God Answers Prayer! Must share this latest update with you!
Eastern Mediterranean Field: The Nazarene pastor on the Eastern Mediterranean Field who was kidnapped on Friday was released a day later.
Lindell Browning, strategy coordinator for the field, shared the following urgent prayer request on Friday:
“A Nazarene pastor from a sensitive access area has been kidnapped today and a heavy ransom is being demanded. Let’s join his family and the Church of the Nazarene around the world to pray for his safety and quick release.”
Nazarenes around the world prayed and shared the prayer request to friends, family, and congregations.
A day later, the good news was announced.
“Give thanks to the Lord,” said a Nazarene field leader. “Because of your prayers, God opened the doors. God is always faithful. [The] pastor that was kidnapped is back home. Details of the nature of his release are not available.
“Please pray for security in sensitive areas of our world; we don’t want issues like this to make the believers and leaders leave the places where they live.”
Browning rejoiced at the news.
“We are dancing … holy dancing that is!!” he said. “God has responded to our prayers!”
Global Mission Director Verne Ward shared his joy.
“We are rejoicing in the grace of God!” Ward said. “We are thankful for the prayer of His people! Rejoicing in tears!”
Please continue to pray for the Church of the Nazarene around the world and its mission to make Christlike disciples in the nations.
— Submitted: NCNNews
Eastern Mediterranean Field: Lindell Browning, field strategy coordinator for the Church of the Nazarene’s Eastern Mediterranean Field, shares the following urgent prayer request:
“A Nazarene pastor from a sensitive access area has been kidnapped today and a heavy ransom is being demanded. Let’s join his family and the Church of the Nazarene around the world to pray for his safety and quick release.”
More information will be posted as it’s made available. — Submitted: NCNNews
Living overseas is not so different from life in one’s home country. There are those moments of great highs, and moments of incredible lows, but one thing is for sure, as followers of Christ, we have the confidence that wherever we are, our Lord walks the path with us!
Connie sharing W&W Opportunities with conference attendees
The month of September was a great high as we had a tremendous time of speaking and meeting brothers and sisters united in Christ and Mission across the United States. We visited the Eastern, East Central, and Northwest Work and Witness Conferences (representing the Asia-Pacific Region) and then completed speaking tours on the Oregon Pacific and Northern Alabama Districts.
Todd speaking at NW Region Work & Witness Conference
The month included over 5,000 miles of travel in cars and innumerable miles of air travel. Through it all, your prayers of protection on our behalf were answered!
Here we are celebrating Work and Witness Together
We want to thank all of the families who hosted us in their homes and churches, those who shared their passion for mission at the conferences, and those who are praying about an opportunity to serve in Work and Witness here on the Asia-Pacific Region!
Aunt Beverly, faithful, loving Aunt and prayer warrior!
During our travels, God ordained the time for us to be able to stop and visit Todd’s Aunt Beverly and family. She had recently been diagnosed with cancer. We had no idea that the Lord would call her home so quickly. We feel so blessed that the Lord allowed us the opportunity to be home with family (even for just a few hours) when Aunt Bev finished her valiant race here on earth. We know that she is now one of the great “Cloud of Witnesses” who is continually cheering for her family! We will miss her notes, Facebook posts, and encouragement. She has been a faithful prayer warrior on our behalf for many, many, years!
Pastors Conference in S. Korea
Within just a few short days of returning to Manila, Todd was on his way to South Korea to take part in the Annual Regional Advisory Council Meetings, Field Strategy Coordinator Meetings, and 60th Anniversary Celebration of Korea Nazarene University, our largest Nazarene University in the world.
Retired and current missionaries from KNU who returned for celebration.
It was a great time of engaging with leaders from around the Asia-Pacific Region, celebrating the incredible accomplishments of KNU, and welcoming back some of the founding missionaries who began the work in Korea. Stay tuned for a great video story of God’s hand in action many years ago, and the impact on the Korean Church today as a result of that miracle.
Connie at work in the World Mission Communications Office in Manila.
