I just wanted to let you all know that we were granted a two month extension for our visa renewal process. This was a big relief. It does create still a bit of a snag, for Andy. He is taking drivers education this semester in hopes of getting his license when we get to the states at Christmas time. However, we need the visa to get his driving permit. Of course, add in the abdominal surgery, and we have quite a quandary for our now 17 year old learning to drive. It was hard on him last year on his birthday to not be getting his license. Yesterday was his 17 th birthday and the cold hard facts are settling in that he might not get to drive still. I keep telling him that I would really rather he learned how to drive in the states, not hear. I just can't imagine the difficulty trying to relearn everything once in the states. God knows and we are resting in that. Andy, by the way is doing really well. He will return to school tomorrow.
Our remaining 6 1/2 weeks here will be full of adventure! Eric just left last night on an IT missions trip down to the Bible College in Cebu. There are six of them. They will be working on the computer system at the college for three days. They have been planning on this trip for several months now and we are excited that it worked for them to all go. Eric will fly from there to Singapore for some meetings.
Next week, we have three medical mission teams coming into the area for the week. There will be one team on the APNTS campus and the other two will go outside of the city. It will be fun having them here. Please be praying for the members of these teams as they come and offer their knowledge and help. Teaming up with them will be several local Filipino doctors and students who want to be involved.
After that, we will try and get everything boxed up and put into storage so that it can be high and dry while we are gone :)
Monday, October 26, 2009
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
More Drama...but Resting in Powerful Arms and Strong Hands
First….you need an update on how things are going, then on to more drama in our lives.
Last week on Wed, we got clearance to move into an apartment on the APNTS campus! We will be there through the end of our term! It is a furnished apartment so we are able to pack up our things at our other house to prepare for home assignment. There was a time last week when we were actually “living” in three houses at the same time. Hmmm…I find that a bit awkward considering there are many people who have no home at all right now. Actually, we were (and still are) trying to get our belongings out of our flooded home, getting our clothes, etc., from our directors home, and moving into our temporary apartment…talk about confusing J
The clean-up is still on-going at the house, but making great progress. Yesterday, the contractor came in to begin with the necessary repairs. The neighborhood is coming along well…the garbage has finally been picked up and/or burned and things are beginning to take on the look that we grew accustomed to. The wall that fell into our driveway is cleaned up and being re-built. Some of our neighbors are still working to clean things up, and some of our neighbors are gone, either for good, or for the duration of the rainy season. On one hand there is a strong overtone of new beginnings and conquering the devastation of the flood. People are just moving on and getting on with life. However, there is still a stench that remains. It is the stench of the mud, but it represents so much loss and fear.
As we watched the pictures of the repeated events up in the Northern Part of the Philippines, we watched with a much greater understanding. When we first arrived here, we spent our first week up in Baguio at the Luzon Nazarene Bible College, and we were oriented by Pastor Galino and his wife Melinda. We attended their church and shared meals with many of their church members. Their church suffered great loss from the landslides last weekend. They lost 16 church members to the landslides. On Wednesday Morning they held a funeral service for all 16 members. Five of those members were one entire family. This is such a difficult time for our friends all over the Philippines. These last two storms have stolen almost 1000 lives due to the actual storm, or the diseases that are pursuing them.
Thursday as we were trying to move into the apartment, Andy began feeling very sick. He was suspicious of what he ate for lunch. As the evening progressed, it looked as though maybe it was something that he ate. However, the next day he did not improve and started having localized pain in his right lower quadrant of his abdomen. At about 5 in the afternoon, I ran him down to the Hospital close by and requested some blood work (you can do that here), and discovered that his white blood cell count was very high. I called Eric and told him that we needed to get Andy to the emergency room (not the one we drew blood at). The long and short of it is that by 1130 that night, Andy was having surgery to remove his appendix. We are giving praise to the Lord for pushing me to get him in because it wasn’t too bad. If I had waited another day, it would have been much worse. Praise the Lord! He came home on Sunday and is doing remarkably well. He is a bit discouraged about the fact that there will be no rugby for him this season.
