So, let's start. So, the agenda for our time journey today, we're going to see the APIs that already supported for backup in Ovid. Then we'll present to you, do a little jump to the future and see the incremental backup API. Then we'll dive under the Lorian hood and see how it works. Then we'll see how we can use it using the engine and image.io backup API. So, how many of you used Ovid or using it today? Can you please raise your hands? Nice. Thank you. See quite a people. Thank you. So, this is Ovid from 10,000 meters above. Ovid contains a lot of sub-products and a lot of components, but this is the main component that's related to backup. We have the Ovid engine application, the management, we have the hypervisors that runs the VMs, and we have the VMs disks. Also, we have an external backup application that wants to backup the VM disks and communicate with the engine itself. So, let's review the old APIs. The old backup APIs, let's take, jump back to the past. So, the oldest API that Ovid provides is the backup appliance. The year is 2014, even before I was born. The backup appliance run inside the VM, and let's see how it can be done. You should take a snapshot for a VM. Then you need to attach this disk snapshot to a backup VM, to a proxy VM, basically, which is different from the original VM you want to backup. Then inside this backup VM, you will copy the entire disk, detach the disk snapshot from the backup VM, and delete the snapshot. We move forward a little bit in time. The image transfer API. So, the year is 2017. Now you can download and upload snapshots using the image I owe that was presented in the Ovid 4.0, and you'll do this by taking your snapshot for the VM, downloading the snapshot using image I owe in Qco 2 format, and delete the older snapshot. To restore, you will prepare the disk on the backup application, rebase the snapshots. For example, upload the disk or the chain of snapshot in raw or Qco format, and then you'll create a VM from the uploaded disk. So, the new incremental backup API. Fasten your seatbelt. We're going to jump to the future. The year is next year. It's not ready yet. We're working on it. Now we're doing incremental backup using change block tracking and NBD protocol.  In the next version, I hope that we'll have backup application using it. So, how do we do full backup using this API? We start the backup. We provide a simple API to start the backup. And then we download the disk using the same APIs that we had before, but with some improvements. For example, now we can download raw disk data, regardless of the disk format. And we stop the backup. And there was no step four. So, we provide a very simple API and we do the Everlifting. Actually, libvirt is doing Everlifting and QMO. How do we do incremental backup? In the same way, we start incremental backup using the same API. We specify the last backup that we want to backup to, we want to see the changes since it's dead backup. And then we can download the change blocks since dead backup. Again, using raw format. We don't care about the actual format of the disk. And we stop the backup. So, this is basically the, from the user point of view, it's very simple. And when you want to restore the backup application, we have to prepare the disk for restore. It can be an image. It can be done by streaming from the backup media. And again, we can push the raw disk data back to storage. We don't care about the disk format. And finally, we attach a disk to the UVM. So, what are the advantages of the new way? First, we can copy change blocks instead of all the disk. This speeds up incremental backup or actually enable it. And next, we have extents API reporting where do we have zeros and dirty extents on storage. So, this can speed up full backup. We don't need to copy the entire disk, only the data. Next, there's no snapshot. We don't need to create a snapshot. We don't need to release a snapshot. Snapshots are very complicated. And this avoids the trouble with snapshots. The next advantage is raw guest data. We always get raw data. We don't care about the disk format. And when you've got raw data, you can convert it to another format. It's easy. It's not easy to get Q2 format and convert it, because Q2 was not built for streaming. And finally, we have improved Mimigayo client that can upload and download any format for you from any image to any disk or from any disk to any image. The limitation of this solution, we support only Q2 disks. So, if you have all disks, we can do full backup, but it cannot participate in incremental backup. You will have to convert it. We cannot backup non-running VM yet. We should be able to do it in the future. And the extents API reporting the zero extents or dirty extents is not useful for a pralocator disk. We just get one extent. We can not do anything about it. Okay, so we have incremental backup. Let's see how it's done under the Lorian hood. So, in the base of all that, we have checkpoints. Checkpoints are, we can imagine it as lightweight snapshots. When we are creating a backup, a checkpoint is created in Leveret. Each checkpoint actually marks us which disks participate in a specific backup. And the checkpoint, of course, marks which backup is related to. So, in this example, you can see that the user created a backup and a checkpoint was created in Leveret site. Moving forward, the day after, the user created another backup. So, another checkpoint is created, but now that checkpoint has a parent, the first checkpoint. So, we are creating a chain of checkpoints. The same disk participates in the checkpoint also. Again, the user creates the third checkpoint. And now we have a full chain of checkpoints. And the checkpoints persisted on the host as long as the VM is alive. If the VM shut down or crashes, the checkpoint information gone. So, the over-tension will persist all that information in this database. And when the VM goes up again, we need to redefine the checkpoints. So, Leveret will know which checkpoint was. But checkpoints only give us metadata about the backup. What really tracked the difference between the bits. So, this is done by the bitmaps that the bitmaps created in QMO. So, when we are creating a backup, a checkpoint is created. And for each checkpoint, we are creating a bitmap. Okay? In this example, you can see that the user created the checkpoint for SDA, the disk SDA. And the disk no writes is done to the disk. The disk is clean. Since the backup was taken. So, the bitmap of the checkpoint is still clean. Each bit in the bitmap will mark each cluster in the disk got dirty. For example, we move onward in time. And you can see that the second cluster got dirty. So, the bit that marks us if the second cluster is dirty or not, was turned on. Moving on, the guest writes another data to the fourth and the fifth cluster. We can see that even that the fourth cluster not changed fully, we are still marked as dirty. Now, the user finished the first backup and created another backup. So, the first checkpoint, the first bitmap of that checkpoint is now deactivated. And the state is preserved. And since we created the second backup, we can see that there's no changes and the bitmap is still clean. So, now that we have the bitmaps, we can know which extent exactly got dirty during that backup. And when the user will start to backup the VM for that checkpoint, you will get only the dirty extents. For example, the first cluster is still clean. No changes was made. And the second cluster got dirty. So, the dirty will be true for the second cluster. Okay. So, we know it works under the hood. Let's see how we can use it using over it Python SDK. So, in order to start the full backup, you just need to fetch the backup services of a specific VM. Okay. And just use the add method and providing disks to the backup. Okay. The disk that you provided will be participated in the backup. In this example, this is a full backup. And this is the first stage. We will wait until the backup is ready for the backup status. And then we'll get the backup object. So, as we mentioned before, when we're creating a backup, a checkpoint is created under the hood. So, we need to fetch the checkpoint ID in order to use it later in an incremental backup. So, now we have the checkpoint ID. We have the backup ready. We can start an image transfer. This is an image.io. So, we will provide the disk ID that we want to download, the direction. And because this is a disk that participates in a backup, we need to specify the backup ID. And the disk format will be raw. We're supporting raw guest data. We wait for the transfer to be ready. And we fetch the transfer URL once the transfer is ready for download. Using the transfer URL, we can actually download the disk. And we will elaborate it more later on. So, we download the disk. We have the disk ready. We can finalize the transfer and finalize the backup. We have a full backup on our environment. So, now we can start an incremental backup. So, it's basically the same. But for incremental backup, the user must specify each disk will support the incremental backup. And those disks must be in QCO2 format. So, we will filter the disks and we'll fetch only the disk that supports incremental backup. Once we have the disk, we can start an incremental backup and specify the from checkpoint ID. So, we create the chain of checkpoints. And the disk will be preserved from that checkpoint. So, how do we download the backups? Basically, we can do a simple get request and get the entire disk. It works, but it's not efficient. We don't want to use this. So, the real way to do backup is first to send an optional quest to the server. And this will tell us the feature supported by this server. Or actually for this source on the server. So, here we see that this server and for this image, we can use the extents feature and we can use zero and flash used for upload. And we can also see that we can optimize the connection using unique socket if you are running on the same machine. And we can use multiple connections to speed up the transfer. Also a new feature. So, we want to get to backup 100 gigabytes image. How many gigabytes do we need? Well, we don't know because, but we don't know that we