Our Final Whirlwind Tour before heading home...

Magandang Hapon (Good Afternoon) -

We just returned from a visit to the Arthur Center between our regular morning and afternoon relief feedings. Such a blessing to visit with Pastor Better Labuca and Daniel Bucher again and see the impact that is being felt even now from our first visit to the Philippines back in 2006!

Also had a chance to go over and visit with Jimuel and his mother Helen -- Jimuel you may recall was the baby boy who was assisted through connections we made with the Arthur Center to receive surgery to resolve major disfigurement of his face. What a joy to hear him talking and see him smiling the biggest of smiles!

In the early hours of the morning we leave for a 1 day trip down to Mindanao to visit our friends at the Malaybalay Children's Home and Mt. Moriah camp. Some of you may remember the inspirational story from Ate (Big Sister) Grace Ayala of how the Camp and Children's Home down there were made possible.....upon our return to Manila, we will go to church, spend time with the kids at the Children's Home and then get ready for the long trip home.

Thanks for all your support. Continue your prayers for us -- we will post another blog if we get the chance, but the schedule between now and the end of the trip may not allow it.

For all of us - Kevin

laughter and smiles, the best medicine

Good Morning from Manila..

I cannot say the last 2 days have been more of the same, even though we may perform the same task each day, the connection as a team, to the staff of the home, the children,the daily men's bible study, and the Philippine people affected by the recent typhoons grows stonger everyday. God has truly blessed this group of minnesotans that you have sent. As we traveled back from the feeding site Thursday evening, the shared laughter and singing with our filipino friends, Oh what a joyful noise!

Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning, the areas we served, still underwater. A few of us, with our boots, trudged thru the calf high water, to get to the children that could not get to us. We have all seen similar situations on tv, pictures do not do it justice, my words cannot describe it. I am deeply moved by what I see and what these Filipinos have to go thru, yet to see those beautiful faces smiling back at you, to see the gratitude in the mother's eyes, is in itself- undescribable!

Please continue to pray for our health and our willing hearts, to be totally surrendered to what God has in store these last few days.

On a lighter note, Kevin is driving us around, he thinks he is playing "pin ball"!

nellie and the team

Happy Anniversary!

Let me start this blog by thanking my wife, Deb, for her patience and heart to allow me to participate on this trip. It is our 19th anniversary today (I started to celebrate it 14 hours before she did). You may ask yourself, "What kind of circumstances would cause an otherwise sane, happily married person to put himself on the other side of the world from his wife on their anniversary?" Well, here is the story....I'll leave it to you to question my sanity ;-)

About 4 weeks ago, I was checking in on world news on the internet and specifically checking the Asia-Pacific news as I like to keep up with what is happening in the Philippines and other countries in the region. Much to my surprise and concern I found stories and video footage of a massive typhoon that not only had hit the Philippines (a common occurrence), but had caused massive flooding and destruction in an inland area, in a province called Rizal, in a town called Cainta. The very same province and town that we have been visiting and working in over the last 3 years!

I sent an email to Jeff Long to find out whether this was somehow a case of Internet Sensationalism or if in fact, this destruction was real and affecting them and Filipino neighbors. He responded shortly thereafter to tell me that yes it was -- he told stories of having to abandon his vehicle to wade through waist and chest deep water to reach his home area and the massive need for relief that was needed throughout Cainta. We parted with an agreement to pray and consider ways to support our Filipino brothers, sisters and friends.

A few days later, another email arrived from Jeff. This time, the request for support was less ambiguous....it read something like, "Get your Minnesota team over here Now! We need you at this time more than ever to help with food and medicine distribution and anything else that comes up. This is supposed to be an every year trip -- why are you waiting until 2010?!" Ok, maybe the email was SLIGHTLY more diplomatic, but the urgency came through -- within a few days, various members of our larger team began responding to the call, and 2 weeks later here we are.

We are encountering large crowds of people who have been herded into evacuation camps by their local municipalities, but after that they are pretty much left to their own devices. We spend our day cooking (I guess that could be a post-anniversary benefit if I begin taking on meal duties at home, right? ;-) In between cooking, we go to market to pick up supplies and drive to the relief centers to distribute food. I am the designated driver since I have been found to have the necessary combination of defensive and aggressive driving skills to take a 12 passenger van down the narrow alleys weaving between toddlers, motorcycles, dogs, cats, goats, and any other number of obstacles.

Doing the feedings we are finding people to not only be hungry for food, but also for conversation -- telling us their stories of survival, telling us about the families that mean so much to them and seeking spiritual answers as well. In some cases, they have even shown up not requesting food, but asking for copies of devotional literature they can use. I passed some of this literature out yesterday and found the children huddled in groups of 2 or 3 reading to each other. And as I drove our team van away they called out "Salamat po -- thank you so much for visiting us, thank you for sharing, come back soon!"

