[00:00:00] Jim Jansen: Hey everybody. Welcome to the Equip Cast. So I just sat down with Amanda Pfeiffer and Mandy Bush of St. Patrick's Parish in Elkhorn, Nebraska. We had a really beautiful conversation about how God showed up in the midst of the storm. Quite literally, uh, their parish community was hit by an F four tornado just about a year ago, and they tell the story of how God showed up.

Mobilized people with their individual gifts and callings. It's a story of, of unity, of God's mercy being lived, of people discovering their faith, discovering the Lord present to them in the midst of their mess and suffering. They talk about charisms. It is an unbelievably fun and encouraging conversation.

You're gonna love it. Take a listen. Hey everybody. Welcome to the Equip Cast, a weekly podcast for the Archdiocese of Omaha. I'm your host, Jim Jansen. Now let's dive into some encouragement and inspiration to equip you to live your faith and to be fruitful in your mission. Let's go.

I am Amanda Pfeiffer and Mandy Bush. Welcome back to the webcast. How you doing? 

[00:01:19] Mandy Busch: Good.

[00:01:20] Amanda Pfeifer: Good.

[00:01:20] Mandy Busch: Thanks for having us.

[00:01:21] Amanda Pfeifer: Yeah, we're happy to be be here. 

[00:01:23] Jim Jansen: I'm so excited to have you guys back. This is fun. It's clear to see your friendship. Before we even turned on the mics, I ran down the hall to get a cup of tea and I could hear your laughter halfway down the hall.

Super excited. You guys are back. You were on the Quip cast a little more than a year ago, about a year and a half ago maybe. 

[00:01:43] Mandy Busch: Yeah, that's probably about right. 

[00:01:44] Jim Jansen: We're talking about charisms and uh, we're gonna talk about charisms again, but we're gonna talk about some really beautiful things that the Lord did to bring the work that you all did to help people recognize how the Lord has gifted them.

Well, that, that was tested in a big way, April 26, so. Listeners, we're gonna talk about a tornado that came through, uh, the Omaha metro area, specifically Elkhorn, one of our suburbs. This is Friday, April 26th. It's about 3:00 PM right where it's kind of coming through, coming through our area. So kids are being, I was down in Texas at the time, so the babysitter's freaking out, right?

The, the kids are, kids are like being like, okay, do, do they get picked up from school? Do they not get picked up from school? Turns out it was an F four tornado, right? Not quite the biggest in Twister, but like 170 mile an hour winds, 1600 yards wide, and it's going through. The neighborhoods of your parish, I mean, 200 homes damaged, probably a hundred destroyed, and we don't have the exact count.

Great stories of your pastor sitting on, you know, standing on the porch watching the tornado, and then he is like, oh, I should probably go to the basement. Just classic. We love you, father. 

[00:03:05] Mandy Busch: You and Father Andy. Were, went to the basement, prayed rosaries for our parish. Yeah, here's what they told us. 

[00:03:09] Jim Jansen: Which is good, but it's the part, like, it's the part of them standing on the porch watching, which is like, you know, and it's classic Nebraska.

Praise God. Nobody was killed. Which is miraculous. Really? Un yeah. Unbelievable. I mean, miraculous. And, you know, look it up online if you wanna see the stories of, of just people preserved, hiding in their basement and there's nothing left. Unbelievable. I wanna talk about what the Lord did with you all and the parish and really it's kind of a spotlight on, on the.

The charisms at work together. But just to get us started, where, where were you all when the storm hit? 

[00:03:50] Amanda Pfeifer: We were at church school had just gotten out and it was kind of a frantic dismissal. They like let everybody go really quickly and everybody just kind of dispersed. And Mandy and her girls had made the choice that they were gonna stay at church.

And my boys and I, we got in our car and we actually drove home. And so I made it home. I live in Bennington, so we're kind of watching it on the news. And honestly, the first person that I was thinking about when I saw the trajectory of the tornado was this lady knowing where she lives. And then the text messages started to flood into my phone of so-and-so lost their house.

So-and-so this, so lost their house. So and so this so and so that, and just this real heaviness of like, oh wow. Like we're okay, but there's a lot of people that aren't. Okay. 

[00:04:36] Jim Jansen: Yeah. 

[00:04:36] Amanda Pfeifer: And then Mani was my first call because he knew that she was up at church. And so I first and foremost wanted to know, where's your husband?

Is he okay? How's your house? 

[00:04:44] Mandy Busch: He was on the front porch too, Jim. 

[00:04:48] Jim Jansen: I'm kind of reminded, I mean, it's funny now, but right of those, those, those stickers like tornado watch and there's like the stick figure guy sitting on the porch or sitting in a lunch chair with a drink. Because it's so Nebraska to go out and like watch for it.

But this was serious. It was, I mean, he was ripping very serious, a huge tornado ripping through a residential area. Yeah. 

[00:05:05] Amanda Pfeifer: And how many times have we had a tornado warning and it's nothing. Right? We've looked. Yeah, we ized. We synthesized. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. And so the first question that I asked Mandy was like, well, how are things up there?

And I'm hearing this and that, and clear as day with significant authority. You're like, yep, you need to come up here. Hmm. It's like, okay. 

[00:05:26] Mandy Busch: And so I did, because we were so, my girls and I were in the basement. There had been a group of parents that decided to stay, so we were in the basement of the church.

The power had gone out. There was kids that were pretty scared. They were under tables, little kids were under tables. Their parents were trying to keep 'em calm. I would say for the most part, people were fairly calm and thank God we did not hear, and I cannot believe that we didn't hear experience, a rattle, a whistle, nothing.

I felt really pretty safe down there. But when we came up, that's when I realized we, we were seeing images on our phones of what was, what was right above the water tower. It was unbelievable. 

[00:06:07] Jim Jansen: For reference, the water tower is a hundred yards from the church parking lot.