care only about the data. We don't care about the zeros. So, we can use the new extents API. We send a get request to the extents or source of the transfer URL. And we can specify zero to get the zero extents. And we get a list, just on a quest with a list of extents. Similar to what we get in QM image map, basically. We can see that the first extents is zero. So, we can skip it. We don't care about it. And the second extents is not zero. So, we want to download it. And now we saved a huge amount of data and time and storage space when doing full backup. And what about incremental backup? In the same way, we want to know where the dirty blocks. We have seen that before. We can again use the extents API. But now we specify context dirty to get the dirty extents. And again, we get a list of extents. And we can see that the first extents is dirty. So, we want to download it. It's one cluster. And then we have a lot of clean data that we don't care about. And we can skip it. So, again, we save a lot of time and bandwidth and storage space. So, how do we get the extents? We know the locations, you know, the offsets. We use HTTP range request. Standard HTTP. Just send a get request with a range. And we get this data. And we need, of course, to make one request per extents. So, how do we speed up the upload in the same way when you want to restore this? Again, we care only about the data. So, we can send the data using put request. This is not new. It was, it exists a lot of time. It seems obvious for all. Or even before, we specify the content range for the offset and the size with the content length. And again, we need to send one request per data extents. And what about the zeros? Can we ignore the zeros? Well, sometimes we can ignore them. When we create a new image on file storage, the image is always empty. We don't need to zero anything. But on block storage, the contents is undefined usually. So, we want to zero this range of storage, but we don't want to send zeros on the wire, which is not efficient. So, we have zero API implemented using patch. We send a patch request with JSON describing how we want to patch the image, which is kind of standard. And we can specify zero operation of certain size, and it will zero this range of storage efficiently using NBD or using our far back end. And, of course, when we finish the upload, we send all the data with zero, everything we need to zero. Are we done yet? Well, maybe. We really want to send a flash request, which can also be sent during the upload if we need. And this will basically call fsync under the hood. And when this returns, the data should be safe on storage. So, it is too complicated, maybe. So, we have a better solution, but this is actually what the cool kids are using now. In this example, these kids bought a hoverboard kit, and they only had to add wheels to its work. So, in the same way, the client library let you build your own backup solution. You just need to add the wheels, which may be complicated. So, what you can do with a client, you can build a backup solution on it. You can use it as a reference implementation to learn how to access imagery in the correct way, in the efficient way. And you can do simple backups using, we have an example backup script that you can use to backup a single image or store images as a testing or simple solution. How does it work? You basically interact with the client, and it does everything for you. It will run QMNBD, opening the image you want to upload, or the image you want to download into. Then using NBD client, we will get the extents from the image, send them to the image of the demon, which on the other side also use QMNBD. So, basically it's QMNBD all the way down. And for download, on the other side, we can have QMNBD, and we will use NBD protocol to get the extents, to get the data and write it to the destination file. Again, using QMNBD and NBD client. And this is example how to use it for download. One call, you import the client, do one call with the transfer URL you get from the image transfer from engine, and the name of the file. The default is QCAPTU format, because it's the best way to backup data, and it's compatible with both full and incremental backups, but you can change it. For incremental backup, you only need to specify incremental equal to, and this will go and get the dirty extents for you and download them. In this case, only QCAPTU format is supported. And for a store, if you use this simple way to backup, you can take your incremental backup images, rebase them on one or top of another until the full backup. And after the rebase, you have a complete chain. You can just upload this chain. Basically, mostly like your image convert, but using current with the underneath. So this will upload the entire chain, actually get the data extents, upload them, and zero, whatever is not data. So time for the demo. Okay, so now we'll show you a quick demo that uses this client solution, the new image of your client, and the Python SDK. So in this example, we have a VM, if we do a 30 VM, and it has a disk, we just mark it as an enable incremental backup. And we can start to perform a full backup in this case. We just open a console to create a directory to illustrate that this directory will be part of the backup. And we'll create another one later to see that the other directory that was created after the backup was started is not participated in the backup. So we start the script that we provided you using the Python SDK and the new image of your client. The backup was started for the VM. We are creating another backup after the backup was started, another directory after the backup was started, the after directory. We can see that the backup already ready. So we are waiting for the image transfer. We created it and it's ready. So we can fetch after that the transfer URL from this URL. We can download the disks. It will be downloaded to the following path. And as soon as the disk was downloaded, six gigabytes of disk, we have the backup. As I mentioned before, this is a full backup. We just, we can see it and we create another QCOW layer on top of it. And we can start QMO on that QCOW layer. So we have a Fedora 30 VM and we have only the before directory and not the after. Okay. For more information, you have links here to dive into this new feature and also a Libert and QMO implementation. Thank you for listening. Any questions? We are providing, the question was that if we need, we are need to orchestrate the backups or the CIS admin will have to do it. So all we provide the API, the CIS admin can do whatever he wants with that API. He can orchestrate the backup each day, hour, month, up to him. Yes, basically we provide an API, the backup vendor should provide the real system behind it, backup. It's more complicated. More questions? What you will see in the demo is working now in master. So it should be available in the next OVR44 build. We are working on enabling the mental backup and managing checkpoints. And this should be completed for a future for 4 build and should be used for vendors to develop applications for backup. And probably we will finish in the next version. Yes. The fact that the backup is done using Libert and when the VM is running it doesn't leave it. So we need to introduce a new special mode of running a VM, a new backup mode. When you start a VM, post and then we can use the old APIs to do anything we need. And we don't have it yet. More questions? Okay, great. I guess that's it. Thank you very much.


We're here in Ephesians chapter six. I'm going to read beginning at verse just to conclude the context of this passage. I'm going to begin reading again as I have a couple of times recently. I'll begin reading at verse 10, but I'm going to conclude at verse 17. And our subject is found in verse 17, but beginning at verse 10, Ephesians chapter six, Paul writes, finally, my brother, and be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand, stand. Therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breast plate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace, above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. Now, as we've seen, as we've been going through the book of Ephesians and have arrived at this particular portion of scripture, Paul has been instructing the Ephesians concerning spiritual warfare. And last time we were together, we looked at the helmet of salvation. Now, I mentioned to you that believers are to be continually girded with truth. We are to wear that breastplate and we're to have our feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Well, the following three weapons, as I've mentioned, are to be used in individual battles, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, the sword of the spirit. Now, those weapons are kept in a state of readiness. So we raise or we take up these weapons when we are engaged in actual combat. We take up the shield by applying what we know about God, everything we know about God through the Bible. We put on the helmet by calling to mind the hope that we have in Jesus Christ. You see, one of the enemy's tactics is to encourage us to doubt and to encourage us to hopelessness. This, I think, is one of his most effective devices, undermining our confidence in Christ. And he also encourages us in our own sense of unworthiness. And that's an ancient tactic. What he desires us to feel is abandoned and sorrowful. The Psalmist said in Psalm 2713, I would have disbared, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. I would have disbared unless I would have known or believed that I would actually be with the Lord. Psalm 43.5, why my soul are you down, downcast? Why so disturbed within me? And then he self, self talks of you, well, he says, put your hope in God. For I will yet praise you, my savior, my God. And so the enemy tempts us to be abandoned, a sense of, a sense of sorrow that, that we're abandoned by God. And, and it's a, it's a tactic he's used on, on many, including the Apostle Paul. In second Corinthians, chapter one, verse eight, Paul said it like this. He said, we do not want you to be unaware, brethren of our affliction, which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively