Letter From Iraq #11

Week number ten is over and that is great because it means that we are one week closer to going home.  This has been one of the rougher weeks here due to the fact that it was two years ago on November 2^nd that my brother, D.J., was killed while serving in the Army here in Iraq.  One of the nice things about that date is that it is All Souls day in the Catholic Church and we pray for those that have departed.  So in turn it gives you the feeling that people everywhere are praying for your loved ones.  Other than that it has been a pretty quiet week here in Mosul.

This week was nice because of the fact that we were able to have a few Catholic Masses.  My parents raised me catholic the entire time that I lived at home and I have continued to keep it in my faith.  One of the difficulties of being Catholic in the military is that there aren’t nearly enough Catholic priests to serve everyone at every location.  Here in Mosul is a prime example of that due to the fact that we do not have a priest that is stationed here.  We are currently relying on the generosity of Father Besinga, who is located at one of the other bases here in Iraq.  Father Besinga makes a trip up here to Mosul every couple of weeks so that the Catholics here can celebrate their faith.  After the masses he packs back up and returns to his home base.

For us Catholics this is less than desirable, but we have to make due with what we have.  Since we lack a priest on station here we are unable to have mass on Sundays, but the church has provided us with an alternative.  Instead of holding a mass each Sunday we have a communion service, which can be conducted by the lay people of the congregation.  Most Sundays this is the type of service that we have.  When I first arrived here in Mosul we were lucky enough to have a priest at Mass and that made me thing that we had a priest available to us here.  The next Sunday I realized that we didn’t have a catholic chaplain here when a member of the congregation stood up at the podium and started conducting the service.

In the weeks following my arrival I got to know the people that were conducting the services and now it is their time to return to their families.  Since I believe that the only way that the church will be able to continue into the future, and especially on this base, is through volunteers, I have volunteered to be one of the lay ministers that will conduct these communion services.  To some people this may seem like a big deal but I have been doing these since I was a senior in high school and I am looking forward to getting back into it.

Another thing that was very self-evident at the Catholic services was the lack of music.  The person who is leading the service would pick out a couple of well known songs and we would sing them, which to some people would qualify as music, but I am referring to the lack of any instruments.  We currently don’t have anyone in the congregation that plays the piano or the guitar.  In hopes of alleviating this I went in search of CDs that contained classic Catholic hymns.  Over a period of a couple of days I was able to find a CD set that contained 16 discs of music that would work perfect for us.  The best part was that the CDs were made by the same people that made our hymnals and so they would go together quite well.  The problem was that the set was quite expensive, ringing up at $130, and I was a little leery about spending that kind of money.

While speaking with Father Dave Zimmer (a close personal friend, a priest formerly serving in New Salem and Almont, and currently serving the Catholic community of Minot) I mentioned that I was thinking about purchasing these CDs for the chapel here and that my only hang-up was that they were quite expensive.  I soon received and email back informing me that Father Dave graciously decided to purchase the CDs for us and that he would have them sent to us.  Since we have received them and started using them during the services I have received many compliments about how the music really adds a nice touch to the services.

Now I realize that I have only talked about the Catholic services that are held here on FOB Diamondback and the reason for that is because I haven’t attended any of the other services, but I do know that most other religions are also covered here on base.  Most of the different religions all share the same chapel.  Some people think that this would just cause problems between the different religious groups but everyone is very respectful of the other groups.

Before I sign off for another week I would like to personally thank Father Dave Zimmer for his loving generosity.  I also would like to thank Joe and Kathy Kautzman for the care package that they sent.  Everyone enjoyed the goodies (except the ones that I kept for myself) and they also send their thanks.  I also want to thank my parents for being so supportive.  Without them I would not be the person that I am today.  I realize how hard it is to have lost one son in this war and to have another one fighting in it and yet you still have let me make my own choices about my military career without trying to sway my decision one way or the other.  You could be a model for parents everywhere, but of course my opinion is slightly biased.  I love and miss you a lot and I can’t wait until I can come home again.

If you have a question that you would like to ask or just want to say Hi feel free to email me at john.iraq@hotmail.com.  If you would like to write and send the letter through the post office my mailing address is:

SSgt Ferderer, John B.

F Co. 5-158 AVN (AF Weather)

FOB Diamondback

APO, AE 09334

Until we meet again, Have A Great Air Force Day!