Typhoon Relief Project

It's been a crazy month! Thanks to all of you who have been praying for us and have given towards the relief work in Bicol. I was going to organize these pictures better, but the days and activities have all been jumbled together for them down there, so I am going to just leave them in the order I received them. Steve left for  Bicol to do relief on November 4, and he is actually still down there (hopes to come home later this week so it will be just over a month away from home). Shortly after he arrived, another typhoon came through, causing even more damage (and you can see pics of them putting tarps up on the walls of the training center during the typhoon to stop the flooding inside). Their days down there have been filled with shopping and repacking relief goods, traveling to villages to give out emergency relief of food and tarps, hauling relief goods into remote villages, and experimenting with concrete and metal housepost designs for the rebuilding project (there simply are not enough trees left standing to replace the houseposts for the number of houses that were leveled or completely blown away). They have worked late into the night as well on making forms for the concrete houseposts and learning how to weld for the metal ones as well as having times of worship and encouragement. As they have given out emergency relief (more than 1000 families given a week's worth of food and more than 100 tarps given out as shelter - thanks to SEND relief and other donors!), they have also been doing survey work to see how many homes need to be rebuilt. They have decided which areas to focus on first, they have figured out designs that will work in the various situations to help the people rebuild, and they have started building in 3 villages (1 on Saturday, 1 today, and the last one on Wednesday before Steve comes homes the end of the week). As they have traveled from village to village, they have also been sharing the Gospel; pray with us that God will draw many to Himself through this disaster. Also, as you look through these pics, take note of our amazing team of tribal partners. We are so blessed to work alongside them, and it is amazing to see everyone from kids to teens to men to women all pitching in to help with all the various aspects of the project.

This last picture (maybe you can click on it to make it a little bigger?) was a sweet time that Steve had with some of our Agta brothers and sisters. They gathered for worship one Sunday afternoon in the rubble of their homes. Steve said it was an incredibly sweet time of worship together. Please pray for this family and so many others as they try to rebuild their homes and their lives.

Typhoon Destruction

 Finally getting word from our loved ones in Bicol. So thankful to report that no reports of casualties so far (primarily because Bicolanos know how/where to take refuge in typhoons because they get them often), but the native style house were literally blown away. Sturdy homes/buildings (like the training center) sustained significant damage, but our tribal friends fared the worst. Another huge blessing about the training center is that many took refuge there during the storm. But they didn't have homes to go back to afterwards. This 1st pic is what that compound looked like last time we were there. 

And this is what that same compound looks like now: 

These pics are of the family compound for the 1st family we baptized down there and some of the key ones reaching the rest of the tribals in Bicol (those who have visited know Jose and his family). Note that any standing structures did not survive the storm, they have been erected since it passed as temporary shelter. Stephen is planning to leave today to go down to Bicol this week to bring relief goods. We have some budget to work with (thanks to Send Relief and Southern Baptists!), but the needs will be far beyond the budget, so for those of you who have been asking how to help, just email me or message me on FB for info (or comment your email address on this post, and I will email you).
Ways to pray:
*That our tribal brothers and sisters would be encouraged in the Lord in the midst of this time and that they would find ways to shine HIS light to their neighbors
*That God would use this disaster to draw many to Himself
*For Steve to be able to secure all the necessary travel documents (covid lockdown still in place) and that he would get through all the checkpoints with the relief goods
*For safety and health for Steve as he travels, especially as they access difficult places
*For wisdom in making a lot of decisions in the next couple days about how best to help

General Ministry Update

Yesterday (Oct 28) marked 15 years since our little family landed in the Philippines. So crazy how time has flown! Thankful for the privilege of serving here.

One exciting update comes from our partners in the coffee plantation. The new harvest is looking good, we recently got a certification of specialty grade arabica coffee, a upscale restaurant will promote Bugkalot coffee at an upcoming event, and we were featured in a local magazine as one of the best coffees here in the Philippines. Exciting times!

Pictures of our online ministry are not nearly as exciting as when we are crossing log bridges and hiking through rivers (and it's not as much fun either!), but online ministry is where we are right now; and we are thankful for the ways God is at work during this time, even if it's not as exciting to live or document.

This week, Steve is facilitating a training for 15 Filipinos who feel called to GO internationally. Some of them have already been matched with a team in a neighboring country, and some of them are waiting for God's leading for where to go. The training is 6 days, 730-530 everyday, so it has been a tiring week. Steve has taught several classes (they even had me teach one on language learning), and he is doing the tech/slide shows for the rest of it so has to be engaged the entire time. Such an exciting opportunity though!

We also have had some encouraging reports from our tribal partners in Bicol. The Bible studies are continuing, and they recently even had a baptism. 

A typhoon came through last week and caused some damage, but not as scary as the highly venomous snake they killed during the clean up! Another typhoon is coming this weekend, so prayers appreciated for protection.

Thank you for partnering with us through prayer and standing behind us financially as well. We couldn't be here without you having our backs!

Breaking Free!

The end of September we were FINALLY able to move into our new house. We were so thankful to have movers come help with this because Steve can't be in our old house for more than 20 mins without noticing a significant effect on his breathing.

We are settled in our new place now and loving it. I will try to put together some pics to post soon.

The big news since I last wrote (besides our move) is that some restrictions have started easing up. We still can't travel to our ministry locations (but Steve is hoping to try again soon), but we were able to get away as a family for a couple days in both September and October to a nearby camp. Technically kids under 21 still aren't allowed out of the house (there has been some movement towards changing this age to 15 or 18, problem is that it is up to each local government unit - basically like a big subdivision - to make their own rulings, and they all want to show how strict they are). 

But we found a place that allowed kids to come. So Ben still can't really be out in public (though some places are starting to relax a little on enforcing that), but we were able to go to these places to get away. I can't show you pics of the place or faces of the people we were with (because interpretation of the laws about this is a hot-button issue and don't want to get anyone in trouble), but here are a few pics. Steve and I both had work we had to do still (that's the hard part now that everything is online...it follows you), but it was wonderful to get away for a little while, and it was a blessing to see Ben get to be out of the house and interacting with others (at the one place there were even some friends his age to interact with!).

So thankful that things are starting to loosen up a little. The hard part is since every little area can make their own rules, it ends up being like each place being its own country with its own immigration and society laws. Impossible to keep up with them all, and each one wants to show how strict they are. So even when the whole country's laws are loosening up, many of the local areas are not. It's frustrating to say the least. But at least we are seeing some movement on loosening things up at the country level (though still on lockdown, just not as strict, through Dec 1 at least), and we are hoping the local areas begin to follow suit. 

And here is the sign from the back of a truck we saw...had us all laughing! :)