beyond our strength, so that we'd have spared even of life. Indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead. We despaired. We were in that sense that we were going to die, but we trusted the Lord. So when under such attack, we remember to put on the helmet. We call to mind who we are in Christ and we call in mind what God is doing. So the next weapon, the one that we're going to be looking at is the sword of the spirit, which he says is the word of God. Now the sword that Paul refers to is, is a sword that the Roman soldier would carry. It was what we would call today a short sword. It was anywhere from dagger length, six inches up to about 18 inches in length. It was carried in a sheath and it was attached to a belt. And this is the kind of sword that was used for hand to hand combat. So he's informing us that God's word is actually our spiritual weapon. This weapon, the sword of the spirit. Now I'll develop this with you for just a moment. Notice how it's referred to as the sword of the spirit. That means that this sword is not of human origin. It means that this sword, this weapon is of divine origin. It's the sword of the spirit. In 2 Peter chapter one, verses 20 and 21, Peter said it like this. He said, above all, you must understand that no prophecy of scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation for prophecy never had its origin in the will of man. But men spoke from God as it were carried along by the Holy Spirit. So Peter had said that the spirit led and inspired the writers of scripture as they wrote. Now, Jesus taught us that the Holy Spirit is the teacher, the teacher of God's truth. In John 1426, he said, but the helper of the Holy Spirit, whom the father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. In John 1613, however, when he, the spirit of truth has come, he will guide you into all truth, for he will not speak on his own authority. But whatever he hears, he will speak and he will tell you things to come. This is a sort of the spirit. It's the Holy Spirit who inspires scripture. It's the Holy Spirit who is the teacher of God's truth. So they communicated God's truth, these writers of scripture, but they retained their own personalities. There's a phrase that theologians use, Bible teachers will use it in school and I heard professors use it. They said truth through personality. You can read your Bible and you're going to notice that if you read it carefully, that the writers had different styles. The Apostle John wrote with a different style than the Apostle Paul. And the Apostle Paul wrote with a different style than the Apostle Peter. The Gospel of Mark is a different style than the Gospel of John. So you'll see that there are concepts and words that are used, that are particular to each one of those writers. And yet they are all coalescing on the same truth because it's a Holy Spirit who inspired them to write the words and they wrote them as it pertained to their own personalities and understandings of the way God was was moving them. In 2 Timothy chapter three, verses 16 and 17, it says all scriptures given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction and righteousness that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. All scripture given by inspiration of God. So he says that all, speaking of biblical scripture, is inspired. It's Theonistus, it's God breathed. All scripture is God breathed, it's inspired by God. Now he points out that this God breathed scripture prepares us for a life of service and it's not only going to benefit Timothy, who is reading that at that time, but it benefits all who trust in the word of God. So all scripture is given by inspiration. All scripture has distinct from simply the Old Testament writings. This would include his own letters. You see, during the during this time, the entire New Testament writings had yet to be collected. The recognition of the 27 New Testament books had yet to occur. So the official gathering and recognizing of what is called New Testament canon did not occur until the Council of Hippo. It was a lot of big guys, the Council of Hippo, which is in in modern Algeria in 393 AD. And again, at the Council of Carthage in Tunisia in 397. So the recognition of the 27 books had yet to occur. Prior to those dates, the Old and New Testaments were recognized as inspired. They were even sometimes combined in scripture. For example, 1st Timothy 518 Paul said, the scripture says, do not muzzle the ox while it is treading out the grain and the worker deserves his wages. So when he said, do not muzzle the ox while it is treading out the grain. That spoke of Deuteronomy 25 verse four. But when he said the worker deserves his wages, that was Luke chapter 10 verse seven. And so the scriptures were recognized both Old and New Testament as inspired. The apostles recognized their writings as inspired and even authoritative in Colossians 4 16. And I'm laying a foundation for you in Colossians 4 16. It says, after this letter has been read to you, see that it is also read in the church of the Laodiceans and that you in turn read the letter from Laodicea. So they recognize their writings as being inspired and they would actually share each letter with other churches. In 2nd Peter 3 16, he said, writing of Paul, Peter says, he writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort as they do. And they went on to use this phrase as they do the other scriptures to their own destruction. So they were recognizing the writings of Paul as being scriptural and authoritative in 1st Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 13. And we also thank God continually because when you receive the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is the word of God, which is that work in you who believe. And so when Paul was using the word inspiration, that word as mentioned, the Anoustos is literally God breathed. It owes its origin to the breath of God, an outpouring of life to man. Somebody once said, if we are left in doubt as to which part is inspired and which is not, we are as badly off as if we had no Bible at all. He went on to say, I hold no theory of inspiration. I accept the inspiration of scriptures as fact. So it's profitable, this word. The Bible was written to reveal God's ways to us. So what is it profitable for? The Bible is profitable for teaching. The word teaching speaks of provoking us to learn. It informs us of God's revelation in Jesus Christ. It's profitable for rebuking. The word rebuked speaks of correcting error, correcting error in understanding of scripture and in the way that we live. It speaks of correction. That speaks of a restoration to a right relationship with God. And it speaks of training because by yielding to it and practicing these things, it develops our spiritual understanding. And the result is the man of God is surely furnished. He is surely equipped for every good work. Now, God's word is spoken of as being sufficient to equip us. In Psalm 119, verse nine. Wherewith all shall a young man cleanse his ways by taking heat into thy word. In verse 11, thy word have I hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you. So I'll just take a moment to say as a Calvary pastor, it's my desire to teach the whole counsel of God. And that's because I want our fellowship to be thoroughly equipped for every good work of service. And that's what pastors are commanded to do. We are commanded to teach the word of God. We are to to proclaim God's word as it is. We're to teach it in every way, shape and form. And when given every opportunity or any opportunity, we are to teach his word. The Lord gave a promise in the book of Jeremiah. It's found in chapter three, verse 15. And he said this, he said, I will give you shepherds according to my heart who will feed you with knowledge and understanding. I will give you shepherds according to my heart who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.  I will give you shepherds according to my heart.  And they're going to feed you. They're going to feed you with knowledge. That's not only the knowledge that is given through rightly dividing the word and presenting it, but it also speaks of a spiritual understanding through personal experience. So they're going to feed you with knowledge and understanding. They're going to give you wisdom through the word of God because they know the word of God and they're a gift to you. That's what God said to the nation of Israel in Jeremiah 3.15. When Paul was speaking to the Ephesian elders, he had an opportunity, as he was on his way to Rome, he had an opportunity to meet with the group of elders who were coming from Ephesus, the church that ultimately Timothy himself was pastoring. And when Paul was there in this place called Elita Support City there on the coastline of Turkey, he had met with these elders. And as the elders came in, he met with them, he began to share with them, and he told them how he had ministered to them and he knew it was the last time he would see them. He had final instructions and final words to speak to them. And you would ask yourself a question, you would ask yourself, if you knew this was the last time that you were going to meet with some people, say you were a spiritual leader and you were overseeing, leading, building up, mentoring, developing people in the faith, what would you want to say? What kinds of things would you say to them if this was your last time that you speak to them? Eventually there's going to be time, it's really not that far away compared to the time that we've already experienced here. You know, I've been pastoring this church for 41 years. I'm not going to be here for another 41 years. It's my prayer that the rapture is going to happen long before that. And nobody would want to hear a man who's 103 years old or 113 years old anyway. So, or maybe somebody would, we'll see. But I know that the time comes and the Lord is going to remove me and play somebody else and I know that. But what would I want to share with the fellowship? What would I want to say? If I had a last opportunity, that's what you see when you read the book of Acts chapter 20, especially when the apostle Paul is ministering and speaking to these elders of the church there in Ephesus. And one of the things that he says is found in Acts 20 verse 27 when he says, I have not shunned to declare unto you the whole counsel of God. I've taken you from the A to the Z. I've taken you through it. I have prepared you. I've adequately taught you. He said, you saw my manner of life. He said, I've been with you in tears, trials and the persecutions. You're aware of the various things that I've gone through. I've been an open book to you. I've shared with you everything that I could say to you. I've done as much as I could in front of you to model those things. I've been in every way, shape and form very obviously aware of my relationship with you and my desire to build you up in the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ.  