Last bit of drama….we have been working on getting our Visa’s renewed. They are to expire October 22. Two weeks ago, we got word that there would be an extension of time given to renew our visas because they don’t have them finished yet. However, yesterday we just got word that we might not get the extension. What does that mean? I do not know! Please pray that we don’t have to deal with visa drama on top of everything. I believe we might have to take a trip out of country and come back in as visitors, but having a child who just had abdominal surgery, I don’t really see that as a good option.
Yesterday as I was reading the Word, I came upon this verse….Psalm 89:8 “O Lord God Almighty! Where is there anyone as mighty as you, LORD? Faithfulness is your very character.” We have truly felt Gods faithfulness throughout these crazy, chaotic days, and trust him entirely. Later on verses 10-13 say “You are the one who crushed the great sea monster (in Hebrew this represents chaos). You scattered your enemies with your mighty arm. The heavens are yours, and the earth is yours: everything in the world is yours—you created it all. You created north and south. Mount Tabor and Mount Hermon praise your name. Powerful is your arm! Strong is your hand! Your right hand is lifted high in glorious strength!”
We praise the Lord for the way he is daily sustaining us and holding us in His powerful arms and strong hands J
We pray that you are feeling His powerful arms and strong hands today! They are always there!!!
I added more pictures to the flood album. If you want to see them, go to this address...
http://picasaweb.google.com/zaneyconnections/2009CamdenFloodAlbum
Last week on Wed, we got clearance to move into an apartment on the APNTS campus! We will be there through the end of our term! It is a furnished apartment so we are able to pack up our things at our other house to prepare for home assignment. There was a time last week when we were actually “living” in three houses at the same time. Hmmm…I find that a bit awkward considering there are many people who have no home at all right now. Actually, we were (and still are) trying to get our belongings out of our flooded home, getting our clothes, etc., from our directors home, and moving into our temporary apartment…talk about confusing J
The clean-up is still on-going at the house, but making great progress. Yesterday, the contractor came in to begin with the necessary repairs. The neighborhood is coming along well…the garbage has finally been picked up and/or burned and things are beginning to take on the look that we grew accustomed to. The wall that fell into our driveway is cleaned up and being re-built. Some of our neighbors are still working to clean things up, and some of our neighbors are gone, either for good, or for the duration of the rainy season. On one hand there is a strong overtone of new beginnings and conquering the devastation of the flood. People are just moving on and getting on with life. However, there is still a stench that remains. It is the stench of the mud, but it represents so much loss and fear.
As we watched the pictures of the repeated events up in the Northern Part of the Philippines, we watched with a much greater understanding. When we first arrived here, we spent our first week up in Baguio at the Luzon Nazarene Bible College, and we were oriented by Pastor Galino and his wife Melinda. We attended their church and shared meals with many of their church members. Their church suffered great loss from the landslides last weekend. They lost 16 church members to the landslides. On Wednesday Morning they held a funeral service for all 16 members. Five of those members were one entire family. This is such a difficult time for our friends all over the Philippines. These last two storms have stolen almost 1000 lives due to the actual storm, or the diseases that are pursuing them.
Thursday as we were trying to move into the apartment, Andy began feeling very sick. He was suspicious of what he ate for lunch. As the evening progressed, it looked as though maybe it was something that he ate. However, the next day he did not improve and started having localized pain in his right lower quadrant of his abdomen. At about 5 in the afternoon, I ran him down to the Hospital close by and requested some blood work (you can do that here), and discovered that his white blood cell count was very high. I called Eric and told him that we needed to get Andy to the emergency room (not the one we drew blood at). The long and short of it is that by 1130 that night, Andy was having surgery to remove his appendix. We are giving praise to the Lord for pushing me to get him in because it wasn’t too bad. If I had waited another day, it would have been much worse. Praise the Lord! He came home on Sunday and is doing remarkably well. He is a bit discouraged about the fact that there will be no rugby for him this season.
