The latest opportunity the Lord has brought our way was a chance for me to visit the Gadang (pronounced: Got Dung) village in northern Luzon where Chuck Talbot and family along with their partner Christina Canap are currently working.
Unfortunately the circumstances surrounding this visit were not the greatest as we had received word that a Class 4 Typhoon was headed towards northern Luzon and this in turn would adversely affect the Talbot home if he was not able to get back in to properly board up his windows.
Thus the need for someone to go along with him and so despite the short notice we were on our way. Chuck & his family were out for a short break but due to the Typhoon their break would be extended.
THE TRIP
Definitely the hardest part of this trip was the relatively small window of time we had to travel north, get in & get out before the storm hit. We caught a bus from Manila early Friday afternoon and 12 hours later we arrived at our support center in northern Luzon. The next morning with just four hours of sleep we woke up at 6 am & after eating a bit of breakfast we made our way to the trail head where we would begin our two hour hike. It had rained the night before & so the trail was quite mucky but nevertheless we made it to the village in relatively good time.
The truth is there really wasn’t much work to be done when we arrived. Chuck had already buttoned up the bottom windows quite well but because his home is not yet finished he was not able to properly secure his upstairs windows before he left. We spent not much more than a couple of hours gathering plywood & boarding up the windows and then we started our long journey home again. By Saturday evening we were back on the bus & headed for home. Not more than 24 hours after we arrived home in Manila, northern Luzon saw what became the worst Typhoon in four years with winds reaching up to 160 m/hr.
THE AFTERMATH
Just two day’s after the typhoon hit Chuck and another missionary made their way back into the village to see how things had fared. Both missionary homes were well intact but one Gadang family did loose their home completely. Thankfully there was no loss of life & no one was injured. Perhaps the greatest loss was that of yet another rice harvest. Some will be salvaged but most of it not. Please take a few moments to check out other photos from my Gadang visit.
PRAISE & PRAYER
- Praise God that there was no loss of life among the Gadang in this particular village despite receiving a direct hit from the eye of the storm.
- Please pray for the Gadang people as they have yet to surrender their lives to Christ and that somehow we could see the Lord work in this situation to draw them to Himself.
- Please pray for Chuck & Shannon Talbot along with their partner Christina as they work to see these people come to know our Saviour.
- The Gadang people themselves are requesting one more family to live among them and so please pray that the Lord will open the door for the right family to join the Gadang Team.
- Please continue to pray for my time in language study. This continues to go well but there is still a lot of work to be done. Having an opportunity to converse with a few Gadang in the village was a great testimony as to how much Tagalog I have learned this past year. I’m still a far cry though from communicating spiritual truth.
David Abbott says
Thanks for clarifying pronunciation of the people group name “Gadang.” To an American, it sounds like it could be an abbreviation for “Gosh Darn.” “Got Dung” is so much better. 🙂
On a serious note – Great to hear you had a successful trip and there was no loss of life in the area you visited.