Hey everybody! I miss you all! I have been praying for you all and love you very much. I have been crazy busy the last few weeks, and have been loving it.
Tacloban is amazing and exhausting. We are doing so much and it is exciting to see the things that are going on. Our every other day construction schedule with night guard thrown in twice a week is so tiring, but we have had many opportunities to be strengthened in the Lord. We are doing so much construction because we are hoping to make the house we are staying in ready for the anniversary of the super typhoon Yolanda. We will invite many of the local people to come to the house to remember loved ones, pray, and celebrate new life. We are doing so many projects. In the last two weeks, we have built concrete basketball hoops, made a cement driveway, prepped walls for a mural, prepared ground for a playground, chopped wood, moved an incredible mound of dirt, and helped make a storm wall with cement and big rocks, as well as other side projects. If you want to know how to make cement, any one of the racers here have the recipe memorized. It feels like I have made a hundred barrels of cement. I love the hard work though, because we have an ultimate goal to make the Lighthouse (where we are staying) ready to help people heal on the anniversary. On days we don’t have construction, we are going out into the community with 3 large bins of Lugaw (a rice based oatmeal looking food) or cooking and cleaning for the squad. The “feedings” are so much fun because we get to play with kids, feed people and hear their stories. It is especially fun for me because I drive every time. Driving here in the Philippines is fun, but also stressful. I love seeing more of the island when we go on the feedings. After Monday’s feeding team Mizizi went on a short hike to see a waterfall up in the hills. It was so much fun.
On Wednesday night we had worship as a squad. We invited one of the construction workers that KIM employs to help do construction. His name is Mhiko and he is just a year older than me. Mhiko came to know the Lord and accept Him as his savior, and it was awesome. It was also incredibly encouraging for the squad. We love to see his new found joy in his maker. Mhiko is so much fun to do construction with and to hang out with. When I first met him, he was talking about ghosts he had seen all his life and the fear he had in them. But now he knows that he doesn’t have to fear them. His family is very poor and his two nephews are very important to him. Mhiko is an awesome guy and we love working and volunteering with him.
God has been giving me strength, but I have still been tired. Early this week I got an infection in a cut I had for a while and got a fever from it. The cut is now healing great, but several other people in the squad are feeling sick. It seems like there is always someone missing from ministry due to sickness. As a team leader, and because I can drive and because we always need to be in pairs, I spend several hours every week in the hospital waiting with someone on the squad for the doctors here. Please keep the squad’s health in your prayers.
I keep you all in my prayers. Please email me if you want to know more. I don’t have reliable internet, so it will take a while to get back to you. I love hearing encouragement and questions.