Last bit of drama….we have been working on getting our Visa’s renewed. They are to expire October 22. Two weeks ago, we got word that there would be an extension of time given to renew our visas because they don’t have them finished yet. However, yesterday we just got word that we might not get the extension. What does that mean? I do not know! Please pray that we don’t have to deal with visa drama on top of everything. I believe we might have to take a trip out of country and come back in as visitors, but having a child who just had abdominal surgery, I don’t really see that as a good option.
Yesterday as I was reading the Word, I came upon this verse….Psalm 89:8 “O Lord God Almighty! Where is there anyone as mighty as you, LORD? Faithfulness is your very character.” We have truly felt Gods faithfulness throughout these crazy, chaotic days, and trust him entirely. Later on verses 10-13 say “You are the one who crushed the great sea monster (in Hebrew this represents chaos). You scattered your enemies with your mighty arm. The heavens are yours, and the earth is yours: everything in the world is yours—you created it all. You created north and south. Mount Tabor and Mount Hermon praise your name. Powerful is your arm! Strong is your hand! Your right hand is lifted high in glorious strength!”
We praise the Lord for the way he is daily sustaining us and holding us in His powerful arms and strong hands J
We pray that you are feeling His powerful arms and strong hands today! They are always there!!!
I added more pictures to the flood album. If you want to see them, go to this address...
http://picasaweb.google.com/zaneyconnections/2009CamdenFloodAlbum
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Flood Update
Our dear friends and family,
We are feeling the loving arms of our heavenly father through this crazy time!!! It is such a challenge being the recipient of ministry rather than being the ones ministering. However, it has been an amazing journey watching the body of Christ rise up and take care of the whole situation.
We have had incredible amounts of help in our home! There are no words that can truly express how grateful we are to those who have come in and gotten muddy and even possibly sick while helping us through this huge mess. The most of the mud is gone!!! YEAH!!! There are still tell tale signs of mud everywhere, but they too are slowly disappearing.
We got our car back yesterday and it is running!!!! Our dear friend Nanding jumped right on it and we have it back. The external damage from the wall falling on it was really minor! It’s almost as though the LORD had his hand on it as it gently lay down on our car. There are some dents and scratches, but very, very minor. The seats are clean but drying and we are trying to expedite the process with some light bulbs inside the car. We won’t be driving it for a few days in order to give it time to dry.
We have three young boys coming to help break up the wall and start getting that cleaned up. We are paying them to do the work, and it is so awesome to be able to help them provide an honest wage for their family.
We have an electrician coming today to check our appliances (washer, dryer, freezer, stove and ref) and then we will know more what we have to deal with there. All of our small appliances have been taken in to the shop for cleaning and hopefully repair. Of course, there are multitudes of small appliances in all the shops, so it could be a while.
We have new couch cushions and mattress on order and they will be done in a few weeks. The wood furniture has all been scrubbed and dried. The cloth couch has been scrubbed and washed, not sure what the outcome of that one will be, but we gave it a good attempt.
The blisters on the walls have subsided some, but a lot of those blisters popped. It is really amazing thinking about the simplicity of cleaning up a cement wall as compared to a sheet rock wall! The walls will all need to be re-painted.
We pulled the pantry out from under the stairs because it was all press-board that expanded and stunk REALLY bad! BLECK! We also had to rip out some of the uprises on the stairs. All the doors are ruined and will need to be replaced.
We think the kitchen cabinets will need to be pulled out also because they have been through four floods, but have never soaked for 36 hours before.
We have decided that we will not go back in the house. We do not yet know what we will do. We will have some sort of temporary housing during the remaining 10 weeks of this term, and then make decisions when we return here in May of next year. We will have to pack up our stuff and figure out what to do with it in the mean time. Please pray for very clear direction in this.
It is amazing to watch other people respond to the flood. Just in our neighborhood as I drive back to our house, I see piles and piles of garbage. All stuff that used to be something assumed as necessary. Some places I see it just tossed into a heap. Some places I see it stacked orderly. Some places I see children rummaging through it to find something they could sell, or use themselves. Some places I see old men or women collecting wood pieces, either for firewood or for re-building. Some houses are meticulously washing and cleaning everything. Other places are discarding everything and starting over. Most everyone has gotten their car running, at least to a certain degree.