[00:06:12] Mandy Busch: Oh yeah, it is. It's like. Right. It is like anchored right next to the, to the parish, right?

[00:06:18] Amanda Pfeifer: Yep. Mm-hmm. It's on our campus. 

[00:06:20] Mandy Busch: Yeah. Mm-hmm. And so, um, we were watching these images and kind of blown away, but when I came upstairs is when I knew the severity of it. We tried to drive home after that and I, and just thank God that we decided not to go home because we live west of St. Pat's. We would've driven straight into the path of that thing had we left the parking lot and headed home.

And so first, thank God for that, um, that we were safe in the basement, but when we. The sirens started coming and I'll bet you it was 30 to 40 minutes straight of sirens flying past the church west. Mm-hmm. So we knew, we had no idea that the extent of the destruction, but we knew that it was bad. And then the sheriff showed up at the church and said, we need this to be like a mobile command center.

We need your parking lot, we need your buildings. And I think that's when you called and I said, Amanda, I don't even know. I don't even know at this point. What we're gonna do. But, but you were like, I'll be right there. And so, um, and it was hard to get there, from what I understand. It was, there were a lot of down trees.

Mm-hmm. Um, it was, it was hard to get through the area. Um, but the sheriff came and they. Ended up using our gym and our parking lot as kind of a mobile command center. Mm-hmm. We did not know if it was gonna be triage. We didn't know how injured people were or weren't praised. God, I cannot believe that. No one was seriously injured in that tornado.

Mm-hmm. When you drive through the neighborhoods and see the destruction. Yeah. It's almost unbelievable to me that no one was seriously hurt or killed. And so that's, that's kind of where we were. Trying to work with the sheriff and sort of waiting to find out who was gonna come from the neighborhoods.

We opened up the gym as sort of a meeting center for families. Mm-hmm. Who were separated. Yeah. A reunification site. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Right. And so parishioners right away are calling and just showing up with food and blankets and whatever supplies they thought might be needed for a family that we displaced showed up at the gym.

Yeah. Trays and tables of food, and it was a place where people came and found each other. Some of them soaking wet. We had one gentleman came in that was, um, hearing impaired and soaking wet. Soaking wet, and he stayed there for hours while his kids who lived in Council Bluffs were trying to make their way through the streets to come and get him.

[00:08:44] Jim Jansen: Ladies, if I can, I just want to, let's do a little bit of a flashback now, because there's this like, okay, you are literally ground zero of the kind of. The command center. You know, who knows? Thankfully nobody is coming in injured. But it could have been kind of an immediate kind of triage site for that.

It, it ends up being a place for, for people to, to gather, take us back. You all have worked very hard to try and help your parishioners identify. How the Lord has gifted them and equipped them as disciples for their personal mission. Give us some of that context, because it really comes to fruition in the storm and the aftermath, but give us some of the context of, of what had happened months and years before to prepare people.

To work out of like God's power moving through them? 

[00:09:40] Mandy Busch: Well, I mean, the first thing that comes to mind is called and gifted. We've been doing at the parish for the last, gosh, two years, maybe this summer. And so we've done two to three courses every year, inviting parishioners to explore the charisms, which are the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit given to each at baptism and strengthened at confirmation, and they equip us.

To do God's work in the world and to build the kingdom. 

[00:10:08] Jim Jansen: Can you give just a couple of quick examples? Like what do you mean by a charism? Examples of these superpowers? 

[00:10:12] Mandy Busch: Gosh, uh, so many different examples, but I'm sitting in front of a, a, like living, breathing example of so many of them right now.

[00:10:20] Jim Jansen: Mm-hmm.

[00:10:21] Amanda Pfeifer: Ditto. 

[00:10:21] Mandy Busch: Um, I think of Amanda in the storm and. First taking it to prayer, which is what you always do, which I so greatly admire about you. You always pause and ask God what he wants first, and then, um, she has these incredible gifts of leadership and administration and so she had the vision mm-hmm. So quickly for what needed to happen.

She knew exactly how to get it done and how to mobilize people to do that, and it was beautiful. And what ended up happening, which I don't know if this was by design, I've never asked you this. There were three churches in Elkhorn who were not struck. All the neighborhoods around us were struck. Mm-hmm.

But the churches were not. So we were able to respond and Bethany became like the meals and the food headquarter and relevant became boots on the ground, like immediate disaster relief. And we became the long-term care. And I don't know if that was by design or if that was just prayed in, but it was so beautiful how each had their own.

Unique role that they played. Mm-hmm. And it worked together so amazingly. 

[00:11:29] Amanda Pfeifer: Yeah. So the prayer part is key. 

[00:11:31] Mandy Busch: Yeah. 

[00:11:31] Amanda Pfeifer: 'cause this isn't the first natural disaster that the Lord has called us as a community to respond to. 

[00:11:37] Mandy Busch: Yeah. 

[00:11:37] Amanda Pfeifer: In 2019. Yeah. Talk about that. We, um, we led almost a six month effort helping flooded communities, um, in the wake of the flooding of the Missouri River and the Elkhorn River.

And so. When I was driving back up to church that night after I had talked to you, that was my very, like, the prayer of my heart is, what do you want us to do, Lord? What does this look like? What are you calling us to? Yeah. Knowing that he would show it and show it full well, but also knowing that everybody's gonna have their own role and it's important that we kind of stay in our lane in what we do.

Mm-hmm. And so we had gotten word that there was a group called Omaha Rapid Response, which these guys are phenomenal in, in what they do, but they respond to natural disasters all over the country to kind of mobilize volunteers and to just come in and start to do that initial like cleanup. Yep. Right?

Yep. Um, and walk alongside people. So I knew that Omaha Rapid response was at Relevant. Mm-hmm. And I'm like, well, God's not calling us to that. Yeah. They do that and they do that really, really well. But during COVI, we actually created as a church, a form that we put on our website that allowed people to ask for help.