He says, but I have not shunned to declare unto you the entire counsel of God. I have told you from the A to the Z. I have built you up properly. And that's what every shepherd, that's what every minister is commanded to do. That's what we've been commanded to do. There are times that I'll say this briefly but there are times when we have opportunities to address current events and I think we should. I think pastors ought to share current events. And sometimes when you share concerning those current events people can get upset and people do get upset. That's just, I guess, the way it is. People get upset and there's nothing you can do to avoid that. There are always people who have their opinions and all of them, they get upset because you've said certain things. But every pastor has a responsibility to teach the right and true thing. And sometimes the things that we say may be hurtful to some. At least they may be pained for a moment and no pastor wants to beat the sheep. We want to feed the sheep. Yet it's our responsibility to go out and to speak these things. That's why we go from the A to the Z.  You see both. And that's what you'll see as you go through scripture. And so as a Calvary pastor for the 41 years that I've pastored this church and for the two years prior to that and for the years prior to that when I started teaching Bible studies at the age of 23 in 1973, the one thing I've tried to be is faithful to teach the word of God. And so the time will come when people no longer endure healthy teaching but according to their own desires are gonna heap into themselves teachers because their ears are itching to hear other things. I understand that. I understand the days that we're living in. I understand the narcissism that many are now suffering with. It has to be my way or it's the highway. I get that. But at the bottom line guys, if I don't as a pastor teach you the word of God who's going to? My responsibility is to teach you. I'm laying this as a foundation. That's my responsibility to diligently pursue the things of the Lord. I had somebody say it must be nice and easy to be a pastor. You golf three days out of the week and you teach a couple of times. They don't understand ministry. They don't understand the hours it takes to prepare one Bible study. They don't understand it takes me two days for each study I do. It takes days of study and hours of preparation and cross references and what does the scripture say and what does this commentator say? It's a lot of work but it's worth it. Why? Because we're safeguarding the sheep from error. We're safeguarding. And sometimes there's criticism and I understand it goes with the territory. But the things that sometimes kind of crack me up in a way is somebody who's never even given a Bible study has a propensity to teach me how to teach. And I find that interesting. But that's today. That's the way people are. You know, what are you going to do? We just slap them in the face and move on. But as we look at this, you know, we're to teach the A to the Z. We're to equip the sheep for works of service. And so this with the sword does. So in battle, the sword is both a defensive weapon as well as an offensive weapon. Everybody knows that the sword is used not only to defend but also to go on the offense. And so the word of God provides defense. It provides a defense against the attacks of the enemy. And we're under constant attack by various forces. Forces that unite to oppose God. Scripture informs us there are at least three forces that we will constantly battle. We battle the world, we battle the flesh and we battle the devil. You see, we're under attack by the world. The world is the system energized by Satan in opposition to God. The world represents the culture that we live in. And that culture that we live in is evangelistic and it's very persistent. Turn on the TV, listen to the radio, read a magazine. That world is constantly evangelizing you. This world system is revealed in language, it's revealed in our music, in the arts, in fashion, social mores, religious beliefs. These things make up the world. And these things are what make up what has been referred to as the culture wars. And the influence of the world is corrupting. The influence of the world ultimately does its best to steal your innocence. The world and its system intends to destroy. It's in constant opposition to the things of God. The apostle John said in 1st John 2, 15 and 16, he said, do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life is not of the father, but is of the world. Jesus said in John 15, 19, if you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world thinks you're great.  Some of you sometimes have experienced that. I've heard one of us who's a believer does, and one time or another, you do experience the hatred of the world. And you might even be surprised. It might even hurt your feelings.  But that's just the way it is. See, Jesus said it. He said the world loves its own. If you do the same things, if you agree on the same things, if you go the same places, if you do all of that, yeah, they'll accept you. But when you say, I don't do that anymore. I don't party anymore. Well, what happened to you? No, I don't have to fool anymore. What happened to you? I don't get loaded in. What happened to you? I'm gonna be faithful to my wife. What happened to you? I mean, the world really does disagree with that. And I don't wanna go too far into this, but when you say that as a man, I say I'm a man and I believe a man should marry a woman, what's wrong with you? That my child does not have the ability at the age of four years old to determine whether that boy is really a girl. I heard just yesterday, one professor who was saying that babies in the womb are already confused as to whether they're male or female. See, this is idiocy. That's a Greek word. It comes from the Greek word truly. It comes from the Greek word idiotes or the Spanish idiota, but it comes from that. It's the truth. It's an idiocy. It's imbecilic. It's moronic. It's anti-God. That's the world. See, that's the world. You see it. It's around you. It surrounds you. This cancel mentality, don't say things we don't appreciate or agree with. And Christians, because we want to be meek and we want to be loving, you know, you can get confused sometimes. But guess what? Sometimes you just have to speak the truth. You speak it in love, but somebody's got to speak it. You know, and that's, it's like when Isaiah had a vision of the Lord in Isaiah five and he says, Isaiah six, and he says, in the year of the king, Isaiah died, I saw the Lord. He was high and he was lifted up. The train filled the temple.  He says, I'm a man with evil tongue. He says, and I dwell amongst people with evil lips. And then the question came out and it says, who will go for us? And then he says, here am I, Lord, send me. Well, there are a lot of people who know that passage. And when it gets to the point, who will go for us? They'll say, there he is, Lord. Send him, but Isaiah said, here am I, Lord, send me. And I wonder how many of us have been given opportunities to be like an Isaiah in a classroom or a neighborhood or a conversation in a store. But we were there saying, man, I just wish somebody else were here to take care of this for me. That's why we said the word of God. That's why we spend time. Listen, it isn't something that necessarily comes easy.  They're able to read something one time, you know? And they remember it. I'm not that guy. I have to pour over and pour over and pour over things, you know? And it takes a lot of work for me to remember. And I'm at that point now that I can remember the words, but I don't remember the numbers. And that I read in karaoke, you saw it a minute ago. I say, if I know, Isaiah said, I have to do that. I hope that's an inspiration for you to realize you can do it. It just takes a devotion. It just takes, I'm going to do this. Somebody needs to do this. And so we need to stay in the word. You see, if we were of the world, the world would get along with us. But because we actually stand in opposition to it, it hates us. We also battle our flesh, because my flesh resists yielding the spirit of God. My flesh yields to a system that's energized by Satan and actually Satan feeds that system. In Galatians 5.17, Paul said, the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh. And these are contrary to one another so that you do not do the things that you wish. There's a war that takes place. That's why in Matthew 26, 41, Jesus said, watch and pray, unless you enter into temptation, the spirit indeed is willing. But he said the flesh is weak. And so there's a battle going on. And then we're attacked by Satan and Satan opposes God and all who would obey God. Satan is in constant rebellion. There's not a time when he's not rebelling. And he encourages people to rebel also. In 1st John 5.19, John said, we know that we are of God and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. So these three forces unite in opposition to God and to his rule. As believers, we are under attack constantly. I wonder if anybody in this room had a tough time getting here tonight. Most of you say, no, yes, some of you did. You should see if you stand there at the driveway and watch people come in on Sunday, you can see their heads as they're arguing and then they hit the holy highway here. Cause it can be tough. It can be tough sometimes because the enemy doesn't want you to be in the word. He doesn't believe me. I'm not making this up. You know this. He doesn't want you in the word.   