Upon completion of the meetings, Todd returned to Manila with new vision and strategy for the year ahead, and word of a newly appointed assignment for Connie. As of this week, Connie has now been appointed to serve as the Regional Nazarene Missions International (NMI) Coordinator. She will be serving together with the former coordinator, Pauline Sheppard, who retains her elected position as delegate to the Global NMI Council from the Asia-Pacific Region. In this role, Connie will be working with the 6 field strategy coordinators, 46 districts, and thousands of churches spread across the Region; an area that includes 40% of the world’s population and 30% of the global land mass. This assignment is so much greater than any one person. We are clinging to James 1:5 and claiming the wisdom that God promises to give to those who ask.
Coming off the incredible high of the meetings in S. Korea, we were faced with a tragedy here on the campus of Asia-Pacific Nazarene Theological Seminary (APNTS). One of our students and his wife who are from Papua New Guinea, lost there newborn son less than 48 hours after his arrival to the world. Baby Floyd White Berita fought a courageous battle against a neonatal pneumonia and the Lord chose to take him into his arms last Saturday.
Baby Floyd’s father, August, at memorial service.
Todd was by the family’s side for nearly 36 hours of the battle and was there to pray with them when Baby Floyd went home. The student body of APNTS asked Todd to share at the memorial service on Monday. You can imagine how difficult this was as we prepare to be grandparents for the first time in just a few short weeks. Todd shared on the storms of life and how in the midst, Jesus as he was with the disciples on the sea of Galilee, is right there in the boat with us.
APNTS Family gathers for prayer around the Berita family.
Over our years of missions, through typhoons, engine failures, wars, evacuations, illness, and trials, we have found this to be true – God is always faithful to be in the boat with us! We will never forget Christina’s (Baby Floyd’s mother’s) words, “You are my father and I am your child, and I will walk this rough path, but when I get to heaven I will ask you why!” Please continue to pray for the Berita family.
Container from Hands of Hope Arrives at Shaloam Birthing Center
As Todd shared at the service, praise God that after every storm, the sun comes through! We ended this week on a tremendous high. Over the past several years, our whole family has been involved with helping to load containers of donated medical supplies and equipment at Hands of Hope Northwest in Idaho. This week was the first time that we have had the incredible privilege of being on the receiving end of such a shipment!
Todd and Pami Ellis (Director at Shaloam) looking at the supplies, thanking God for his faithfulness.
About one year ago, we were introduced to two birthing centers here in the area of APNTS, on the eastern edge of Manila. These centers take care of mothers who might not otherwise have access to healthcare. The centers not only treat the physical, but address the spiritual as well. All mothers are engaged in bible studies and discipling as part of their pre-natal care plan. During the visit, we were so impressed by the incredible need. So many people, so few supplies and equipment. We knew we had to help! Hands of Hope NW was contacted and they jumped into high gear. Over the course of a year they prepared a container, raised shipping funds, and shipped this container of love and hope to the Philippines.
Doors of the container from Hands of Hope are opened at shortly after midnight!
Saturday morning (November 8th) at 12:00am, the container arrived at the Shaloam birthing center. Due to restrictions, the container had to be unloaded immediately. Several of the young people from Taytay First Church of the Nazarene (Generation Congregation) grabbed the opportunity to be part of this compassionate ministry. In just 90 minutes, the contents of the 40 foot container were unloaded and organized into the storage facility at Shaloam. The smiles on the faces of the workers were life changing! Gurneys, Exam Tables, Incubators, Cribs, Consumable Supplies, Diapers, Wheelchairs, Crutches, and on and on. The blessing of this container will touch many, many lives, and serve as a very tangible demonstration of the hands and feet of Christ in action! Thank you to everyone who took part in this ministry. Watch for an upcoming video on this in the near future!
Well, it is Sunday afternoon and the sun is setting over the western skyline of Manila. Thank you so very much to each and every one of you who have faithfully, prayed, paid, encouraged, sacrificed and partnered with us here in ministry. It takes a team to do mission! No one person or couple could do it on their own. We are able to be here because you are there, and together great things are happening for the Kingdom!