[00:12:51] Mandy Busch: Mm-hmm. 

[00:12:52] Amanda Pfeifer: Sometimes it's really hard to pick up the telephone mm-hmm. And say like, Hey, I need help for this. And so what we created was an online form that gets run through our human needs committee, that people can just tell us whatever they need. And what dropped on my heart was, well, we're gonna use that as our mode of.

Of communication and touchpoint with the community. Yeah. And so there's something really to be said for pray, listen, pray, listen. And so, um, what we did the Saturday after the storm is we sent people out with a little flyer that had the QR code to that form and it said, we're your good neighbor. Neba, you know?

[00:13:31] Jim Jansen: Thank you. 

[00:13:32] Amanda Pfeifer: Carry off the State Farm. Yep. Right, right. Neba commercial. That was popular at... 

[00:13:37] Jim Jansen: did you? Did you really par, did you say neba on it? Or you just said you spelled bit 

[00:13:40] Amanda Pfeifer: or you said you're your good

[00:13:40] Mandy Busch: neighbor.

[00:13:41] Amanda Pfeifer: Neighbor, yeah. 

[00:13:41] Jim Jansen: You just trained everybody to say it just like Arne. 

[00:13:43] Amanda Pfeifer: Knowing that that would be how we would start.

Just start to interface and. That's what we did. We sent people out with those, uh, flyers and we sent 'em out with gift cards and just this message of we are here to be, to help you carry this cross. We are here to be the hands and feet of Jesus to you. 

[00:14:00] Mandy Busch: And I think we knew pretty early on that. We wanted to be there long term for sure, for people.

Mm-hmm. That this was not gonna be a couple of weeks of cleanup and help that they were gonna need. I remember when we started training care managers, who were the people that were gonna like, be assigned to each family to follow them through the whole thing. Mm-hmm. We said, if you volunteer, it's for six months to a year at a minimum.

We are gonna be in this with people for the long term. You knew that 

[00:14:25] Jim Jansen: you set the expectation for them right away. Mm-hmm. I remember as this was first, you know, and it was as, this was first kind of un unfolding and it was clear. It's like, okay. The, the churches are kind of settling into spots, and St.

Pat's is kind of settling in for the, for the long term. My first thought was like, oh boy, how's this gonna go? That was our first thought. Well, you too, Jim. You're like, me too, but, but oftentimes there's this adrenaline rush and there's a mm-hmm. This enthusiasm, and then oftentimes people burn out. Because it's like, oh, it's my normal day job, plus it's disaster relief and it's long hours and people are sad and there's all of this extra emotional expenditure.

And I remember I called. Mandy, I called you a couple times. Yeah. It was like, how you doing? It's like, great. And I'm like, well, we'll see. I'll call her back later. I us call her in a week. And then like you just kept doing great the whole time. Which is proof of your charisms. Charisms. Yes. Yeah. Yes.

[00:15:23] Amanda Pfeifer: Because when you're moving in your charisms, you're always energized.

It's always fruitful. And it never feels like work. Yeah. And so I, I was coming off a, a period of time ministry wise that, I mean, spring is busy. Mm-hmm. It is just nonstop day after day, week after week with sacraments and Parish Mission and Holy Week and all the things. And, um, I had nothing left to give.

Like I did, I did not wanna do this. Yeah. And I can remember you're like, I'm ready for, I love you. Vacation, not a tornado Saturday after like finally being up there super late Friday night and then all day Saturday. I. And like just wanting to go home. And then I get called that there's a neighbor who had showed up and they needed help.

Mm-hmm. So I, that charism of mercy kicks in. Yeah. I, in prayer, I have a very authentic relationship with the Lord and how we communicate. And I told 'em, I don't wanna do this. I'm tired and I don't wanna do it through this. Please let somebody else do this. Mm-hmm. And he, there was an instant response, great humility in my heart that he said, well, I didn't ask them.

I asked you. At that point I knew, okay, I just gotta surrender like mm-hmm. And there's something to be said for really being open to where the Lord wants you and what he is calling you to, that it is not about your own plan or your own desires. It's about his. And when we truly do just get to that point and allow him the space to move.

He moves mountains. 

[00:16:51] Mandy Busch: We were like working almost around the clock. I mean, it was late nights and early mornings and constant, and yet I did not feel tired. Same. I felt energized by quite a bit of the work actually. And I think that's because through called and gifted, one of the, one of the great gifts of that course for me was to get out of comparison.

I had watched you work through the flood and was amazed and I thought there was like, I need to be able to do that too. That's not my gifting. But we knew. We knew where your gifts were, we knew where my gifts were. We knew where other people's I. Gifts on our staff and volunteers were, and we stay, like you said, we kind of, we went into those roles where we knew God had equipped us, and I think that's why we were okay the whole time.

Yeah. You know, because we were, we knew where our gifts were and that's what we were doing, and so there was an energizing quality about all of it. 

[00:17:46] Amanda Pfeifer: And there's, there's something about really experiencing moving in your charisms that you look back on it and you're like. 

How did that...

[00:17:54] Mandy Busch: how did we do that?

[00:17:54] Amanda Pfeifer: ...get done?

How did I do that? How did we do that? Yeah. How did that all come together? Yeah. That you can't explain that it is truly supernatural. Mm-hmm. So everything that you had talked about of like, oh, how they, they're gonna, they're in this for the long haul. What are they doing? This is gonna fail. Well, had, had you actually taken, well I, if I thought that taken the time.

Time, but I was expecting you to get tired. Well, had you, had you taken the time in the moment to actually think through it, you would've second guessed yourself 10 times over. Sure. Yeah. And decided not to do it. 

[00:18:18] Jim Jansen: Right, right, right, right.