Well, the word of God, it's your teeth. Put your teeth on. So we have a means of defense that God has provided, his word. That again is the sword of the spirit. We don't hold tightly to the word of God. Many don't hunger for the word of God. And as a result, their minds are formed by the world. In Osea chapter four verse six, God simply said it like this. He said, my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Your reliance on God's word is actually revealing your relationship with God. Be very careful that you do not replace the word of God with man's philosophies and man's delusions. Be very careful. The enemy likes to add to the word of God. It wasn't that long ago and it's still said, and I'll say it like this, I'll just say what used to be very popular, perhaps it still is to some degree, I think it is. Where people said, in order to love others, I have to first and foremost love my God. I'm sorry, love myself. I first love me and then I can love you. You've heard that. You have to love yourself.  That's a problem, isn't it? No man has ever hated his own flesh, but he nourishes and cherishes it, Paul said in chapter five. You haven't hated it. See, it's like people say, I hate myself.   Wouldn't you? I mean, that's true.   No, no, you love yourself so much that you're disappointed that you don't think you're as good looking as you'd like to be. It's called narcissism. And so all we have is, why am I telling you this? Well, I just want to, but it's true. You see, nobody ever went out and looked at the stars and said, when I behold the stars, the works of your hands, how wonderful I am. No, it makes you say, what is man that you are mindful of him? The son of man that you should consider him. It humbles you, it doesn't exalt you. When you know that God flung the stars with his fingers and knows every constellation by name, every star, that humbles you. It doesn't exalt you, see? And so what happens is this crept into, that's just one of the things that crept into the church in the 70s and 80s, especially 80s and early 90s. That was something we dealt with. Well, they say, didn't Jesus say, you're to love your neighbor as yourself? Well, you love yourself, don't you? So you should love yourself, then you love your neighbor. And they say, well, joy, Jesus, others, yourself, no, that's wrong, it should be yourself, others and Jesus. I heard that and I spoke against that. And I said, that's not what scripture says because the man walks up to Christ and says, Master, what is the great commandment in the law? And Jesus said, there are two.  And a second, he said, it's like unto the first, love your neighbor as yourself. He didn't say, oh, by the way, there's a second and then I didn't mention. And the third, love yourself. And so what they did is they took two commands, made them into three, and that found its way into the church and narcissism. It's gotta be my way or the highway came into the church because we stopped being servants and it had to have it my way. This isn't Burger King, it has to be done my way. No, it has to be done his way. And the way that comes is through his word. And see, it's very practical, it's very basic. You know, we must not replace God's word with man's delusions in philosophy. Proverbs 30, verses five and six. Every word of God is flawless.  God's word can be trusted from Genesis to Revelation and we hold tightly to his word. And in doing so, it keeps us from Satan's deceptive snares. In Colossians two, eight through 10, Paul said it like this. He said, see to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. For in Christ all the fullness of the deity lives in bodily form and you have been given fullness in Christ who is the head over every power and authority. So God's word is a defensive but it is also an offensive weapon. We wield that weapon when we proclaim his word to those who have yet to hear the message. We also are wielding it when we speak to those who have heard but still reject. In Hebrews 412 it says the word of God is alive and active, sharper than any double edged sword. It penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Now when it speaks concerning the word of God being the spirit, sword of the spirit that word word in verse 17 is a Greek word you've probably heard before it's Rema. Rema has been defined as a word that is what is called a particular word an individual statement. It's speaking of how the sword is to be wielded skillfully and precisely you're not just swinging it around in other words there's precision to it. So when the enemy is attacking you deflect the attacks of the enemy then you inflict harm on his purposes. When we proclaim the word of God it's an offensive weapon. I think it was Charles Vergean who simply said it like this he said the word of God is like a lion. Just let the lion out of the cage and that's the preaching of the word let the lion out of the cage. God has a way of doing what he wants to do. You see when you proclaim the word you use it in an offensive way when we wielded evangelistically we are actually freeing captives from the grip of the enemy. In Luke 4.18 and 19 it says the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he's anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He sent me to heal the brokenhearted to preach deliverance to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind to set at liberty those who are bruised and to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. He has sent me to preach to the poor and to heal the brokenhearted.  They don't want to hear your opinion or your ideas. They're a believer and even when they're not a believer if you're wise and know how to wield the sword you give them the word of God because it's a word of God that can penetrate even the most broken heart and heal it. I wonder how many in this room have been healed of a broken heart. I have. I've had a broken heart and God healed it by his word. That's what he does. He heals with his word. And when you preach the word of God sharing the gospel with people you're given them the opportunity to have a broken heart healed to have their eyes restored to see what is real not what is phony. The word of God is very important. You see when Satan brings doubt he asks the question did God say? And so the way we respond with the sword is we say it is written. Did God say it is written? Did God say it is written? And if you don't know what is written yet then you seek the Lord.  So when God is working in our lives he does it through the word and that's why we remain teaching the word of God. Now I was putting this together. I wrote a few things that I wanna give to you as I'm about to conclude this installment of our study. There are many benefits that you receive from God's word. In God's word there is life.  In God's word there is freedom. John 8.32 you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. In God's word there is purity. Psalm 119 verse nine how can a young man keep his way pure? I live in according to your word. In God's word there is light in the midst of spiritual darkness. Psalm 119.105 your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. His word increases faith. John 14.21 he who has my commandments and keeps him it is he who loves me and he who loves me will be loved by my father and I love this part of it and I will love him and manifest myself to him. There have been times I bet in your life been there have been times in mine when I'm obeying the Lord perhaps these places on my heart will say to share with somebody something and as I'm sharing with them on a personal level just sharing with them I can sense the presence of God in a way that is kind of unusual and even very much very real and then I think of this particular verse here that I just quoted because Jesus said I will love him and will manifest I will make myself known and in obedience and this is really an important thing I probably could spend a long time on this I won't but I could it's in the obedience that you begin to learn the deeper things of God there's the theoretical knowledge you can have just by putting notes in your Bible but there's the experiential knowledge you have when you put that into practice and God shows up and you go and you talk to someone you say I can't believe what God did today in my life sometimes they'll look at you as if you're kind of crazy and maybe you'll think you are too maybe you will but everybody somebody's fool I just soon be a fool for God and for the world anyway so you do what the Lord says he shows up and I don't know why I get surprised but I do it's like wow wow so thank you Lord that was so cool how you showed up and he says yeah I'm keeping my word so he increases our faith put it into practice his word heals our soul again it brings refreshment to a broken heart Psalm 19.7 says it like this the law of the Lord is perfect the law of the Lord lacks nothing he says restoring or reviving the soul the testimony of the Lord is sure it's reliable making wise the simple making wise the open-minded the law of the Lord restores, revives, it refreshes our soul he heals us through his word his word gives us victory in 1 Peter 5, 8 and 9 be sober-minded be watchful your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour resist him firm in your faith knowing that the same kind of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world he seeks whom he may devour when he says resist him firm in your faith it's not simply the faith that we have but it's speaking of that which composes our faith being strong in what you know about God in his word it's that kind of faith he's speaking about resist him through the word of God and so I'll close with a couple things how can we be prepared to do this basic things one read the word regularly read it regularly if you can't read that well and I had a fellow in the church who approached me once and said pastor you say we should read the word but I have to be honest with you and he was a successful businessman but he said to me I can't read he says I never learned to and I discovered that he's not alone in that that there are