Typhoons & Answered Prayer

Today we spent the day getting food to some of the areas that were badly hit by the recent flooding.

I wish I could upload my photos and video, but haven't been able to do so. Having internet access challenges.

Our first visit was to the notorious community of Tondo. Here two of our most impacting pastors are doing an amazing work – Pastor XP (Expadito is his name) and Pastor Alex. These young men live in a community that is densely crowded with some of the most inhuman conditions found in the world. The police don’t go into this neighborhood and I wouldn’t visit these places without the company of these well respected community pastors.

In keeping this short, I will summarize my visit:

Pastor Alex has a thriving church where the second floor is literally buckling the trusses that hold up that level. We have the funds now to rebuild this place. Pray that he finds a good place for the church and school to meet during the two months needed for the construction.

Pastor XP’s place was packed with the parents of the pre-schooler’s who were having a meeting with the teachers. These ladies are committed to the hope that their children will have a better life as a result of their education and relationship with Jesus Christ. XP showed us a nearby beautiful church that is sitting empty. It is owned by a Korean group and might be available for purchase for $3000. Keep this in your prayers. It would give them 5X the square footage they have now.

Due to the flooding all the schools in metro Manila have been closed for the past week. Consequently, most people are without work and without income. When you live day to day this has a dire impact. We gave these pastors each 50 lbs of rice, canned foods and more. They were SO happy and the community took note as we walked down the narrow alleyways bearing the goods.

During the afternoon we were able to get more food for nine other churches. The rain began to fall hard but it didn’t stop the pastors from coming to our meeting point for the food distribution. That night we drove through the torrential rains and it took us three hours to get home (normally it would have been a one hour drive).

Fortunately, the most recent typhoon missed us leaving us with nothing besides the rain.

One of our pastors (who is on our task force) (Gerry) has been watching over his son who has had a bad case of dengue fever. Two days ago we were afraid he would die but yesterday his platlet count quadrupled signifying a turn-around. Thanks for your prayers. Still waiting today for another update.

Thanks to Eastside Foursquare Church for authorizing $10,000 for flood relief! Please help replenish these funds by bringing your offerings for Manila this weekend or by giving online at www.eastsidechurch.org.

The Taal volcano is erupting. We do a great lead of our training in Tagaytay, on the rim of this huge volcano. Two nights ago Bryant and Patty were there for a meeting of Foursquare women and the smoke was so thick the visibility in places was only a few meters.

During these coming days we will continue to work hard to distribute supplies and mobilize help to the needed areas.

Looks like the current typhoon is huge but is moving North of us.

Not far behind it is another huge typhoon. You never know where they are going to hit for sure.

Robin Fawcett is an Eastside missionary in Vietnam. Bryant and I have plans to visit his at the end of next week for a day before I go home. Looks like they may be getting hit the hardest by these typhoons, so please keep him in your prayers as well as the churches and missionaries there.

Blessings. I hope to keep in touch. It is difficult to do so without phone/internet access (I am writing this from a Starbucks wi-fi).