So - my real anniversary, not the date on the calendar, but a time for me to spend with my wife remembering 19 years of marriage to the love of my life waits for a few more days.

Thanks for reading these - we'd love to get your comments, and questions, pray for our ongoing safety and that God's will is accomplished through this work.

Kevin (for all of us)

A newbie speaks(or is that blogs?)

Seeing flooding from a Red Crosser's view is nothing that what I am seeing here. First, I tend to be a "data Collecter" and that is not relevant here at all. Yes, you find out that at one shelter they only receive rice and sardines once every other day (the same exact amount if there are 1 or 10 in a family)but then these people often go hungry (no job) and the typhoon took their entire house away. Now you must remember that this"house" is about the size of a small bathroom made of cardboard or if they are lucky corragated tin sheets. Second, the remains of muck and mud are gone. It does not "look" like a flood went through here unless you go close to the river. During the typhoon the water was as much as 10' high and now it is only 2', but it rained heavily last night. The water has no place to go so it just sits there (black and mucky) and is not expected to go down until the first of the year. Meanwhile, the people in shelters (old school gym) remain and wait (remember on rice and sardines) 'Most lost everything and the government did bring in blankets so each family was able to "construct" a walled in area (kinda like using the old fashioned clothes line) Finaly, let me tell you the difference between US disaster victims and the people here. US wants everything replaced now. "This wasn't suppose to happen to me." Filipino people are the type that says: well pick ourselves up and get going. FEMA is on the field and running 2 days after a disaster, the govenment here is thinking that having a department for disasters may be a good idea. They are just now thinking that maybe some low income housing may be a good idea and perhaps a work incentive program to offset the economic downturn. Remember before the typhoon there was a rate of 80% unemployment. My new nickname is "Useless" because I commented that I did not have enough to do. Here it is not what you do but what would God have you do.. Sometimes it is just sit here and see people not a disaster! Thank you reading the rambling thoughts of a newbie but I am just now starting to "process" what I see. Lori

random thoughts on shepherds and sheep from the Philippines

While distributing food to the many displaced people here, looking at the crowds of people who seemed lost and aimless, the words of Jesus came to my mind, from Mark 6:34. "And as He landed, He saw a great crowd, and he had compassion of them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things." And then I thought about Peter's words " ...for you were going astray like sheep,but now have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls..." Shepherds lead, protect, provide for,sacrifice for, and most of all love their flock. Sheep on the other hand, are needy,cannot defend themselves,prone to wander, and need to be cared for. Paul, in Acts said that after his departure,savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. As we look after any and all God places in our path in life, I hope we can try to pattern our lives after the Great Shepherd,Jesus Christ,who loved us and gave himself for us. Please pray for us, that God would give us Shepherds hearts when we need to lead, and submissive wills when we need to follow. From all of us, Tom Ferch

We Made It Here without any Issues

In fact we arrived 1 hour early! Just wanted to let you all know. Someone else will make a longer post later today (Sunday).

Thanks (for all of us)

Kevin

Here we go -- (assuming we meet in Tokyo! ;-)

I'm about to board the 777 here @ JFK for a 14.5 hour non-stop flight to Tokyo. The plan is to meet Dave and Nellie Paray, Tom Ferch and Lori Olsson at Narita Airport and then we will all continue on to Manila together.

Not sure what to expect this trip -- even as I write this, another typhoon is bearing down on Luzon, so assuming we aren't delayed getting in there, we may encounter even more devastation when we arrive. A recent statistic I read is the 1.3 million are still living in flooded out areas, and over 300,000 are staying in evacuation camps. Disease is becoming widespread from Leptospirosis -- a bacteria that is in the flooded water and for someone with an unprotected open wound or cut in their foot it can be quite dangerous. I thank God for vaccinations, Malaria medication, Mosquito Repellent and Rubber boots.

My goal for the next 14+ hours is to eat a meal as soon as I can and then sleep as much as possible for the first 8 hours of the flight....waking up then for the last 5-6 hours into Tokyo and staying awake for the flight to Manila -- theoretically, that will get me closer in synch with Manila time. If we arrive as scheduled around 10:30PM, we should be able to get to bed sometime between 12:30AM and 1AM Manila time.

Please pray for our safe travel - and that whatever hurdles we encounter, God will either remove them or provide a way over, under, around or through them for His glory and to accomplish His will.

Bless you all for your prayers and support!

Kevin Mattson