May God bless each of you, your families and ministries, in the days ahead.
Dreary eyed travelers, somewhere over the Middle East on the 13 hour leg to Washington, D.C.
Thank you so very much for your prayers! The flights from Manila to Washington, D.C. went well, albeit they were some of the more turbulent that we have been on in our years of travel.
Several times throughout the flights we were all advised to remain in our seats, cabin service was suspended, and it looked like one of those scary movies, with things jostling around inside the cabin. Needless to say, we were very glad to have our feet finally on solid ground.
Flying the long way around the globe to get to the States…saves a lot of money…just a lot of time in the air.Connie catching some much needed shut-eye in the terminal at Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Oh…have to throw this picture into the story. Our air travel, with layovers and delays, took around 30 hours. Connie was about ready to crash (while on the ground – no airplane involved) so I told her I would stay awake and be her guardian angel while she took a nap on the terminal carpet.
Control Tower with the sun rising through the sands of the Arabic Desert in Abu Dhabi
We made our way from Washington / Dulles International Airport to the Eastern Region Work and Witness Conference where we set up our table and banners, representing the Asia-Pacific Region.
General Superintendent Emeritus Dr. Jesse Middendorf
There was a great turnout for the conference. General Superintendent Emeritus Dr. Jesse Middendorf was the keynote speaker for the conference and brought two great messages. He really hit a home run as he talked about the fact that going on a Work and Witness trip was not your only mission, a one-time thing, but rather an outflowing of your “life of mission.” He also spoke on the power and necessity of prayer covering for these missions. We definitely believe this! There is great power in prayer.
This morning we are getting ready to speak at the Reading, Pennsylvania Church of the Nazarene. After today’s meetings we will climb back in our little rental car and head three hours back to the area around the airport for a very early departure tomorrow morning for Boise, Idaho. We will stop here briefly, (give great big hugs to our kids and family) pick up more presentation materials, another car, and then head for the Oregon Pacific District and the Northwest Region Work and Witness Conference.
Prayer Requests:
Dr. John and Shauna Mullins and family.See earlier blog posting. We are planning to stop and visit/pray with them on Monday. We continue to claim healing for Dr. John.
Dr. Jim and Kathy Radcliffe. Jim is our lead surgeon at Kudjip Nazarene Hospital in Papua New Guinea. He will be heading into surgery on Tuesday, May 9th, here in the states, for the removal of an adrenal tumor. Pray that it is benign and pray for rapid recovery. Great story about Dr. Radcliffe.
Many miles of travel to be made on this trip.
Traveling safety. We have many hours to drive and fly during this trip. Yesterday at about 4pm as we were driving to Pennsylvania, I finally told Connie, “I just can’t go anymore.” We found a McDonald’s parking lot, pulled in, and slept for about 30 minutes, so we could keep on traveling.
Family. Like most families, we have so many who are in desperate need of a touch from God. Please pray for healing for Aunt Bev, Aunt Sheryl, Curt, Ronan, our 6 kids (David, Dwayne, Jessica, Cale, Courtney, Landen). This is just the start – the family list is long, but prayer makes a difference!
We will close for now. Thank you so very much for your prayers on behalf of Connie for her shoulder and eye.
Connie with her super smile, sharing about our ministry at the Eastern Region Work & Witness Conference
She is doing so much better. You can tell that she truly loves what she is doing…I’m not sure that it is physically possible to smile any bigger!
Thanks for making the journey with us, for praying, partnering, encouraging and supporting. We definitely couldn’t do it without you! Together we are making an impact in Asia!
There are definitely more great things to come! Stay Tuned!
Sitting in the Manila Airport, waiting for our flight to depart. Manila – United Arab Emirates – Washington DC
Connie and I are sitting here in Terminal 1 of Manila International Airport, waiting for our flight to depart for the Middle East and then on to Washington DC. We will be at the first regional Work and Witness Conference in about 48 hours. You can see the travel and speaking schedule here.