[00:18:19] Amanda Pfeifer: But because it is just this super natural. And supernatural gifts. The Lord just goes. 

[00:18:27] Jim Jansen: Yeah, I wanna give you a, to like bring this to life.

Obviously, like, you know. God willing. Most people listening aren't gonna be like, Hey, I actually, I plan on, you know, there's gonna be a tornado coming in a couple weeks and I'm planning on being the one, so not direct application for tornado or flood relief. But talk a little bit about your, your particular charisms, those of like kind of your volunteers and how that shaped the planning, how it shaped the implementation, how you interacted with each other.

[00:18:57] Amanda Pfeifer: You know, I think first and foremost. There is a charism that's known as extraordinary faith. Hmm. And so, yeah, this charism allows individuals to have a faith unlike any other. Mm-hmm. When a situation or circumstance presents itself and the charism of extraordinary faith was present over and over and over and over again, it was just a deep trust with within myself.

Mm-hmm. Of like, okay, God has asked us to do this. He's gonna give us everything that we need, and then some. So when I laid in bed and I had the plan, but I needed the people, the prayer of my heart was, bring the people, Lord. And what did he do? He brought 200 people, right? Yeah. 'cause if we didn't have all of those people come together, there's no way that he could have accomplished what he did.

Mm-hmm. And so part of that is be just being open and listening. And that's what I was most blown away by, is the number of people who heard the call of the Lord in their heart to help to give selflessly of their time to drop everything when we all have, you know, 20 balls in the air at any given time.

And to be led by him into something that they'd never experienced before. 

[00:20:07] Jim Jansen: Mm-hmm. 

[00:20:08] Amanda Pfeifer: And I think about that, of like, wow, this is a cool case study. Because if we had the ability within our own parish to replicate that day in and day out, that people just listen and they say yes to where what they're being called to and not be, you know, selfish.

Like how much more could he accomplish and done? So extraordinary Faith was, was one of the biggest. Charisms. But then it was just really cool to see people who have never, ever, ever heard about called and gifted, right? Never go through the class, show up, see this is what I'm gonna do, and then to watch the way that God was moving in.

[00:20:46] Jim Jansen: That's awesome. Yeah. Thank you. Right. It's not like, just 'cause you haven't taken the test or gone through the discernment process that the charisms aren't at work in your life. Right. They were at work, they were being called, they were being drawn, and whether it's pastoring or leadership, you, you had a place we're like, oh hey, we.

We've, we've got a place for you to use that gift to fulfill that desire. 

[00:21:09] Amanda Pfeifer: And it was miraculous. So we had a, a one hour time period the Monday after the tornado where these 200 people are in our school cafeteria, and we are breaking down for them how this process is gonna work. And what I needed was like 15 to 20 people to lead.

Mm-hmm. To agree to say, I'm gonna take a resource team and I'm gonna lead it, and I'm gonna lead the people. Going into that, I, I had no idea who was gonna even show, show up in that room. Right. You're, I, 

[00:21:37] Jim Jansen: I know I need leaders. I just dunno who they are yet. 

[00:21:39] Amanda Pfeifer: But what happened is he called a leader to every single area a team formed.

And they ran with it. 

[00:21:44] Jim Jansen: Because you divided things geographically. 

[00:21:46] Amanda Pfeifer: We did not. We divided it based on need. So we had Oh, got it. Yes. So we had resources, resource teams, dependent on what the needs would be of the families that we were gonna be walking alongside. So we had a housing resource team, we had a transportation resource team, gift cards, food.

Down the line. Yeah. Dumpsters, porta bodies. Porta bodies, you name it, we had it. And what was so cool, like this is how you know that it's God just moving and the body of Christ really just mobilizing because as the leader of this project, I did not have to micromanage or touch mm-hmm. Base with any one of those team leads.

Mm-hmm. They just went and they did it, and then God brought them the people to help fill in the gaps. Mm-hmm. And it's, it's supernatural. Like there's no way that you could ever do it as quickly as what we did it without. Him. 

[00:22:32] Jim Jansen: Yeah. I wanna give you a chance to share before, again, before we turn on the mics.

You're talking about how when the county kinda emergency response folks came out, they were impressed. They were like, wow, you guys like totally set up an emergency response team here. I forget what they called it, but they had a label for it and you're like, oh yeah, I guess that's what we did. 

[00:22:53] Amanda Pfeifer: Yeah. So about a month after the tornado.

A group of community leaders had come together because what we learned as part of this process is that Douglas County didn't actually have a disaster recovery plan. 

[00:23:06] Jim Jansen: Oh. 

[00:23:06] Amanda Pfeifer: Whereas like Washington County had one, Douglas County didn't have one. And so leaders were kind of all brought together to kind of unpack this and figure out, well, how do we get that?

We really need that. And we were sharing about what St. Pat's had done and just kind of like our model. And I have never done anything with, with formal disaster recovery ever. You're like, yes, let's, it's a hobby. It's just where, wherever God calls me, I, we just go. And so afterwards, this gentleman who was on the Douglas County Emergency Management team came up and he shook my hand and he's like, this is phenomenal.

Like what you were able to do in such a short time and mobilize it like. You set up a disaster recovery plan and a disaster recovery care team, because what we thought we were just doing was peering up our volunteers to walk alongside neighbors, right? Mm-hmm. Because that's what Christ calls us to do.

We're called to carry one another's crosses. Mm-hmm. We're called to. To just live that as part of the Christian life, right? Mm-hmm. Well, what they call it in the world is case management. 

[00:24:03] Jim Jansen: Right? Yeah. Like I was just being a Christian fine call it case management, but. 

[00:24:07] Amanda Pfeifer: You know, and so, so that too, a after the fact was like, well, that, that's a fruit, you know?

