Hey everybody. It's Monday, the 4th of December, and I'm writing to you from Camp Fallujah, where I've spent the day with a company of soldiers from my battalion. This is not the update I had planned to write this week. 7 days ago, I went out on a mission to deliver medical supplies and school supplies to a local town, and I really wanted to send you all the pictures and story from that mission. I still plan to do that, maybe next week, but for now my attention is completely focused on my current situation -- which is ministering to a company of my soldiers from which two soldiers were killed and two soldiers were seriously wounded, in addition to one Marine with them.

The soldiers were in a vehicle that was attacked by the ubiquitous weapon of the terrorists -- the Improvised Explosive Device, or IED. This one was a big one, enough to flip the entire armored vehicle completely on its side. I won't give you details about the soldiers yet, but I will say that of the soldiers killed, both were young, in their early 20s, and of the soldiers wounded, one has lost both of his legs and had both of his arms broken in several places. The other had a concussion so severe that his memory still has not come fully back. 

The soldiers' families have been notified (please pray for my fellow chaplains who help with that duty!), so I'm sure you'll be able to read about the story in Minnesota news within a day or so. I spent Saturday night with the soldiers and our leadership at the emergency room. Sunday afternoon, we had a prayer service and a ceremony as we loaded the caskets onto a C-130 cargo plane. Sunday evening I flew over to Camp Fallujah, and I've spent the day today counseling and visiting the shocked, grieving, hurting soldiers. 

The fact is, I'm dealing with a lot of emotions myself, being sad and scared and frustrated about this incident, so you can imagine how it feels for the soldiers who have known and spent every day together for the last year. Anyway, I have no way to deal with this challenge without drawing my strength from above, so please keep knocking on God's door on my behalf. Thanks for those prayers -- more to come as things unfold and I get a little more time to write after the memorial service later this week. 

God be good to you!
CH Steve Timm