many others who have difficulty reading some people have reading problems dyslexia and various other things like that and I've seen that so I said to him you know what listen to listen to the word of God if you can humble yourself to do this ask your wife and hold the Bible with you because he could learn to read I said but have her read to you but get the word into your soul that's the whole point I'm making listen to the Bible law if you have a Bible app or something read something that you can read if you can read it easily read that but read regularly be in the word regularly also read carefully that simply I mean just concentrate on words and meanings don't speed read the Bible but take your time in reading it read systematically don't jump around just plain Bible roulette what am I gonna read today you know and you put your finger down on the verse wow you just went out and hanged himself that's not for me so you turn and then you put your finger down again go out and do the same no I don't want to receive like that you know read systematically then read obediently determine that what you read you will in Christ you will do again that's how you grow and then finally read patiently you don't go out into your backyard and plant a tree and the next day harvest fruit you take care of it you water it you give it time it grows through its seasons eventually producing be patient don't beat yourself up because you'd have to read something several times or don't understand it don't beat yourself up just keep seeking the Lord be humble enough to ask questions and watch what the Lord will do and finally I read this somewhere and just I wrote it down so I could read it to you as we close this section somebody wrote the Bible contains the mind of God the state of man the way of salvation the doom of sinners and the happiness of believers its doctrines are holy its precepts are binding its histories are true and its decisions are immutable read it to be wise believe it to be safe and practice it to be holy it contains light to direct you food to support you and comfort to cheer you it is the traveler's map the pilgrim's staff the pilot's compass the soldier's sword and the Christian's character here paradise is restored heaven opened and the gates of hell disclosed Christ is its grand object our good is its design and the glory of God its end it should fill the memory rule the heart and guide the feet read it slowly frequently and prayerfully it has given you in life and will be opened in judgment and will be remembered forever it involves the highest responsibility will reward the greatest labor and will condemn all who trifle with the sacred contents the sword of the spirit


Good morning today. We'll have updates from emergency management director for and and transportation secretary Flynn Also from General Roy of FEMA with an update on the mob pillar mobile home park Our teams will continue to work with local partners on assessing the damage of this week's flooding Which will be important as we determine next steps as we've discussed. There are certain thresholds that need to be met To reach a point where a new disaster declaration can be made with FEMA support to follow As you may recall, there are two levels public assistance to help with infrastructure and Individual assistance, which is a much higher bar to clear Our towns are well equipped and familiar with that process when it comes to public assistance and that work is underway Whether or not we meet thresholds for federal help It'll be important for the state to have an understanding of the damage people and businesses have sustained So as commissioner Morrison went over yesterday if you're in immediate need of major help Call nut 2-1-1 But if you're working to clean up and make minor repairs focus on that first Contact your insurance company then report your damage online if possible at Vermont 2-1-1 dot or This will help us determine whether we meet the federal thresholds and see what the state needs to do moving forward I want to reiterate There is there is no active program in place at this stage for direct financial support But we need the data to see what might be possible for what should be done down the road So again report damage take photos and save receipts Our teams will also continue to reach out directly to community organizations across the state to identify needs in The meantime again, I'm asking all of Vermont is who are able to step up to help your community in any way you can We know there are people who could use a helping hand out there and even the little things can make a big difference So with that I'll turn it over to director for Good morning. Thanks for being here Quick update from Across the state all rivers are receded below flood stage Over monitor should remain vigilant river levels are still higher than normal and most have extremely strong currents Everyone is encouraged to stay clear of these potentially dangerous areas Continue to respect all road closures and never drive or walk in a flooded area To date the state has received no reports of death or injuries resulting directly from this flood During this event we activated nine swift water teams that made a total of 12 rescues as reported earlier three people were rescued from a home in Jamaica and there were nine separate rescues from vehicles caught in floods Our teams have also assisted with some voluntary evacuations from residences that were threatened by water But not inundated As of late at yesterday afternoon we demobilized the remaining two swift water teams Those teams remain available But they are back in quarters The emergency operation center remains activated if towns need additional assistance They can contact their us through the year their emergency management director The team at the emergency operation center is in the process of collecting damage reports from towns and state agencies To determine if the state qualifies for public infrastructure repair assistance as the governor mentioned All the shelters across the state have closed as residents have used them I have now returned to their homes or made other arrangements the Vermont emergency management website and social media channels will list any other Shelters or warming centers should they come online? We are working closely with 211 to capture damage to residences and businesses as a result of the flooding So governor mentioned if you have immediate needs for shelter of food, please call or text 211 If you do not need immediate assistance, but your home or business was damaged the result of this flood Please go online to Vermont 211.org to report your damages when your situation is stable Please use the online form to report damage If you do not have access to the internet, you can make your damage reports by calling 211 It's being to the operator If prompted to do so leave a message and they will return your call The damage reports will be used to quantify the damages to residences and businesses To determine if we may be eligible for federal assistance in the wake of this event At this time, we do not know if any communities or the state as a whole will qualify for federal assistance But we want to make sure that we accurately compile this data so that we understand where we are in regards to the thresholds that the governor mentioned Thank you with that. I will turn it over to Secretary Flynn from agency transportation Thank you director. Good morning I'd first like to take you back to the floods of July and August And I'm pleased to report that the last road that was closed from that event Opened last Friday. That is route 107 in Stockbridge So regarding this week's events We are at this moment At two roads remaining fully closed. Those are us 302 from Berrytown to Orange and Vermont 73 in Sudbury from Brandon to Willow Brook One road and only one road is partially closed to this point and that is route 108 at Spruce Peak I mentioned yesterday that is a project that the resort is Undertaking with Stowe And we're working with them and want to get the word out that they're working to get that open to temporary two lane As soon as possible, and then they'll determine a permanent fix thereafter There are no issues with rail There are no issues with air The Memorial Valley rail trail has been assessed All of the large sites that were damaged from July Were survived in construction on those from the July recovery continues There were 15 minor Damage areas from this week's events very minor and that should be All repaired within a few days The Missusquoie Valley rail trail has been fully assessed The agency has conducted three bridge inspections Two in Milton and one in Tunbridge. We have three planned for today One in Mount Holly one in Plymouth and one in Chelsea We are working V-tran staff is working with the town of Fairfax today town manager and the road foreman They have a slope issue on local roads and the town we're told intends to get a contractor on that site today As director for and mentioned With VEM and others AOT helps to survey the landscape with respect to towns as of this morning We have spoken to 75% of all the towns in the state and that information is passed to VEM to the SEOC for their awareness From that there are currently 33 Towns that have indicated some degree of damage. I don't have any extent as to what that actually is You heard yesterday. I believe when Secretary Boucher was talking about schools much of the issue just happens to be we're seeing or we were at least yesterday We're seeing mud road conditions like we would have seen in perhaps March or April. So that's could be part of what they're dealing with We have 37 damaged sites on The federal highway network on our state system. I mentioned we have two roads closed, but we still have 37 damaged sites The only site of real significance is the US Route 2 in the St. Johnsbury where there is a slide. So when I say damaged sites, I want to put that into perspective It's not all like it was in July And we have three contractors working with us today And that concludes my report and I would turn over to general Roy from FEMA Thank you, director. I appreciate that Good morning before I hit on the direct housing discussion. I