You see that as like God just tells you exactly what you need to know and you listen and you're obedient. Yeah. And then it happens. 

[00:24:19] Jim Jansen: Yeah. And you had an opportunity to witness. To him and others like, yeah, it's, this is just the Holy Spirit at work. For sure. Yeah. 

[00:24:26] Amanda Pfeifer: We said that over and over and over, like so many media outlets wanted to talk to us day in and day out, and that is what we, that is the story that we constantly told is, this is the body of Christ mobilized.

This is the Holy Spirit. This is people listening and showing up and, and caring for one another, and God providing in big ways. Mm-hmm. It never ever really got told that way. Yeah, but that is, except by the Catholic voice. Yes. Uh, my dear friend Susan. But it was just cool. So cool. And, and I think one of the most awesome parts was leading the effort every single day for probably a good almost two months.

We had a daily call, like the whole team is getting on, we're unpacking what's going on. We're working through the different challenges with what we're seeing. People sharing their graces. Mm-hmm. Because what people got so excited about. Mm. The volunteers wanted to share like how they're seeing Jesus.

Mm-hmm. How they're feeling, the Holy Spirit living and working through them. And then, you know, as individuals who have gone through, called and gifted, like we can see the charisms, we're hearing it to be like, Hey, she's got the charism of encouragement, she's got the charism of hospitality. And to point that out was really profound.

There was a volunteer who. Successful small business owner has had a hard time in her walk with the church. Mm-hmm. But felt really called to do this. And so she came forward and she was a case manager and she shared with me after the first couple of days, she said, Amanda, I have experienced Jesus more in the last seven days than I have in the last five years.

Mm-hmm. Which is profound. Yeah. Profound. Yeah. That's just so amazing. And so. What, what for you? Yeah. Mandy comes to mind. 

[00:26:10] Jim Jansen: What are your, yeah. Talk a little bit about your experience and your, your gifts, how those came to life. 

[00:26:15] Mandy Busch: Like I said, I had watched Amanda in the flood and been just blown away. So knew that like this was in the best possible hands and that you were absolutely listening to whatever the Lord was asking of you, and you trusted him completely.

And I think, I think that definitely resonated in all the hearts of the volunteers, right? Like. So, so I knew that my gifts were not in those areas, so I focused elsewhere. So my favorite thing to do was street ministry. So we had a team. Yeah. And we went out into the neighborhood, we walked the neighborhoods.

We had t-shirts made that said A friend in need is a friend in need. Um, and we That's great. Yeah. With a little tiny St. Pat's logo. We weren't trying to like put ourselves out, we just wanted to help people. And so we handed out the flyers. We would find them, we would offer prayer and we would just stand in the middle of the street and hold hands and pray with them.

One of one of my favorite experiences was going out with Father Mario. He wanted to come, he volunteered. He asked if he could come out and do street ministry with us, and there was a family that had, the dad was a Marine, kind of a stoic guy there. They were renting their home. It had been damaged beyond.

It was a tough situation and he later told one of the care managers that was working with him, he saw Father Mario walking down the street in that collar and he said, God had come into my mess. Mm. Like he experienced the presence of God coming into his mess. Wow. It was so beautiful. That's, yeah. So it was just, just most awesome opportunity.

We met the most amazing people in that neighborhood and we got to pray, uh, with them and invite them to. Come and get help. So we would connect them through the app on, on our phones. Mm-hmm. We would connect 'em to human needs and then the care managers would reach out. Yeah. We just, we went out and found them, encouraged them, and prayed with them and we're, we're hopefully the heart of the church going into the neighborhood to find them.

[00:28:11] Jim Jansen: Yeah. You know, as you guys tell this story, there's two things that are just hitting me like a ton of bricks. The first, we can get to the second, later, the first is. You were ready because you had already worked to help people recognize how the Lord had called and gifted them for service, and you already had a sense of mission, like this intake form that already existed.

You already knew that there were people in need and you already knew that it was your. Call to be present to them. So you just had to scale it up when the storm hit. Talk about that conviction because I mean, at one level it's just common sense, right? I mean, Jesus tells us, you know, in Matthew 25, you did it.

You did it to me, that this is just like part of who we are, but sometimes it's not part of what my parish is. Talk about that conviction, like where did that come from? 

[00:29:12] Amanda Pfeifer: You know, I think there's something to be said for. The fact that the tornado hit right in our backyard. Right, like right behind behind the church.

Yeah, like literally in the backyard. The church blocks. Blocks was, was a regular constant reminder of the devastation of mm-hmm. Families that were suffering and what they were walking through. Whereas if you were further east in Elkhorn, you didn't get to have to see it every day. Mm-hmm. You didn't have a reminder of it.

And I think that for a lot of people was really humbling of like, whoa. We gotta drive by Ramblewood on the way home or on the way to soccer or whatever. Mm-hmm. And they see it and that conviction, but also it just tells me that people are hungry. 

[00:29:54] Jim Jansen: Mm-hmm. 

[00:29:54] Amanda Pfeifer: They're hungry to want to give of themselves in ways that really take care of the good of their fellow man and woman.

You know what's been really cool and it's, it's gonna bring tears to my eyes, is Yes, this was. An act of mercy, right? Of taking care of people, trying to help them acquire their basic needs, but the ripple effect of that in the number of people who have returned to the church. Because of the way that they experienced the body of Christ showing up for them is probably the coolest, most goosebump part.

Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Like people returning to the sacraments. Right. People becoming Catholic because what they experienced through just loving hearts evangelizing and the way that God wants us to.

[00:30:45] Jim Jansen: Mm-hmm. 

[00:30:45] Mandy Busch: That is, yeah. We had a, can I tell this story? Yes. We had, um, a woman who showed up. Off the street, like maybe the day or two after the tornado.