We are so very blessed! Quite literally, we have received notes and comments from around the globe from friends and family committing to pray. God is answering! Connie’s shoulder is feeling much better. Her range of motion has increased substantially and the aching pain has decreased. The blistered area of her eye (the entire sclera – white area) has resolved with the medication. We are both feeling much better, fevers resolved, and we are ready for the next 4 weeks of conferences and speaking! God Is So Good…and we are so blessed to have such a tremendous prayer team. Thank you from the depths of our hearts.
Many of you receive an email each time we post and we don’t want to flood your inboxes over the next few weeks, so we are starting a special page on our site to share news about this trip. You may follow along as we post praises and prayer requests, but you won’t automatically be sent updates. Here is the link
The WMC-AP Team as we said goodbye this afternoon before leaving for the airport.
We would so greatly appreciate your continued prayers for:
1) Dr. John Mullins, Shauna, and their family (see the specific prayer request). We are hoping to visit with them in person on September 8th, and to be able to spend time in prayer with these dear friends and partners in ministry.
2) Kudjip Nazarene Hospital Surgeon Dr. James Radcliffe, as he is scheduled to have a tumor removed on September 9th (see his story here). Also pray for the rest of the doctors and the team in Papua New Guinea.
3) Our World Mission Communications Asia-Pacific Team, as they work on many projects over the next couple of weeks.
4) Our several friends and family members with cancer. The Lord knows their names and we would appreciate your prayers.
Thank you so very much for being part of our prayer team. We truly couldn’t be here without you there, praying and paying the price. Together, we are reaching the Asia-Pacific Region for Christ!
World Mission Communications Team Asia-Pacific (WMC-AP) Praying each morning from 9-10am.
“Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.” James 5:16 (NAS) “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” Philippians 4:6 (NAS)
B-17 Bomber Picking up Flak
Our WMC-AP team has a saying, “When we are over the target we are going to pick up flak.” Just like a bomber in war, when it is flying over friendly territory, the flight is usually smooth and quiet, but the minute it gets close to or “over the target,” the enemy starts to throw up all the “flak” (anti-aircraft fire) possible.
For more than a year, we have not needed to see a doctor for anything, then in the last 2 weeks we have been to the doctor three times! Connie with a shoulder problem, then a drop of bacteria filled water off the roof landed in her eye and caused a major, immediate, issue; back to the doctor. Then followup on the shoulder involving a 20 mile drive, and a 30 minute doctor appointment, followed by a 30 minute physical therapy appointment, required more than 12 hours! As Connie says, “this is what happens when you live in a city of 37 million people and all of them decide to get on the road at the same time!” Add to this, two weeks of cyclical fevers for both of us, most likely a result of mosquito born viruses, and a kidney pain for me (Todd) that had me hurting with every movement…and we definitely feel like we have been picking up all sorts of Flak! It seems that almost weekly we have been adding another family member to the CPL (Cancer Prayer List).
“Been praying for you. You are in need of covering I think.”
One of our prayer and financial partners who has been with us for more than 40 years (was my childhood Sunday School Teacher) and who does not have email, just sent us a card saying, “Been praying for you. You are in need of covering I think.” Truer words were never spoken! We understand it for what it is.
“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 6:12 (NAS).
We just returned from a tremendous training trip to Indonesia. Click here for story. God was present great things are happening. The Kingdom of God is being advanced. WE ARE OVER THE TARGET!
WILL YOU PLEASE COMMIT TO PRAY!
