You might have been
wondering what’s been happening at PAFCOE for the last few weeks since nothing
was posted lately. It was not because there was nothing to write about! Oh, no!
There were so many stories and experiences to share and simply not enough time
(or writers) to get them written down and published!
So what has been going
on at PAFCOE lately? More than can fill one blog post, for sure!
During the days
following October 31, all our students and staff left the comfort and security
of PAFCOE and headed out for their respective evangelistic sites – more known
as OJT (On the Job Training). Doing a one month evangelistic seminar for either
adults or kids is a requirement for the students to be able to graduate from
PAFCOE, so all were participating.
I am sure that as they
arrived at their sites where they would be preaching, some were a little
nervous and unsure of what would happen during their one month stay in that
place. What would God do through them in that area, especially because this was
their first time?
All the students and
staff had about one week at their site to organize the church, prepare their
crafts and do a week of prayer in their local churches. November 8, 2013 was
the target date for the 30+ seminars to be taking place all over the Philippines
at the same time. All was going well and everyone was excited for their first
night!
But very early Friday
morning, November 8, super typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan for the rest of the world) with
winds up to 200 mph slammed into the eastern shores of central Philippines,
causing
severe destruction and devastation everywhere it went.
Most of you read about
it in the news as it has been the worst typhoon to hit the Philippines in 30
years. Hundreds and even thousands of people died from drowning in the huge
storm surges and heavy flooding from the severe, driving rain and strong winds.
Roofs flew off most of the houses and many (including concrete ones) were
totally destroyed, leaving the inhabitants (if alive) with no shelter for the
coming weeks. Because many power poles collapsed, most people were without
power and some had no water, either.
Did the storm affect
our sites? Yes, it did. Out of our 30+ seminars to start later that same day,
about 10 of them had to postpone because of the bad weather. Those in the
central part of the Philippines were hit the worst, while the northern and
southern areas were not affected too badly. For awhile, we were very concerned
about some of our students and their safety, but little by little, the news
started trickling in that though many had gone through some harrowing experiences,
all were alive – safe and sound! Praise God!
And the stories that we
began to hear were absolutely amazing of what God did to help the students and
staff whose sites were affected severely by the super typhoon. For those of you
who prayed for us and our students and staff, a big “thank-you” for lifting us
up in prayer, for God really heard!
During the next blog
posts, we will be sharing with you the many stories and testimonies of the
student’s experiences during their OJT time.
Keep checking for more
stories, coming soon!