And she was devastated and just kind of overwhelmed emotionally and spiraling and kind of despairing. And, um, we pulled her in. We spent a ton of time with her. Like four members of our staff had just really like ministered to her heart and. I think the charisms really showed up there in prayer with her.

Mm. Because when she came in, she's like, God and I are not on good terms. She was like, I'm just gonna be honest with you. Yeah. And by the time she left, we had prayed with her. There was a prophetic word that had come through. Someone there spoke right to her heart. The team had assembled a bunch of gift cards for her, but she looked at, at us and she said, I, I'm so grateful for these gift cards, but I'm really walking out of here with Jesus today.

Oh my gosh. And we all just we're like, you know, and I, and I said, I came back into the war room and I said, that woman was spiritually resurrected before our eyes. She came to decide she wanted to become Catholic. And, um, she also found out that she had liver cancer, like a late stage. And so Father Tom, we worked with her, um, he said, let's, let's do this.

Let's bring her in. And she got to receive the sacraments. Um, she got to receive the anointing. She, I mean, she, she did it all. She had her first communion and her confirmation and. She had the anointing of the sick and the apostolic, pardon, before she died, and it was just such a beautiful thing. I got to take her ashes on Ash Wednesday.

We took a big picture of her with her ashes on her forehead, and she was so proud that she got to do that this year, and she passed away about a month later. It was a blessing to us to know her and to be able to walk that final journey home with her. 

[00:32:56] Amanda Pfeifer: Mm-hmm. The biggest shift is there was a perception change of the Catholic church, like so many people that we had talked to or that we had helpful.

Well, I was Catholic as a kid, but I don't go anymore and to be the church right in the street praying with people, praying for God's provision with this team of volunteers, I. Changes how people see and receive things. 

[00:33:21] Jim Jansen: I mean, it, it really is the embodiment of so much of like what Pope Francis has been talking about.

The field hospital for sure. Yeah. I mean the field hospital and our, it's our meeting people in their real and tangible needs that often restores the credibility. For then the reintroduction to like, Hey, and you know why I do this? There's this guy named Jesus and he loves you too. And you saw it in me.

Here's where it's coming from. You know, but, but we don't get to say that until we first show up in the mess with the gift card, with, you know, there in conversation. How can I help all, all the things Ladies, I wanna, maybe if we. Pivot a little bit all the way through this. You've been talking about teamwork, and I know there's a, a beautiful culture at the parish where ministry happens in teams.

It's not just one person, even a very gifted person who, who's doing that. Talk a little bit about just the, the culture of teamwork at the parish and how the charisms have helped deepen that. 

[00:34:34] Amanda Pfeifer: Yeah, I can remember. Sunday after the tornado sitting with Father Tom saying, okay, we've got the plan. Here's how it's gonna go.

But I said, we're gonna need all hands on deck because this is, this is a huge event for our community and human needs and outreach cannot do this on our own. Mm-hmm. Will you please ask everybody to just kind of drop what they're doing and help? And he was happy to make that call and everybody did.

[00:35:02] Jim Jansen: Mm-hmm. 

[00:35:03] Amanda Pfeifer: Right? And everyone, you know, moving in their own gifts, in their own roles. You know, Mandy has the charism of encouragement and pastoring and so her and a few others on our pastoral care team, they were the first ones that you would think of to lead that street ministry. Right. But even like the lady, like our business office, right.

So third or fourth day, I was starting to get a little nervous and I'm like, we're gonna need a lot of money in order to, to take care of the people that God is bringing to us. And in that moment, feeling a little bit like, but having other individuals who have the charism of extraordinary faith. In inter session to be like, we're gonna pray for it.

We're gonna ask God right now for his mighty provision. 

[00:35:51] Mandy Busch: I was telling Amanda there was a day, there was a day where you called us into the war room and you're like, okay, everybody, we have to pause. I'm not sure where all this money is CO is gonna come from. Yeah. And she's like, I mean, we have to pray like we have to ask God to provide.

And we did. We paused because we would be out in street ministry. We're handing out gift cards we're not worried about, you know? Yeah. And so, um, she's like, we gotta pause and pray. And I remember going into the church that day, like almost a right after that conversation and just begging God, like, we need to do this and we really need you to provide, if this is what you want, you've gotta provide.

And I remember walking out and there were people writing checks and I remember the next morning walking in and there were people dropping off checks. Mm. And but just always that call to stop and pause and pray when you're not sure what the next step is too. Mm-hmm. Right? 

[00:36:42] Jim Jansen: Mm-hmm. 

[00:36:42] Mandy Busch: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. 

[00:36:44] Jim Jansen: Well, and when you encountered a need, I dunno if I'm phrasing it the right way, but you're like, well, I can't fill this.

Right. I don't have the people. I don't, or I mean, Lord, you do, but I don't know who they are. Or like, I know the money's there. But I don't have it right now, and I I can't go get it unless you, you know, I'm just, all of that aware. You, you weren't afraid of your need. 'cause you knew there was someone that if you asked, who would provide. 

[00:37:10] Amanda Pfeifer: Yeah. But this wasn't even like, we didn't have time to do a targeted development ask. Right. And donors and this, that and the other. Like, it was just like, God, please pray, provide. Yeah. He, he did huge, huge, like in mind blowing ways, but that creates a lot of extra work for everybody else. So it was awesome how like our.

Our business manager in the office was just quick to write all of the acknowledgements and get all of that done, and our development guy was following up with getting teams together to write thank you notes so that every I and every T was dotted and crossed. Without even betting an eye.

[00:37:41] Jim Jansen: Mm-hmm.

[00:37:41] Mandy Busch: That it was just like, this is just what we're, what we're gonna do.

And I remember because I, I was a care manager for a few families in the beginning, and I remember that anytime I made a call for a family, so we, because we had like these, uh, resource leads, right? Mm-hmm. So I would pick up a call, somebody needed a car. Oh, we just happened to get a car today. Like, oh, somebody needs this.

