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Newsletter – January 2014

Dear Friends,

Paul states in Romans 15:13, “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace believing, that you may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.”

This past Sunday I spoke in New Hope Church in Manila on Hopelessness and Hope. When we read the papers and look all around us it is easy to become discouraged and hopeless, but God is a God of hope! To those of us who have received His salvation, we can abound in hope both now and for eternity. One of my favorite Bible verses is John 10:10. “The thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy, but I have come that they might have life and that more abundantly.” Despite all the things we see, I believe for a God-filled 2014!

Last year ended with one of the worst typhoons in recorded history hitting the Philippines. The large city of Tacloban in Leyte was hit especially hard. Along the coast three or four ships were washed onto the shore clearing the homes in their paths. Though the initial reports of 10,000 people killed were later discredited, now people in the area say that they believe there may actually be over double that amount. We may never know for certain.

This month, Lorrie and I traveled to the island of Leyte and continued our relief aid to the village of Bugabuga and a neighboring village of Campurog. We are focusing on these villages because we already have a church there and they were not receiving the aid or attention of the more metropolitan areas. Bugabuga is a village of about 150 families and Campurog is a village of 160 families. They are both located in a remote mountainous area. Though there was no loss of life, most of the homes suffered either severe damage or were completely destroyed. Through your gifts, we have been able to supply some food relief, building materials, and a water well. We just purchased a chain saw and are planning to hire some of the villagers to cut the fallen coconut trees into lumber for houses for the most needy people. It is our plan to provide some cash income for the workers at the same time as we are supplying materials for their homes.

Our daughter, Amy, has joined us this month in the Philippines. We are looking forward to her help in teaching at the Bible School for the next few months. It is always rewarding knowing we have the opportunity to influence these young people in their walk with God.

Please pray especially for Geraldine, one of our former graduates, she has been diagnosed with leukemia. Pray also for our son Jeremy as he leads a missions team in Africa.

Thank you for your continued prayers, faithful support, and friendship.

Nels and Lorrie

Yolanda Report

Click image below for full size:

Village

I just returned from Leyte after a week of traveling, inspecting, and giving out relief items to people who experienced the devastation of typhoon Yolanda last month. The death toll continues to rise as more bodies are found and may even reach the 10,000 that some initially reported. The typhoon crossed over the island of Leyte leaving a path of destruction more than two hundred miles wide. As a Cebu pastor and I drove towards the village of Bugabuga and later to the larger city or Ormoc we saw multitudes of houses and commercial buildings partially or totally destroyed. In the more rural areas there were acres and acres of ruined coconut, banana, and abaca trees. As we passed along the roads, people came out and asked for help. There were several signs posted near the highway saying, “Help” or “Help us, we need food!”

There are 128 households in the village of Bugabuga. The village is situated in a fairly remote part of the island in the midst of high hills (for us Alaskans) or mountains as the people call them. The two-mile road from the main highway to the village is little more than a one lane rocky trail.

The typhoon’s amazingly strong winds swept down into their valley and completely destroyed about 60% of the homes and damaged most of the rest. The church building was completely leveled leaving only the starter concrete blocks on two walls and the concrete floor. As in other places, the coconut trees and other crops were destroyed.

This time while we were in Bugabuga, we gave out packages of food to every household as well as gave extra money to all of the widows. We talked with the Barangay captain (basically a village chief) and asked him what we could do to best help the people. Of course, the first basic need is food to supplement what they can gather from existing crops and from the help of others. The longer-term need is a better water supply. After much discussion, we decided to install a reservoir on a hill and pipe the water to another reservoir at the village. This will provide a better source of water more accessible to all of the people and will give them some long-term help.

For the immediate time, we will continue to send people and supplies to the village as God provides. Two more of our students will leave this week during their Christmas break to assist in construction. Lorrie and I are scheduled to return the 1st or 2nd of January to help with another larger food distribution coupled with children’s ministry.

The needs are overwhelming in so many villages and cities in this area. I talked with the Manpower coordinator for the city of Ormoc and later with a UN representative from Burma. They both said the greatest need they are seeing now is still food, then building supplies, and finally aid in developing means of longer-term support until their crops can be restored. They encouraged me in our decision to work with one village and help them as much as we could.

It is important to work with the nationals, but also to make sure what is supplied is needed and given to the people it is intended for. I was told that one 1st World country, not America, sent large care packages with toilet paper and large sized shampoo and other things. Most of the rural people do not use toilet paper and large sized items are hard for them to store. Unfortunately, because of corruption in developing nations, supplies often are not given to the most needy or held to help get political votes. As one Christian business owner told me, “that’s a given.” We feel by keeping primarily with one village we can better manage the things that are entrusted to us.

You have been generous and the village of Bugabuga is greatful!

Thank you for modeling God’s heart of giving during this Christmas season.

Nels and Lorrie

Typhoon Update – 30 November 2013

Monday, I am traveling to the village of Bugabuga with Pastor Homer to determine what our next step of help will be for that village. We have people there right now and we have people scheduled to go shortly after I return to Virac. A lot of help is going into the capital city of Tacloban but almost none to this small village where our church is located. It is our goal to not only meet some of the urgent needs now, but to help them with mid to long term needs.

I will not have my computer with me this next week. Lorrie will be in Virac teaching and will be online at times. I will try to keep in contact with her as much as possible.

Thank you for your continued prayers and giving!

Nels and Lorrie

Typhoon Update – 23 November 2013

Minutes ago we received a report from people we sent ahead to assess the damages in the village of Bugabuga. The village consists of about 150 families and is in a fairly remote place in the hills. The village was completely leveled with the exception of one house that had its roof blown off.

The people just received a small amount of government food – but very little. The report said, “They were very happy when they realized we were not only giving aid to the believers in the village but to all. They said that we gave more than the government did! They have been forced to regularly go out to the main road and beg passerbys for food. Our people said that though the need is great now, it will get greater still in about a month. Right now they are getting some food from vegetation not totally destroyed.”

Lorrie and I are planning to go to the village and oversee a larger distribution of food and materials as soon as it can be arranged. We are in the process of trying to buy materials in another city and finding trucks to transport the supplies.

I just talked to a man that has helped with the Indonesia typhoon and other disasters. He said this is worse. He said it covered a 200 mile path flattening everything. He said there certainly will be more deaths than what is now being reported.

We praise God that we heard from our pastor in Agataya. He said that they are now doing well. It is a small village of about 50 people. He said everyone helped one another and they were very blessed with the aid we already sent with him.

We are thankful for the generous outpouring from so many people to help the Philippines!

Nels and Lorrie

Typhoon Update – 18 November 2013

We are in a town called Taytay. My computer battery is about dead and there is no place to charge it before leave for the next village.

The men that went to Bugabuga reported back. They said they had to be careful because some people are intercepting trucks bringing food. They brought ten bags of rice covered by building supplies to the village. The village has received no outside supplies as yet and the people only have whatever vegetation they can find to eat not destroyed by the typhoon. They found there are 158 families in the village which would be about 1000 people. The ten bags of rice would be not even enough for 2 days. Unfortunately, the rice that they normally could have bought in Cebu for around $45/bag is now more than $70 because of the great demand or perhaps greed.

Please continue to pray for the people in Bugabuga and wisdom for us to know how and what to supply.

Nels and Lorrie