The grocery stores are settling down, and the lines are not quite so long. There isn’t the panic in the air that there was last week. The stores are still low on some foods. I noticed yesterday that the cheap food is completely picked over and there is none left. However, there is plenty of the imported stuff. No one can afford it now.
The kids have all gone back to school. The people have all gone back to work, and it’s almost like nothing happened. But you look around and it’s obvious that something happened. I saw a lady walking down the street yesterday wrapped in a sheet.
Remember the old saying about Timex watches? “It takes a lickin’ and keeps on tickin!’” That’s what Philippi no people are like. The majority of the people in this area were affected by the flooding, and everyone is just doing their part, getting things put back together. I know so many people are really hurting because of lost loved ones. I have heard many heart breaking stories. But, I have also heard a lot of great stories about people helping others, and of people calling out to God and finding Him. I’ve seen people reach out and help. I’ve seen people offer themselves and their money. AMAZING! There are a lot of people/organizations giving food donations. It is fun to drive somewhere and see a mob of people and realize that someone is passing out food. It can be dangerous, but it is happening.
One of the things I see myself and many others battling is discouragement. I know that Satan is having a great time discouraging people. 1 Peter 5:8 says “Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.” BUT, Eric read to me another verse Monday morning that has really encouraged me and given me a great boost…Jer 20:11 “But the LORD stands beside me like a great warrior. Before Him my persecutors will stumble.” Satan is my persecutor, and I am watching him stumble and fall.
Please pray for all of us to remember that our LORD does stand right beside us like the great warrior. That is awesome! Unfortunately, there are a lot of folks who don’t know that.
We are feeling the loving arms of our heavenly father through this crazy time!!! It is such a challenge being the recipient of ministry rather than being the ones ministering. However, it has been an amazing journey watching the body of Christ rise up and take care of the whole situation.
We have had incredible amounts of help in our home! There are no words that can truly express how grateful we are to those who have come in and gotten muddy and even possibly sick while helping us through this huge mess. The most of the mud is gone!!! YEAH!!! There are still tell tale signs of mud everywhere, but they too are slowly disappearing.
We got our car back yesterday and it is running!!!! Our dear friend Nanding jumped right on it and we have it back. The external damage from the wall falling on it was really minor! It’s almost as though the LORD had his hand on it as it gently lay down on our car. There are some dents and scratches, but very, very minor. The seats are clean but drying and we are trying to expedite the process with some light bulbs inside the car. We won’t be driving it for a few days in order to give it time to dry.
We have three young boys coming to help break up the wall and start getting that cleaned up. We are paying them to do the work, and it is so awesome to be able to help them provide an honest wage for their family.
We have an electrician coming today to check our appliances (washer, dryer, freezer, stove and ref) and then we will know more what we have to deal with there. All of our small appliances have been taken in to the shop for cleaning and hopefully repair. Of course, there are multitudes of small appliances in all the shops, so it could be a while.
We have new couch cushions and mattress on order and they will be done in a few weeks. The wood furniture has all been scrubbed and dried. The cloth couch has been scrubbed and washed, not sure what the outcome of that one will be, but we gave it a good attempt.
The blisters on the walls have subsided some, but a lot of those blisters popped. It is really amazing thinking about the simplicity of cleaning up a cement wall as compared to a sheet rock wall! The walls will all need to be re-painted.
We pulled the pantry out from under the stairs because it was all press-board that expanded and stunk REALLY bad! BLECK! We also had to rip out some of the uprises on the stairs. All the doors are ruined and will need to be replaced.
We think the kitchen cabinets will need to be pulled out also because they have been through four floods, but have never soaked for 36 hours before.
We have decided that we will not go back in the house. We do not yet know what we will do. We will have some sort of temporary housing during the remaining 10 weeks of this term, and then make decisions when we return here in May of next year. We will have to pack up our stuff and figure out what to do with it in the mean time. Please pray for very clear direction in this.