Oh, somebody just dropped that off. How strange. Every time I picked up the phone to ask for something for one of these families, it was faster and easier than I could have imagined, and usually a little bit more generous than I asked for. Ah, even, even from there was an, uh, uh, that family that needed, uh, electrical work right away.

I. I pick up the bulletin and I called the first electrician I saw who had advertised in the bulletin. He's like, I'll be there in an hour. That's, I said, what? 

[00:38:29] Jim Jansen: Yeah. Then he called me back. He's like, no charge. Worked with a, yeah, yeah. Electrician. HVAC guy. He's like, that's a miracle in an hour. 

[00:38:36] Mandy Busch: Right?

Supernatural. And he called back and he's like, I don't want any payment for this. Like, I just wanna do it. Oh my gosh. So, like to speak to your point of the goodness of people's hearts and allowing God to move their schedules and their time and their talents to meet the needs of the people that were in need at that time.

[00:38:53] Jim Jansen: You guys got, so, I mean, for lack of a better way to put it just deep into your neighborhood, into your mission field, I mean, you're, you're literally talking to people. You're not talking them on the front porch. 'cause the front porch is gone. You're just standing on the street. Mm-hmm. Talking to them where their homes used to be.

What did you learn about your neighbors? 

[00:39:13] Mandy Busch: They are good. I, I didn't bring it in here with me, but I. There was one family that I knew that the Lord was asking me to connect with them. Hmm. And, but they were in their house, try, you know, they're busy, they're trying to get crates and totes and things out and move out.

So I was kind of just like waiting for them to come outside and for this opportunity. And when they did, walked up and. I never laughed so hard that whole entire time. I mean, it's total destruction all around us. We stood in their yard and laughed so hard because he's like a, a tornado ate my house. I said, we said, what do you, what is it you need?

He's like, I don't know what tornado just ate my house. And he had these little, he printed off these little 3D disks that were a picture of his house and it says door oh eight, my house, April 26th, you know, 2024. But, um. That we could find laughter and joy in the midst of utter destruction, that there was hope.

Mm-hmm. That there was community, those neighbors care about each other. They would actually call me and be like, have you talked to this person? Could you check on them? Nothing's going on with their house. I'm worried about you know, them and where they are and things like that. Just a, like a sense of commitment to the neighborhood and to each other, such good people, and that there was hope.

In the middle of all of that and there could be joy and laughter just kind of blew me away. 

[00:40:37] Amanda Pfeifer: Yeah. The neighborhood just west of St. Pat's called Ramblewood had been there for a long time. Mm-hmm. Since like Elkhorn was Elkhorn. Mm-hmm. Like much older homes than I think what people think of Elkhorn is today.

And that was the neighborhood that was hit the hardest homes, lost uprooted. I think it was really eye opening for a lot of, of of our volunteers, especially to get this glimpse into the fact of like, oh, like Elkhorn isn't all affluence. Elkhorn isn't. Mm-hmm. All what people probably label mislabel it as that.

There's a lot of need and I think just the depth of the pain and suffering. That existed pre tornado. Mm-hmm. And then you throw this on top of it. Mm-hmm. And people's resilience, maybe to use the word hope and, and I think that's probably what stands out the most. And also the humility to be able to receive what God wants to give you.

Hmm. Because that is hard, right? Mm-hmm. That pride gets in the way and you start to think that I need to do this all on my own. But when you really truly do surrender and you open yourself up to, oh, God wants to give me this, and, you know, just some of the thank you notes that we would get after the fact, just that, that's your gratitude.

That we were just his vessel in, in helping him make his presence known in really, really big ways in the midst of a tragedy. 

[00:42:10] Jim Jansen: Hmm. You know, it's, it's amazing to think that it hasn't quite yet been a full year. We're getting close. What do you think the long-term effects are gonna be on the, the parish, the community, the individuals?

[00:42:26] Amanda Pfeifer: Yeah. It's tough. I mean, I've been in this since day one and I still spend a few hours a week continuing to work on tornado and help people that need it, whether it's helping people pay rent or their utilities, like the struggle is real. I mean, there's a lot of families that have not yet settled with their insurance.

They're still fighting with their insurance companies, and, and the hard part is, is that. They want to rebuild. Mm-hmm. But in some cases, like the market, right. And what they, if they were adequately insured on their home, they might not be able to do that. And so that's just hard. Like there is, there's, there are still homes in Ramblewood that have not been touched.

Right? There are homes that nobody will ever go back to. Mm. And so that, you certainly see it, right? With your eyes. Mm-hmm. But also with your heart. And just feeling the ripple of, of the devastation and what actually happened. And I think it's really important that, as we said in the beginning, that we're in this for the long haul, that we are still there.

We are still mm-hmm. Helping people as they call and they need it. Um, I had a guy last week say, Hey, I'm getting ready to move back into my house. Can you get me a dumpster? Sure. And being that place that they can go for whatever they need. That's the field hospital. That is the church. 

[00:43:43] Mandy Busch: Right. And I think, like when I think about the effects of, you know, this experience, I think about like the real time in life example of what God can do.

[00:43:57] Jim Jansen: Hmm hmm. 

[00:43:58] Mandy Busch: You know, anybody who was a part of that, who volunteered, who donated, who just followed the story, look what God can provide. Look what God can accomplish. It was watching him in action over and over and over and over again, and I don't know how that doesn't. 

[00:44:17] Jim Jansen: Mm-hmm. 

[00:44:17] Mandy Busch: Leave a lasting impression on how he can provide in so many ways, a million little miracles.

[00:44:24] Jim Jansen: So I want to give you a chance just to speak to those who are listening. Who are thinking, okay, I want that. I want that for myself. I want to be able to serve out of my gifts that just the joy and the freedom. I want to be surrounded by a team of people who have complimentary gifts. We can work together to do something good and important, tornado or not like, but I wanna be a part of that and.

