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!