It is amazing to watch other people respond to the flood. Just in our neighborhood as I drive back to our house, I see piles and piles of garbage. All stuff that used to be something assumed as necessary. Some places I see it just tossed into a heap. Some places I see it stacked orderly. Some places I see children rummaging through it to find something they could sell, or use themselves. Some places I see old men or women collecting wood pieces, either for firewood or for re-building. Some houses are meticulously washing and cleaning everything. Other places are discarding everything and starting over. Most everyone has gotten their car running, at least to a certain degree.
The grocery stores are settling down, and the lines are not quite so long. There isn’t the panic in the air that there was last week. The stores are still low on some foods. I noticed yesterday that the cheap food is completely picked over and there is none left. However, there is plenty of the imported stuff. No one can afford it now.
The kids have all gone back to school. The people have all gone back to work, and it’s almost like nothing happened. But you look around and it’s obvious that something happened. I saw a lady walking down the street yesterday wrapped in a sheet.
Remember the old saying about Timex watches? “It takes a lickin’ and keeps on tickin!’” That’s what Philippi no people are like. The majority of the people in this area were affected by the flooding, and everyone is just doing their part, getting things put back together. I know so many people are really hurting because of lost loved ones. I have heard many heart breaking stories. But, I have also heard a lot of great stories about people helping others, and of people calling out to God and finding Him. I’ve seen people reach out and help. I’ve seen people offer themselves and their money. AMAZING! There are a lot of people/organizations giving food donations. It is fun to drive somewhere and see a mob of people and realize that someone is passing out food. It can be dangerous, but it is happening.
One of the things I see myself and many others battling is discouragement. I know that Satan is having a great time discouraging people. 1 Peter 5:8 says “Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.” BUT, Eric read to me another verse Monday morning that has really encouraged me and given me a great boost…Jer 20:11 “But the LORD stands beside me like a great warrior. Before Him my persecutors will stumble.” Satan is my persecutor, and I am watching him stumble and fall.
Please pray for all of us to remember that our LORD does stand right beside us like the great warrior. That is awesome! Unfortunately, there are a lot of folks who don’t know that.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Sept 26, 2009 The Flood
Saturday, September 26 in my daily Bible, it reads,
“Save me O God, for the floodwaters are up to my neck….But I keep right on praying to you, LORD, hoping this is the time you will show me favor. In your unfailing love, O God, answer my prayer with your sure salvation. Pull me out of the mud; don’t let me sink any deeper! … Don’t let the floods overwhelm me, or the deep waters swallow me, or the pit of death devour me.” Psalm 69:1,13-15
We knew there was a storm coming in, just a “tropical storm” and not a typhoon. No problem! What we didn’t know is the amount of rain that would accompany it. We have experienced knee deep water so many times in our driveway that we have gotten a bit relaxed with the possibilities of our home flooding. After a lot of rain during the night, I checked the driveway about 9:00 am and saw that the street our driveway connects to was already running with water. We decided we probably wouldn’t be going anywhere for a while. By 10:00, Eric went out to check a drain in the driveway and the water was already to his knees. The rain was not letting up at all and we decided the water might come inside the house. We directed the kids (praise GOD we were all home together!!!!) to start taking stuff upstairs to one of the bedrooms. We started with food and water and moved to electronics and books and whatever else we could salvage
At 10:45 the water took up residence in our home, waltzing through the front door. 11:06, the water came over the gate to the back yard and started filling up the yard inside our wall (that protects us from floods….all the other floods that is).
11:11 Most of us were upstairs, but Andy was in his bedroom on the landing trying to get a few thing up, just in case it got in there (none of us thought it could possible get that high). At 11:12 there was an eerie rumble and very loud crack followed by the sound of rushing, turbulent water. Our neighbor’s wall that we park next to had broken and all the water behind it burst into our yard, forcing a wall of water over our protective wall and into our house.
