While we were in Mozambique we found out that a typhoon hit the Philippines. Knowing that we were supposed to be there the next month concerned us a bit, but we were told that the places we were going were not affected. The typhoon didn’t cross my mind again until we were told at debrief that we would possibly be doing relief work for the first week.
A few days later we were on the back of a truck with another team and a dozen Filipinos headed to Tacloban City, which is one of the places hardest hit by Typhoon Yolanda. After a 40 hour ride we arrived to work alongside Kids International Ministries as they did feedings for the people of Tacloban and the surrounding areas. When we arrived, it had been a month since Typhoon Yolanda hit.
I wish I could accurately describe everything we experienced, but it just isn’t possible.
I could tell you about hearing how a mother held on to her infant while also holding on to the top of a building as they waited for the storm to end, but it wouldn’t be the same as hearing it yourself.
I could tell you about seeing body bags pulled out of the water, men digging for a ten year old in a pile of rubble, or the homes destroyed along the coastline, but it wouldn’t be the same as seeing it yourself.
I could tell you about how my hands and clothes soaked up the smell of garlic after peeling it for hours to go in the food we were taking out, but it definitely wouldn’t be the same as you smelling it for yourself.
As much as I wish I could share these hard things with you, I wish even more that I could share with you the joy and hope that the people of Tacloban had. Their homes, businesses, and lives had been destroyed, but they chose to stand up in the middle of the rubble and rebuild what had been lost.
May we also be able to follow their example and stand up when our lives seem like they are falling apart, and ask Jesus to rebuild what has been lost.
He gives and He takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
