Typhoon Yolanda Update

It has been an overwhelming week and a half in so many ways – the biggest has been seeing God’s faithfulness and love for us and for the Filipino people. We have seen Him provide over and over again and what we thought would be a few days of helping where we can, has turned into two weeks of seeing needs and being able to arrange some help for them. God is good!

 

We have changed gears a little bit since we wrote last. We realized that we are much better equipped to help out in areas that are a bit harder to reach-areas that have not seen any help yet. So, for the past few days that’s what we’ve been doing. There is a group of islands that was hit pretty hard but not seen help, so we loaded up on fuel and other supplies and headed that way. Brian and our other fixed-wing pilots are busy gathering supplies and fuel from the city and flying them to another island where our helicopter is based. From there, the helicopter can bring in the supplies to the little islands that don’t have airstrips. This has been an incredible team effort. Our missionaries on the ground have been working with the local church, putting together family packs of food and basic necessities for the areas we have been flying into.

We are working closely with other organizations who have more experience with relief work. Here is an update from John Woodberry from MAF, who has been coordinating the entire relief project for us and has been a huge encouragement and blessing to our whole team:

“We are seeing some areas where local infrastructure is returning in the area and other areas with urgent needs. One island has enough food, but not too far away on another set of tiny islands they are still eating seaweed with not much else. There are still urgent gaps.

Today we are flying, in the helicopter, a local missionary who works in the area (speaks the language) along with someone from the coast guard to do a good assessment of further needs on these remote islands.

Tomorrow we start flying in 2,000 kgs of hygiene kits and food delivered by the Philippine Red Cross. This will be onward delivered by the helicopter after 1,000 kgs of family packs (packed up by the local church) was delivered today.”

Every day is something new and plans are ever-changing, but we lean on the One who never changes and who gives us strength, patience, and peace. Please continue to pray for our pilots as they fly all of these supplies and see, firsthand, the devastation of the typhoon. Pray for wisdom as each day we try and decide what the best thing to do is and where the needs are the greatest. Pray for those who have lost their homes and loved ones, that they would see the love of Christ in those coming to help them and that God would be glorified in all we do.