The water level reached it’s highest at about 3:00. We praise the Lord that it didn’t get any higher, because about this time, we started noticing there was a current going through our house and out our back gate. We rejoiced as we noticed the level dropping about an inch, then four inches, and we were beginning to feel a sense of relief that the water would soon run off. Unfortunately, we didn’t know that all the waterways in this entire area were flooded, the water had no where to go. We went to bed(earlier than normal because we only had one candle upstairs) knowing that all of our belongings were floating around below us. I kept trying to talk myself into thinking about all those times as a kid that I slept on the lake J No matter how I tried, it just wasn’t the same.
The sun rose and the water was still 3 or 4 feet deep. We thought we would just wait out the day, knowing that eventually the water would recede. The boys decided that it would be fun to try fishing off the roof. We watched from the windows and from the roof as underwater life rose to the surface of the water leaving its tell-tale rings. There are a lot of fish and fresh water eels that end up in this type of flood. One of our neighbors was seen tossing a one foot long fish out of his belongings J
We had no idea what was happening all around us. It is a strange feeling knowing that so many people’s lives are being completely altered all at the same time. I was simply thinking about our immediate neighbors, not for a minute was I thinking this was such a wide spread disaster. We knew that there were probably people being swept away in currents, never to be seen again. We knew that the squatter houses along the water ways were being demolished. We knew that our neighbor was praying fervently for his sisters two boys who were missing. The water that yesterday seemed so hostile, today seemed so calm, almost soothing, but it was contributing to an eerie silence, a silence that was void of roosters, tricycles, jeepney horns, and other motors.
However, through the silence, began the chatter and laughter of our neighbors. Despite the horrors of the day before, I heard singing. I heard laughter. I heard conversation. I heard the hope of a new dawning. As the sun rose in the sky, I was so happy to have the light back! I was reminded of Isaiah 60:20 “The LORD will be your everlasting light. Your days of mourning will come to an end.”
As the boys were fishing, Tata (one of the employees in the Field Office) waded into our yard and told us he was here to fetch us. We gathered a few items and waded through thigh high water to dry ground. It was very devastating walking through the house and seeing the very thing I was imagining upstairs. The disaster of the home we have tried to establish over these two years was demolished. There was mud and muck on every surface.
We are staying with our Field Strategy Coordinator and his wife. We do not have any answers yet to all of those questions floating around just like all the rubbish on the water. We are just taking it a day at a time and letting the LORD guide and direct our paths.
There has been an incredible number of people coming in and helping us clean up. Every day I am just dumb founded when students from the kids school come in and spend the day helping. We have had meals brought in. We have had people taking laundry to clean. We have had people who have been there every single day. We had one guy who went without sleep for 36 hours so he could spend the day helping us. We have had some of our kids from the youth group come and help us. It has been overwhelming!
The kids have not been back to school. The whole area has taken the entire week off for clean up. The students from our school have been grouping together and going out to the myriad of families affected and helping with clean-up. It is an amazing, dirty job. Fortunately, most homes are made of cement walls and floors, therefore, the cleanup is much easier than in a wood home with dry-wall. We give praise to God for that!
We will keep trying to give you info. Please keep praying. There are still places that are waist deep in water. We love you all and are happy to tell you that your brothers and sisters in Christ here have been so gracious to us!
We are the body of Christ!!!!
“Save me O God, for the floodwaters are up to my neck….But I keep right on praying to you, LORD, hoping this is the time you will show me favor. In your unfailing love, O God, answer my prayer with your sure salvation. Pull me out of the mud; don’t let me sink any deeper! … Don’t let the floods overwhelm me, or the deep waters swallow me, or the pit of death devour me.” Psalm 69:1,13-15
We knew there was a storm coming in, just a “tropical storm” and not a typhoon. No problem! What we didn’t know is the amount of rain that would accompany it. We have experienced knee deep water so many times in our driveway that we have gotten a bit relaxed with the possibilities of our home flooding. After a lot of rain during the night, I checked the driveway about 9:00 am and saw that the street our driveway connects to was already running with water. We decided we probably wouldn’t be going anywhere for a while. By 10:00, Eric went out to check a drain in the driveway and the water was already to his knees. The rain was not letting up at all and we decided the water might come inside the house. We directed the kids (praise GOD we were all home together!!!!) to start taking stuff upstairs to one of the bedrooms. We started with food and water and moved to electronics and books and whatever else we could salvage
At 10:45 the water took up residence in our home, waltzing through the front door. 11:06, the water came over the gate to the back yard and started filling up the yard inside our wall (that protects us from floods….all the other floods that is).
