks so much for taking the time to review what we are doing. We truly appreciate it!!! Please stop back by to see the images we will be posting after they recieve the instruments as well as other new media we will be introducing to the site...
In Yeshua,
John Reynolds
I had the opportunity to speak with Captain Rusack, a US Army Chaplain we are currently supporting with bibles, bible studies and more at a forward Operating base in Iraq, just prior to his re-deployment, and I asked him a serious question. "What is it that we could do for you outside of the scope of Bibles, Bible studies and spiritual nourishment that we are already sending that would not only benefit the ministry, but would also serve to boost troop morale in general and be something enjoyable for our soldiers over there to partake of?"
Captain Rusack replied that an electric guitar and possibly an amp would be great, or even a set of pickups for his acoustic guitar and an amp to give the worship service a bit more range. He said some instruments to play music and fellowship would be one of the best things we could do for the guys over there and would provide the opportunity for fellowship and something enjoyable for our troops to do outside of the normal routine of eat, sleep and go out on patrol. I asked him to give me some other ideas of what other types of instruments they may be able to use to paint a direction for us to go in. He stated maybe some electric drums and said that harmonica's would be a great idea as well.
Currently my wife and I are working on purchasing some of these personally and we will send them to Chaplain Chris as we are able to do so financially. Our personal goal in this is to at least get Chaplain Chris an electric guitar and/or pickups for his acoustic guitar with an amp as well as a microphone to start off with and hopefully, in the near future we will also be able to pick up some electric drums and a bunch of harmonicas for the guys there as well. However, after speaking with Chris, I thought to myself, why stop with Chaplain Chris if we have the ability? What if we could bless other Chaplains and their soldiers over there and perhaps get other brothers and sisters of ours in the Lord involved in our undertaking? So that is what we have done and we hereby invite you to join us in our endeavor to provide music instruments to our chaplains and their respective soldiers, and thanks to the assistance of John Hoben, founder of the Bibles for Soldiers Ministry and the gracious assistance of Mama Jan from Heart of God International, we have provided several different ways that you can participate, should you feel so inclined as you will see detailed at the end of this message.
Some of the equipment we have spoken of may be sitting in our attics gathering dust and if you are as musically inclined as I am, this may not be a bad thing, especially for neighbors and particularly our spouses. J If you are a Pastor or Worship leader reading this, you may have some equipment in your worship closets that are no longer being used due to church growth and the installation of newer equipment and technology and could be used as a remarkable blessing to our soldiers and their respective Chaplains in Iraq and Afghanistan. I can only imagine what it would be like to hear the men fellowshipping and worshiping together in the land of the Chaldeans. I bet the mere thought alone would make Nimrod roll over in his eternal grave as Chaplain Chris turns on the microphone and begins preaching the good news of our Lord and Savior, not only to US soldiers, but to the Ugandan and Iraqi forces that also attend the services there.
It is not too often that an opportunity comes along in life to make a direct, profound and lifelong impact on the life of another person and we are being presented with the opportunity through Chaplain Chris Rusack to do so with hundreds upon hundreds of our troops, our allies as well as Iraqi and Ugandan forces through one of the oldest languages of all; Music. I pray that you will join with us in this mission and you seek God's guidance regarding it.
If you wish to join us in this mission we would love to hear from you and answer any questions you may have. Below this paragraph is a list of what we are in the process of purchasing for Chaplain Chris to give you an idea of what we are looking for. It also provides a model of what they could use and would be able to receive there. Any monetary contributions to the cause that we receive will be applied directly to the purchase of additional instruments, shipping and handling fees and extra strings and other maintenance equipment for the donated equipment. 100% in 100% out grass roots effort here with no admin fees attached. Right now our goal is for a July 15th departure of our first package to the 101st Airborne in Iraq.
- Electric Guitar
- Keyboard – Substitute for electric drum set?
- Electric drum set
- Microphone
- Sheet Music
- Acoustic pickups
- Amplifier
- Spare guitar strings and picks
- Harmonicas
Here is the PayPal link if you would prefer to make a contribution online. You can print your receipt for your tax purposes upon conclusion of transaction...
Here is the USPS address for monetary contributions via snail mail. Please do not send equipment to this address...
Heart of God International Ministries
ATTN: Tunes for Troops Ministry
P. O. Box 248
Willard, OH 44890-0248
If someone desires to purchase new instruments for our troops you are more than welcome to, but please send us a copy of the receipt with your donated item so we can send you a tax deductible receipt for your contribution. This also applies to any used equipment you may have so please provide the estimated value of the item with your package for used items. If you would like to send a personal message to our troops with your donation, please feel free to do so and we will make sure they are included in the shipment.
Here is the Donated Instruments shipping address
Soldiers Bible Ministry
ATTN: Tunes for Troops Program
6124 Castor Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19149
You can contact me at 215-906-6522 if you have any questions, or via e-mail at jreynolds.itn@comcast.net
We plan on starting with the 101st Airborne, but we would like to continue on to other deployed units and as long as we are able, we will continue to move laterally from unit to unit, base to base as the needs present themselves so we can help as many as possible, both with spiritual nourishment through the primary focus of our ministry with providing the gospel to our troops and those assisting them from other nations, and with the Tunes for Troops to give them additional tools for Praise and Worship and provide another way for them to bond as brothers and sisters as well as a way to boost the morale among them.
I humbly ask that you lift this up to the Lord in Prayer and ask that His perfect will be done and through it all, He will receive praise and glory...
IN Yeshua,
John