God will make a way...

This photography taken by a missionary friend near the Taal Volcano Sunday afternoon shows the tower of ash marking the beginning of at least a partial eruption which closed down the Manila airport.

Our son Jared loves the Philippines. When complications with a family wedding and school start dates meant he’d have to postpone starting college at the Central Philippines University for a year, we were delighted that God opened the door for him to attend the Great Commission Bible Institute in Sebring FL, but we were all hoping God would make a way for Jared to spend Christmas with his family in the Philippines. When we made those plans in April ‘19 we had no idea what all God had in store!

Three days after arriving home with us in Malay, Aklan, our area was slammed by a typhoon. {Read more about that here}. The rest of his “vacation” was spent helping the family re-roof the house, cleaning up the mess and coordinating aid for the Ati tribe who had significant damage to their homes. His Christmas vacation consisted of rest of no electricity, no internet, and very little “down time.”

In addition to a Philippine Christmas, Jared needed to start the enrollment process at the University, so the last weekend of his visit we traveled to Iloilo for a meeting with the international student’s admissions counselor and an entrance exam. Iloilo had not been affected by the typhoon so we enjoyed the comforts of air conditioning, restaurants and access to the internet. But Jared’s great Christmas adventure was not quite over!

The day of his departure from Iloilo, the Taal volcano began to spew ash over Manila. We dropped Jared off at the bus to go to the airport and then took Frances back to her boarding house. As we were praying for her, Jared called to say that all the flights to Manila were cancelled because of the volcano.

Jared’s original flight plan routed through Manila on a regional carrier, which would take him to Hong Kong, the origination point of his long haul flight back to the States. We headed to the airport and while driving got enough data to check if there was an Iloilo to Hong Kong flight. There is just one non stop flight from Iloilo to Hong Kong every other day, and as God would have it a flight was scheduled for Sunday at 11; 45 pm, departing about 2 hrs from the time of Jared's call. 

There were so many people at the airport, most headed to Manila and now stranded indefinitely. But Jared was able to get into the terminal {without a boarding pass!} and find an agent who could help him. In less than 45 mins he had a FREE ticket to Hong Kong! Both of his canceled flights (Iloilo to Manila and then Manila to Hong Kong} had been with the airline that flies that one flight every other day-- so he got a free ticket!

God is so good! I cried as we were leaving because it just felt like such unmerited favor. Here we were, among hundreds of stranded passengers, and God made a way and it didn't even cost anything! Praise Jesus! God came through for Jared and for us— BIG TIME!

Jared on the other side of the glass, thankful and relieved that God provided the ticket he needed to get home to finish his GCBI studies!

A Very Different Christmas

The Day Before the Disaster…we expected a stormy Christmas, but nothing like what we got!

Life since the typhoon on Christmas Day has been a mess. Our house is near the beach and we lost a big part of our roof. We were actually preparing for a stormy, but typical Christmas morning when all of a sudden the wind gusts really picked up and the roof started coming off. We had to evacuate really quickly. Even though I like to plan ahead and felt like I had a plan for an emergency evacuation--- I hadn't expected one Christmas morning!!! Also when you think of it in your head you don't consider how loud a storm is, how dark it is because of no electricity and heavy cloud cover and the fact that it is raining on you, inside your house, while you are packing! We did manage to get our phones and laptops, Luke's new keyboard, our important legal papers, some clothes and the unopened Christmas gifts. I put our printer and the current school books in a plastic tub, which saved them. We did not bring pillows or towels or our mattresses, which would not have fit but would have been very nice to have dry. Even getting things to the Ford we got completely soaked, so maybe there was just no way to have dry things for a while. We ended up evacuating to the church and preschool building in the Ati tribe. They are up the mountain enough to be safe from storm surge and those building are concrete with metal roofs. The eye of the storm passed directly over us which gave us about an hour and 15 min break. The sun almost came out in the middle! While things were quiet Rusty and Jared tried to get back to our house to grab the food we had bought to prepare for Christmas guests. They were only able to get the Ford part way because of trees and power lines on the road. They walked the rest of the way and got back just as the storm was picking up again with the food. Jared said he didn't want me to see the house. When they were there, the water on the floor was 5-6 inches deep and the water was still draining in from the ceiling/roof. 

 During the second half of the storm I cooked spaghetti and pancit-- a local noodle dish-- for the tribe, we even had the special treats of Christmas, a pumpkin cake and a fruit salad that are popular here, because I had made them in advance! Normally the people would have come to our house and we would have shared food with them all day. This year, we brought the food to them! We were blessed to serve them a hot Christmas meal at the end of a terrible storm. The second half the storm destroyed even more of their homes and took more of our roof.

The first two nights we had to sleep at the preschool, the first night on the concrete with wet towels for pillows. We were all so exhausted and stunned by the storm that we slept OK and no one complained! The next day the sun was out bright and warm and we were able to dry out the tops of our mattresses enough to sleep on them. That sure felt good. We had almost a week in getting the old roof off and a new one on. Two nights we slept under a partial roof/tarp, but could still see the stars. We had dry weather for a week after the storm, but now it's raining again everyday. 

Every Ati home had damage. Most lost part or all of their roofs, some lost side walls. I am adding a picture of a typical house with the new roofing materials we provided on the floor. The men will work together to get roofs and new walls up. There are a few senior citizens who can not rebuild and a few disabled that also need help. We have a crew of men who are working to get them back in a house. Because they were already disadvantaged, their homes seem to be the worst hit, so the men are rebuilding them from scratch. 

This family home sustained significant damage during the typhoon. The new metal, provided by the generous gifts of God’s people, will get them under a dry roof as they continue to rebuild after the storm

Today is two weeks since the storm and we still have no electricity. Rusty bought a generator the first week and it has been a tremendous blessing. He's able to use a power saw to cut boards for the project, saving time in hand sawing everything. People bring their flashlights here to recharge, so it's a blessing we can share. The tourist island has their electricity restored but they are just beginning to work on the many, many downed lines and trees on the mainland. It may be February before we have electricity again.

We are so thankful for God's provision in the storm. Despite high winds, fallen trees and significant property damage, we praise God that no one was serious injured in our circle of friends. Donors have really stepped up to help and it's been a joy and a real testimony to the Lord to be able to help. The rebuilding and recovery will take some time and anyone who wants to financially contribute to the rebuilding efforts would be a great blessing to us and them!

Once we get everyone under roof we want to take a prayer week and rest and focus and hear from God about what next. Our chicken barn was completely destroyed, but 75% of the chickens survived. Jon's goats are now living at my house, the two newborns-- born since the storm sleep in my 2nd bathroom. The gardens were flattened, and many of the trees will recover but it will take time to get things back to the way they were before the storm. We need to see what God has for us next and take time to make long range plans-- not just react to the circumstances. 

It has been an excellent outreach for the Gospel. Pastor Jonel has been heading up the logistical part of helping families get the roofing materials they need. We are helping anyone with a need-- not just the church people-- and this is giving us a touch into a lot of lives. They are getting to see what unconditional love looks like and we are praying that this will be a part of a huge revival among the people and that many that don't follow Jesus will begin to follow Him after this experience. 

This is a 2 min. video we made of the aftermath, the quality is limited by our circumstances. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxOB5SKcnj0