And, and maybe for the parish leaders listening, like, ah, and I wanna help create that for people. I wanna create a parish that, that equips people for. Mission helps. You know, people come together for how the Lord is calling them. What do you say to them? 

[00:45:07] Amanda Pfeifer: You gotta ask for it. Mm-hmm. In fact, the day before the tornado hit.

I was, I was just struggling with like where God had me and what we were doing and where we're going. And I can remember asking him like, please, just please just show me what you want me to do. Okay. And then in hindsight, like watching what then unfolded over the last year. 

[00:45:29] Mandy Busch: Yeah. 

[00:45:29] Amanda Pfeifer: Was really beautiful. But it's just asking him like, let me bloom wherever you plant me Lord.

[00:45:35] Mandy Busch: Hmm. 

[00:45:36] Amanda Pfeifer: And giving him full permission to do that because he's not gonna go and he is not gonna move where he is not invited. Mm-hmm. And so I think it's, it's just asking him in prayer. I mean, one of the things that we teach as part of called and gifted is like asking the Lord to unleash and unlock your gifts to show you who.

Who God wants to use them for and how he wants to use them. And so it's just this constant conversation and prayer and prayer 

[00:46:00] Mandy Busch: and prayer, I think. Mm-hmm. I think so too. That's the, my first gut reaction was pray for it. Like, but don't, but really pray for it. Mm-hmm. Like, really commit to pray for that. And then of course I'm gonna plug called and gifted because mm-hmm.

I think it's a, an amazing tool. One, just to make people aware of the charisms. It's something I wasn't super familiar with, you know, a few years ago. Oh yeah. 

[00:46:23] Jim Jansen: I mean, I, I would say most people, unless I've had some very explicit exposure to something like called in Gifted or some other retreat or workshop, they're like the ka-wa.

The charisms, yeah. I don't even know what you're talking about. 

[00:46:36] Mandy Busch: But just, just even learning, taking the time to learn what they are. We'll kind of open your eyes to where they're already at in your life a lot of times, and it's kind of a clue to your call. Mm-hmm. Right? Yeah. Like, where am I gifted that is gonna lead me into the exact right place and role where God wants to put me, and then it doesn't feel like work, and then it just feels like I'm, um, partnered with him to do what he's asking me to do, and it's life giving.

It's fulfilling, it's energizing. And, and you feel like you're right where you're meant to be. And that's where I felt strangely, I did not want the tornado at all, but I felt like I was right where I was supposed to be in those moments. Mm-hmm. For sure. And I knew, and I knew that my gifts were different from other people on the team, and I went, I just went straight into them.

Right?

[00:47:25] Jim Jansen: Mm-hmm.

[00:47:25] Mandy Busch: And, and that was the beauty of it, is we all kind of had that awareness already.

[00:47:29] Jim Jansen: Mm-hmm.

[00:47:30] Mandy Busch: Yes. So it did help us as a team to figure out where we all fit together. And then I also thank God. The people he brought. There was also just an organic way that all those gifts of all those people kind of came and they just fit.

Right. They just fit like a puzzle coming together. So just the awareness I think is really important. 

[00:47:52] Jim Jansen: I mean, you had a common language, you had a vision. Mm-hmm. You had an expectation that the Lord was gonna gift people in different ways. Yeah, absolutely. Another really powerful word, as I listen to this, it's a beautiful testimony of unity.

Right. Which, you know like, yeah. And I, the comparison game drops away when I recognize I'm gift gifted this way. You're gifted this way and we have no time for silly comparison or squabbling. 'cause we have something big to do. Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:48:21] Amanda Pfeifer: And that's the beauty of it is you don't have time to overthink it.

You don't have time to, to get in the way because God just moves and he moves so fast. And just an acknowledgement of like, he is the ultimate boss. He is the ultimate chief, right. CEO, who just calls his shots and everything falls in line. 

[00:48:42] Mandy Busch: I was talking to Father Tom right before we came here today and I was telling him what we were about to do and I says, is there anything you want us to share?

Hmm. And he just, you know, he's never underestimate the power of the Holy Spirit to move and everybody working together. Yeah. That's what he would want us to know. 

[00:48:56] Jim Jansen: Amen. Ladies. Thank you. It's joy to be with the two of you together 'cause you're just fun, uh, together. But thank you for this story. I mean, I feel like we could, you know, continue to unpack this.

Probably ought have a conversation a couple of years from now and see just the ongoing effects of the relationships you all built in the neighborhood and people coming to alive and their gifts so. 

[00:49:18] Mandy Busch: Well and we're, we're all coming together to commemorate it in a couple of weeks. We are. So there's a celebration planned and I can't wait to hear the stories that come from that as well.

[00:49:26] Jim Jansen: That's fantastic. I'm looking. Yeah. Oh, that's great. Alright, we will link for those of you who are interested in learning more about. The, uh, called in gifted spiritual gifts, inventory, learning about the charisms. Uh, we'll link to the Catherine Sienna Institute. We'll link to the parish website, St. Pat's in Elkhorn.

We'll link to that. We'll link to the first Equipped Cast, uh, episode where we just really dive into the story of the, the charisms and how you all first got started. Thank you ladies. Awesome. Thanks, Jim. Thanks, Jim. Alright, everybody. You know somebody who needs to hear this. Maybe not because they've got a tornado or a natural disaster they're dealing with, but because they want that sense of unity, they want that freedom and that joy and that peace and the energy of doing something great with the Lord.

So you get to your destination and when you're safe, send it out to a friend. Thanks for listening to Thep. We hope this episode has inspired you to live your faith and equip you to be fruitful in your mission. Stay connected with us by going to equip dot arch omaha.org. God bless and see you next time.