“The storm that hit the
island made a wave for Jesus and filled the whole church!”
That was a song that
one of our students created to fit with the words of a Scripture song to fitly
describe their experience during the time when the super typhoon hit their
island. They were located on a small island off the coast of Cebu – one of the
islands in central Philippines and directly in the path of the terrible typhoon
and what experiences they had!
Both ladies wrote down
their stories and since both of their names start with J, you will read from J1
and J2.
J2 says,
“Thinking back over this week, so much has happened! Yet every time I pause for
a moment, I am in continuous awe with God’s way and how He reveals His love for
us while we take part in His work! Sometimes we humans cannot see beyond what
is before us (like the big typhoon) to the blessings that God is giving us. God
revealed to us through the challenges that He loves us! I can’t believe how
close we were to being one of the victims and losing our own lives, but God
planted in our hearts the greatest peace and joy while it [the super-typhoon]
was happening.”
Before we go on and
learn what happened to them, J1 says:
“From the very first
day we got to our site and even before we got there, my partner and I really
prayed that the Lord will prepare the way for His work. We prayed that the Lord
will shake the island and bring His people back to Him, but when we prayed
this, we never thought that He would literally answer it! When we arrived here
in our site the first day, we noticed that it was a very noisy place because of
all the videokes [a small TV with speakers and a microphone where someone sings
to the accompanying music; it’s usually very loud with rock music!] around here
and there. But after the storm hit and the power went off, the whole island was
silenced and hushed.”
On the morning of
November 8 at 7:00 am, I received this text from the two students:
“Teresa, please pray
for us because the storm is really bad and it’s only just starting! Roofs are
flying off all around us, but we ourselves are safe.” Needless to say, after
that, I was concerned for the safety of our 2 students on that tiny island!
J1 reported:
“Early in the morning of November 8, super typhoon Yolanda hit the northern
part of Cebu, including the island where we were to have our evangelistic
meetings. At our site, the strength was signal #4. [This is almost the strongest level of typhoon
there is.] We were staying in a small native hut [made out of bamboo, palm
branches, etc] near our host’s gate. When the storm hit, we were in their
concrete house having breakfast. After we finished eating, the winds were
blowing stronger and stronger and we were worried about our things inside the
small native hut.
“We wanted to go out
and get our things and bring them inside our host’s house, but they forbade us
because of the mightiest winds we’d ever seen. Roofs were flying off and the
wind was blowing rain and sand from the nearby seashore with it. So we waited
inside our host’s house and earnestly prayed that God would cover our small hut
and keep it safe from the storm. Soon we began wiping up the water which was
coming into the house and continually prayed that God would protect our little
hut with all our things inside.”
J2 adds: “I
really thought it would be just some strong winds and that’s it, but as our
neighbor’s roofs went flying off and the walls of their houses began crumbling
around us, we realized we were in a very serious situation! Yet during that
time, I feel more at peace in my heart than during the times there was no storm
raging around us. Only God could give me peace like that! Our week really
started out with some major challenges, but God had His ways of answering our
prayers!”
J1 continued
the story: “God really kept us safe in our host’s house! After the typhoon
passed over, we went out and saw the devastation and destruction everywhere.
Almost all the houses went down, even the strong concrete ones. We went to our
nearby hut and saw that God had really placed His hands over that little hut!
It was still there and even the roof was still on! Though all our things were
totally soaked, all were there, unlike many of the neighbors who had theirs
blown away. We praise God for His protection and presence!”
As the song says, “The
Lord is our rock, in Him we hide – a shelter in the time of storm”!
J2 added,
“How grateful we were that no one on our island (except one) was killed in the
storm, though most (including us) were living on the seashore. All the
electrical posts were down and fallen trees blocked all the roads. And we were
supposed to start our meetings that night! But because all our handouts,
crafts, laptops, clothes and everything else were totally soaked, we had to
think quickly and make other plans.”
What were they going to
do? Check back tomorrow for the rest of the story!