11:11 Most of us were upstairs, but Andy was in his bedroom on the landing trying to get a few thing up, just in case it got in there (none of us thought it could possible get that high). At 11:12 there was an eerie rumble and very loud crack followed by the sound of rushing, turbulent water. Our neighbor’s wall that we park next to had broken and all the water behind it burst into our yard, forcing a wall of water over our protective wall and into our house.
The water level reached it’s highest at about 3:00. We praise the Lord that it didn’t get any higher, because about this time, we started noticing there was a current going through our house and out our back gate. We rejoiced as we noticed the level dropping about an inch, then four inches, and we were beginning to feel a sense of relief that the water would soon run off. Unfortunately, we didn’t know that all the waterways in this entire area were flooded, the water had no where to go. We went to bed(earlier than normal because we only had one candle upstairs) knowing that all of our belongings were floating around below us. I kept trying to talk myself into thinking about all those times as a kid that I slept on the lake J No matter how I tried, it just wasn’t the same.
The sun rose and the water was still 3 or 4 feet deep. We thought we would just wait out the day, knowing that eventually the water would recede. The boys decided that it would be fun to try fishing off the roof. We watched from the windows and from the roof as underwater life rose to the surface of the water leaving its tell-tale rings. There are a lot of fish and fresh water eels that end up in this type of flood. One of our neighbors was seen tossing a one foot long fish out of his belongings J
We had no idea what was happening all around us. It is a strange feeling knowing that so many people’s lives are being completely altered all at the same time. I was simply thinking about our immediate neighbors, not for a minute was I thinking this was such a wide spread disaster. We knew that there were probably people being swept away in currents, never to be seen again. We knew that the squatter houses along the water ways were being demolished. We knew that our neighbor was praying fervently for his sisters two boys who were missing. The water that yesterday seemed so hostile, today seemed so calm, almost soothing, but it was contributing to an eerie silence, a silence that was void of roosters, tricycles, jeepney horns, and other motors.
However, through the silence, began the chatter and laughter of our neighbors. Despite the horrors of the day before, I heard singing. I heard laughter. I heard conversation. I heard the hope of a new dawning. As the sun rose in the sky, I was so happy to have the light back! I was reminded of Isaiah 60:20 “The LORD will be your everlasting light. Your days of mourning will come to an end.”
As the boys were fishing, Tata (one of the employees in the Field Office) waded into our yard and told us he was here to fetch us. We gathered a few items and waded through thigh high water to dry ground. It was very devastating walking through the house and seeing the very thing I was imagining upstairs. The disaster of the home we have tried to establish over these two years was demolished. There was mud and muck on every surface.
We are staying with our Field Strategy Coordinator and his wife. We do not have any answers yet to all of those questions floating around just like all the rubbish on the water. We are just taking it a day at a time and letting the LORD guide and direct our paths.
There has been an incredible number of people coming in and helping us clean up. Every day I am just dumb founded when students from the kids school come in and spend the day helping. We have had meals brought in. We have had people taking laundry to clean. We have had people who have been there every single day. We had one guy who went without sleep for 36 hours so he could spend the day helping us. We have had some of our kids from the youth group come and help us. It has been overwhelming!
The kids have not been back to school. The whole area has taken the entire week off for clean up. The students from our school have been grouping together and going out to the myriad of families affected and helping with clean-up. It is an amazing, dirty job. Fortunately, most homes are made of cement walls and floors, therefore, the cleanup is much easier than in a wood home with dry-wall. We give praise to God for that!
We will keep trying to give you info. Please keep praying. There are still places that are waist deep in water. We love you all and are happy to tell you that your brothers and sisters in Christ here have been so gracious to us!
We are the body of Christ!!!!
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