just want to cover a couple basics here As we've discussed many times, you know, FEMA is assisting Vermont in three Programmatic areas. The first one is individual assistance and under as an individual assistance FEMA's provided over twenty four point six million dollars after Vermont is affected by the floods from the summer And of that twenty two point nine million dollars has been allotted for housing Repair and about one point seven million dollars went towards replacing personal property We continue to help for monitors who cannot live in their damaged homes And help find a safe and temporary place to live about three point five million dollars has been approved for over 1500 residents to rent housing while repairs or replacing of their houses and continue on Under public assistance our public assistance programs which provides funding to repair or place damage infrastructure We have 1458 projects right now with more to come and Estimate is about six hundred million dollars worth of of Costs associated with those projects six hundred million dollars and growing Today we've obligated 22 projects for just over seven hundred thousand dollars, but these are the early stages And we expect those to grow very quickly And in fact we estimate that we'll have over fifty million dollars by the end of January Obligated for Vermont for public assistance And then the last and a long-term one is our interagency recovery coordination our long-term recovery And we're working with the appointed chief recovery officer Doug Farnham To take a look at the focus areas in which the federal government can assist Vermont We've activated all of the six recovery support functions from our federal partners And we've identified five focus areas for the long-term recovery increased housing Kickstart economic recovery enhanced resilience of critical infrastructure increased capacity for communities to plan for and recover from Disasters and lastly enable and enhance food security for at-risk populations during disasters So we'll work hand-in-glove with the state task forces to bring about Whatever assistance we can from the federal government for that And then under direct housing. I know that's a subject to shore based upon the decision with a group site So those who cannot find appropriate rentals of their own Like we talked about the rental assistance program are being helped through our direct housing and leasing programs We did initial assessment and there were based upon either Substantial damages or destroyed there was a population of 260 people who met that requirement at the very beginning of the disaster That we reached out to And of that population we started with somewhere between 1560 who expressed interest in FEMA helping them find Temporary housing for up to 18 months there are There are a sequence of things that we do to place Individuals in temporary housing And again, they're sequential. So the first thing we look for because it's the easiest thing to do is Multi-family properties that need to be repaired. We go in we repair them as part of the lease process We are able to put our applicants into those. That's the first level we pull the second lever we pull is for Our mobile home use units or someplace recreational vehicles, which we wouldn't do in Vermont because the weather So we take a look to see where we can potentially place mobile homes on either private properties or on commercial properties And if that's not working then the next one we pull is to see if we can expand a commercial park to add additional spots If that doesn't work, then we move into what's called direct lease and which we look for Apartments that are available think of corporate locations, you know, so if your company sent you to Vermont, you know, they typically have a Rental that they'll put you in so we put up a request for any corporations that may have those available for us And then the very last lever that we pull is the group site for mobile homes Why because it takes so very long to put that in place Well in the case of Vermont We recognize very early on that there was a housing challenge before the storm only exacerbated by the storm So what did we do? We pulled every single lever at the same time To try to get ahead of of the winter time And so in order to do that we work very closely to find a group site that we could put in place In this case Monpilia looked like the best location for us to do that with and we actually entered into agreement To utilize that facility should we require it and we continued on with that planning Well, this you know as we're getting ready to actually move forward The direct lease program came forward as it normally would have and said, okay We found X and out a number of Facilities for you to be able to use for your applicants And there were enough for us to be able to utilize to take care of those people we were working with Which had been 25 Reduced to 21 and as of this one is down to 19 the two that went from from 21 to 19 one is is actually Was able to is in the process of purchasing a home and everything went through and the other applicant found a permanent apartment And this is what we expect the longer it takes to place people You know the chances are they'll find their own permanent solutions, which is ultimately what we want But that's why you saw us move forward on the group site And now we're we're moving to put people into direct lease because we pulled all those levels Simultaneously in order to try to help people as quickly as we could so I hope that explains the process that we utilize To help our our applicants here in Vermont I'm sure you probably have additional questions at that But bottom line up front is we wanted people to know that those who have received assistance from Vermont if your Status changes and you need additional help. Please contact FEMA You know one eight hundred six two one three three six two one eight hundred three three one six two one three three six two To update us on where you are The team that we have here in Vermont has made over eight thousand Callouts to those people who have been impacted by the storm and because of their efforts They have actually been able to provide an over eight million dollars of additional assistance because they were able to update their status So we want to make sure that people have the opportunity to continue to reach out if their status changes Okay, so with that I'm going to turn it back to the governor and stand by for questions sir Thank you general Roy. We'll open up to questions For also Roy kind of talking about the direct housing and trailers and everything There was that contract signed with the city that involves some things such as infrastructure kind of other money Do you explain a little bit what happened to that contract now in the infrastructure water sewer those going up there certainly? so the contract we actually had with the city was for the property itself and then We would continue if we were going to place mobile homes You know we would have put the infrastructure in we're obviously not going to do that We were not going to spend tax related dollars that we don't need to But we do have a fixed-term lease with the city that's being negotiated with GSA in the city And so they're working towards agreeing how much that's going to be so Montpellier will end up with money I'm just not sure at this point how much because it's an agreement between GSA and the city Thank you sir why did this announcement seem to catch the state by surprise? to be honest it The timing of it was we weren't sure when the direct lease but was going to Come to fruition And based upon what we assessed the market was you know We weren't sure that anything would come of it and then all of a sudden You know in fact that the three National vendors were able to come up with the properties the units that we needed to facilitate it So not only was a state you know it say this but I was a state complex price We were actually you know pleasantly surprised to see oh wow there are our properties here that will be able to support Those who need assistance Late last Friday actually is when we when the word came down on that and so we worked very diligently To ensure that there was going to be enough matches for the people we had for the direct lease And and make a decision on on pulling the plug on the group site how What where are these you mentioned there's three National organizations is who are they where I you know I'm not sure I can release at which companies they are and nor can we actually say where those properties are I will tell you that we are able to place two individuals in LaMauro and 14 individuals in Washington County Into that direct lease program. Oh, by the way, we also have individuals we're working with on the other type of assistance, which is the mobile home units So we've got two going into Into a location in Windsor County, and we've got three going into location in Orange County And we've already placed one individual on a private site here in bird and Barry One of the big concerns at the beginning was we couldn't find places that weren't in the flood play And so I mean you have to tell me exactly where but how how did we come to this? Decision or how where where did how did we find these these, you know, these parks that aren't in the floodplain? so The ones actually in Windsor County are Managed by state of Vermont as well For for housing locations and then one in orange wasn't in an impacted area at all So which which allowed us to place them And when will these I know they're the trailers are being staged when are they going to be moved and when can people move certainly so all All five of the ones going into commercial parks are actually in place right now And they're going through the sequencing of of energizing them checking them to make sure that's safe And then they'll license in India the individuals into them We're hopeful that that within the next week or so The ones that are in orange will be completed and potentially the ones in Windsor as to the direct lease program We we believe by the end of next week will have the first person in a direct lease a location And and are shooting for mid-January to have everybody in their