We can only be here because we have a partnership team back home who prays and pays the price. One of our Team members, Dr. John (our family physician) has walked the road alongside us since our return to Asia. He completed our physicals, treated me (Todd) when I came home with a serious stomach infection, treats our kids, Connie’s brother, and is absolutely a vital link in ministry. He has provided us with his cell number, home number, email, and has encouraged us to call anytime day or night if we need help. As a Christian doctor he is so much more…he is a healer! Dr. John has battled a serious infection and has been hospitalized much of the past 3 months. Many of you will remember we paused our Daughter’s wedding reception on June 15th, and prayed corporately for Dr. John. While our team here in Manila has prayed daily, it’s time to CREATE A WAVE of prayer. Will you please join us in daily praying for this vital team member? Will you do more than pray, would you even consider fasting a meal? Dr. John needs a breakthrough! Pray for his wife Shauna and his precious family as well. Heading back across the ocean again…
In 4 days (Sept 3rd), Connie and I will head for the airport to begin one month of conventions, meetings, and speaking engagements across North America. We will be attending three Regional Work and Witness Conferences, promoting the mission projects here on the Asia-Pacific Region. This will find us in Maryland, Ohio, Oregon, Idaho, and the Northern Alabama District. Pray for safety as we travel, and that God would lead us to the teams, churches and partners that he has for the Asia-Pacific Region. (Speaking and Travel Schedule)
Pray for Connie’s shoulder. The doctor has told her that it is frozen and needs specific physical therapy. Leaving in just three days, this is not possible. He gave her targeted exercises and instructions – we need healing.
Pray for our family. Within our close family we have several dealing with cancer. It isn’t easy when you are across the world and want to be home walking the path with those you love. Again…healing is needed. We have another family member leaving today for yet another term defending the freedoms of our great nation. We need prayer for his protection.
We are not asking for an ice bucket challenge, or a gift of finances, we are asking simply for effective and fervent prayer! We are definitely in need of covering. In our years of mission service we have seen that God Answers Prayer! Time and time again!
Have you heard this said before? I have, many times, again just recently. Rev. Dave McGarrah helped me understand the answer in a message he shared a few years ago.
Dave said in summary, “You are correct, no loving God would give us anything other than what we desired. No loving God would force us to do anything contrary to our will. He has given us free will and allows us to exercise that will. It breaks God’s heart for us to spend eternity apart from him, but he is willing to give us what our hearts desire.”
If our hearts are set upon being apart from God in this world, and we despise the things of the heavenly kingdom at this time, then a loving father would not force us to be part of these things for eternity.
He loves us enough to give us what our hearts have desired, eternity with him, or eternity apart. He loves us enough to let us choose.
So glad to be safely home back here in Manila. Doing a heart check this morning. Spending more than the norm time in the word and meditation. Wanting to have my heart set on the things that matter. Trying to choose well.
Our first missionary assignment was in the Pacific Islands of Micronesia where Todd was a pilot for Pacific Missionary Aviation and I was Mom to a very active 2 year old and helped out in the office as needed taking position reports and such. When the Chief Pilot was out of the country and Todd had to make a flight to an outer island, he had engine trouble and ended up taking the engine apart on the coral runway and putting it back together. It was then that I made up my mind that I was going to get my pilots license, so I could at least fly a part to him if needed!
When we returned to the US after our 3 years there, God worked it out for us to join a flying club and get an incredible deal on renting the airplane. I got 42 hours in that month!!!! Had just one night landing and one other item to check off the list in order to take my test to be a private pilot. On my last solo cross country, with forest fires blazing, thunder clouds building and Borade Bombers flying across my windshield, I decided I had reached my goal and did not need the sign off. I was flying solo, but not alone! I was scared, but calm, nervous, but a weird sense of peace filled the plane. I believe God sent an angel to help encourage me. The voice of an older pilot came on my radio – as I was trying desperately to contact flight following, without any luck because I was over a ridge to avoid the heavy metal airplanes that were fighting the fires. He asked me if I knew where I was and I assured him I did. He asked a few other questions and then said he would relay for me. He did so and with a calm reassuring voice coached me along.
Because of the weather, I was hitting up and down drafts that were taking me beyond the 50’ +/- allowed by my husband instructor who insisted I follow airline standards because he did not want me flying if I was not proficient as he did not want to raise our four kids alone!