location Which is great because the group site we would have been struggling to get on there by the end of February What is the communication look like I guess the city of Montpelier with all this cuz talking to local leadership over there They were pretty astounded and caught up very much off-guard. Yes, sir. I Can understand that Again, as I said, we were kind of surprised that direct lease came through as well as it did as well and all I can say is is that when when we found that we have the capability to Save taxpayers dollars and take care of the applicants, you know, we made the right decision And then we began to engage with the city quite frankly You know the weekend ran into it and that's why you know it kind of the information kind of slowed down I will say that one of your brethren was well ahead of the ahead of it by talking to those who were we were working with and Hearing that they were getting offered places to stay other than the park And and that kind of you know Quite frankly, you know Started getting the word out before weaving and had a chance to you know to pass it on to the city in the state You also mentioned was it six hundred million dollars that we Had an in damage from this just this past summer's floods. Yes, sir Do you know what like a state match on that would be I know it probably depends on what bucket and what project Certainly great question. So so right now the cost year for Vermont is 25 75 And With some cap some small caveats for instance the the president approved a hundred percent for Debris removal for up to a 30 day period Within the the first 120 days of the of the storm So the state gets to pick what was the most expensive portion to get that at a hundred percent And then we had a hundred percent for for emergency protective measures That they can pick the most expensive 30 days and do for that as well Everything else right now is a 25 for the state 75 for fed. However Once we exceed I think it's 111 plus million dollars so short of 112 That the this the state is eligible for Transition to a 90-10 so 10 percent on the state 90 percent for the fed and we We're we're trying to get there before Town day a town voting day of in march I'm not sure because the complexity of the project said we'll get there or not But we you know with 600 million dollars worth of damage. We know we'll get there. We just don't know when Quick question for the governor I mean when you see sort of these numbers about the state match and 600 million What do we have to pay? I mean, how do you take that into account when you're building your budget? Well, again, we want to make sure that we have the match available as we did last year With some of the the match for all the federal programs that came along whether it was the inflation reduction act and and so forth and the bipartisan infrastructure bill and those We need to make sure that we have the match because we don't want to let any federal dollars slip through our fingers Um, so when we're building our budget, we're considering all of that A couple folks on the phone. We'll start with Emma cotton vt. Digger Hi, can you hear me okay? We can Great. Um, I've got a few questions um related all to the flooding on monday Um, I wonder if you could tell us if there have been any damage reports to two on one so far He said yesterday that it would be a close call whether we can you know get federal assistance for this I wonder if that's still your calculation based on what you know I I really haven't received an update on the the calls from two one one, but uh, 7 a.m. We have as of 7 a.m. We had 20 calls into that line. Uh, so we're still analyzing the information Great. Okay. Thank you. Um, I also wonder if you might be able to talk about how The state checks in with marginalized communities during a flood like this I'm particularly thinking about people who don't speak english or people with disabilities How does the state make sure those people were properly informed about what was coming and that they were safe? sort of in general and also With regard to you know what happened on monday We do have translation services, but perhaps Eric can comment on that further as well Yes, that's a population that we're always concerned about so we anticipate their needs and try to work with them Through the local emd's so the local emd's know with their local constituents and know what their needs might be We also work through interpreters and the pio will work through ensuring the language multiple languages are utilized in our press releases and through our public messaging so we do try to To address those Individuals in a way that they can understand and comprehend so but it is something that we continuously strive to improve Hey, thank you. And then my last question is governor Scott yesterday said we'll learn something from this storm I just wonder if you could expand a little bit on that. What do you think we're gonna learn? You know We'll we'll learn more as the damage assessments come in but but again, I think Having these two storms one right after the other and the hyper sensitivity of people during During the holiday times as well as just coming off from recovery Is something that we're cognizant of and and we went into this understanding that as well but But I I think I'm again Hardened by the compassion of vermonters Their toughness their ability to to get back up and and do the hard work To to help their neighbors and and to help their communities So so far so good in that regard but But we want to make sure that we Address all the issues that we're not missing anything The communication aspect is so important. It reinforces the importance of all of you and communicating Our perspective and in the perspective perspective of of those victims as well. So We're all in this together and I think it's just again reinforces that What we've done is working, but we need to do more of it and make sure that we Nothing nobody slips through the cracks so to speak Great. Okay. That's all for me. Thank you very much Carly vermont public Carly are you muted? No, we're not getting audio Carly. So I'm gonna come back to you in a minute Um Back to the room for secretary Flynn. We have christmas right around the corner holiday season the FAA airports are expecting a record amount of traffic with the pandemic continuing to wind down it goes Where do you expect on the roads here and we're on over the next week is the holiday season? What do I expect on the roads like you expect to message influx of people compared to years past? I haven't seen projections that are going to indicate tremendous increase of traffic But we know that there always is an increase of traffic during the holiday period. So That would seem logical. Um, I also have not seen at this point What I would call a problematic weather forecast that fire into the weekend regarding road conditions So that would be favorable at this moment, but that could change at any time as you all know So again, it's just an opportunity to message to everybody To drive carefully don't drive impaired pay attention where your seat belt And give somebody a break, especially if you see our plow trucks out there Give them a break so they can get the work done so you can get where you need to go for the holidays safely So thank you for that Carly, I think we heard some audio come through. We'll try again Okay, great. Can you hear me now? We can A question for governor scott. So like general rice said earlier back in august famous that there were around 260 households who needed direct housing assistance now it's down to under 20 I think it gives the public an impression that people impacted by the july flooding are taken care of but We know there are still families bunking up in tight quarters together staying in very temporary situations with family or friends after losing their homes or Now, you know some of them have experienced flooding again this week What is your overall assessment of how much for monitors have recovered since the flooding in july? Yeah, I I still believe we have a long ways to go and I think some of those situations you described Are more frequent than maybe we realize Staying with family and friends Is not a solution a long-term permanent solution So we want to make sure that they reach out to us Because as general royce said FEMA can still support them in trying to find at least temporary housing throughout the the first 18 months of the declaration But we also want to It reinforces the fact that we need more housing in vermont You'll hear more about that in In the coming weeks. It'll be a focus of mine as it has been over the last seven years But we need to to really Put that on steroids And and for lack of a better term because there's no doubt. We need more units. We need thousands of units in it right now and At the pace we're going at this at this moment It's not going to fill the need and those folks that are in those temporary situations are going to need permanent housing After after they wear out their welcome with their friends and family Okay, thank you My maker told appropriations yesterday That she sees a softening in the administration on safe injection sites Any softening on on your stance? Yeah, I will speak for the administration. There's no softening from my standpoint So that bill that is being introduced on on day one about that pilot program If you've heard they're going to be introducing a bill allowed for up to two safe injection sites You would you're still opposed to that and it would be there's more to the bill as I understand it I haven't read the bill just to be fair. And this is not passed Out of committee at this point. I know that they're Contributing this on the first day of the session to pass it out of committee And then I don't know if it goes to another committee or goes to the floor at that point in the house representatives But there is a process a step process In the future having said that there's more to the bill From my understanding the decolonialization of of drugs Throughout the heroin and other substances That are part of that bill. So there's more to just the safe injection sites To this that I'm I'm concerned with. Thank you all very much. Have a great Christmas