Solo but not alone…..I think that one of the reasons I didn’t feel alone in that plane was an experience I had while living on the island. When our youngest daughter was about to be born, Todd had to make an emergency medical evacuation of an 18 year old boy who would have died had Todd not been able to get him to the trauma center on Guam. I was solo then, had another missionary wife and a lady lawyer friend I had made, but no husband, mom or sister there….. God helped me through that in a miraculous way. With a smile on my face, and a peace in my heart, God was there in that delivery room as our daughter entered the world. I asked my friend Dawn to take pictures with my camera as I wanted Todd to know that I was OK through it even though he was not able to be there. Not something I could have done on my own, but God gave me the strength when I needed it, to get through what I had to.
Similar to van I drove in SA – photo from the web
When we were stationed in the Ivory Coast and the civil war was really heating up, a decision was made to send the wives and children to South Africa for safety. Three moms and 11 kids got on the plane that night. Flying solo again…..but not alone. Once again, God gave me a peace and although it was not easy for our family, we made it our goal to help the other two families with smaller children make the most of the experience. When we arrived, we were escorted to apartments for each family and I was given the keys to an 18 passenger van and a map book of Johannesburg, South Africa. I was elected to be the chauffeur because I didn’t have any accidents on my record. South African vehicles have the steering wheel on the right side, and one drives on the left side of the road! I took a solo flight before I trusted myself with all those people. One of my sons went with me and one stayed with the girls. Our first trip around the block we got a flat tire!!!! But again, God gave me the peace and assurance that He was with me and we got it fixed and I was able to drive the families all around Johannesburg safely.
Sunset over Manila – taken from our house August 15, 2014
Now we are in the Philippines. In the past 21 days I have been Solo 17, and the couple of days Todd was home, were a whirlwind of preparations for the next trip to Indonesia. Solo but not alone…. I am so thankful that God is here with me, giving me that weird peace, blessing me with beautiful sunsets, and good friends to chat with. Even though the monsoon rains, caused by a typhoon sitting offshore, increased the mosquito population. And since we do not have any screens on our house, they swarmed around me eating me alive. After I stopped counting at 44 bites on one leg, I started to get the tale tell symptoms of sickness. I am so thankful that it was not a bad case, headache behind the eyes, fevers and nausea, but not so bad I had to seek medical attention. I had my down days where I didn’t feel good and was frustrated with being solo again. But through it all I am reminded that I am Solo, but not alone!
Gospel music is what fills me back up. Not just listening, but singing along. So the solo times make that a little easier… Poor Todd and our kids have had to put up with this for years! When I have a good internet connection, I can watch You Tube videos of Gaither concerts. But when that is not working, I listen to the few CD’s I have over and over and never get tired of singing to my Lord. I am transported to the presence of the King when I lift my voice in song, and I’m Forever Grateful!
Todd has been gone for the past almost two weeks to attend several meetings at GMC in Kansas. Although I am fine staying here in the Philippines without him, I feel safe and love my work and all that, I still really don’t like it when he is gone. Todd and I had been praying before we came to the Philippines, about being in ministry together. I had a really good job, which I had enjoyed for several years, and that provided a large portion of our income, but we wanted to be in ministry together. We thought that was going to be at Hands of Hope Northwest! In comes Mark Louw with an offer for us to come to the Asia-Pacific Region as missionaries once again. After much prayer and I do mean much prayer, we accepted the position.
Working together in ministry is a wonderful thing! Same time schedule, same goals, same passion for what God has set before us. We work really well together, as we complement each other with our individual strengths. Really it has been wonderful. Hard, yes, being away from our kids and the rest of our families and friends. And the swarms of mosquitoes I am dealing with right now! But so rewarding in so many ways! God is continually teaching us things, and confirming things through each other as we read and study His Word. It is really amazing!
As Todd was getting ready to get on a plane headed “home” to the Philippines, he said “one step closer to home.” That phrase ‘closer to home’ caught my attention and my brain began to whirl. : ) I told him that I was going to use that phrase for a blog update! And here it is.
Closer to home…..is this our home? In some ways the Philippines feels like our home, but every day we are reminded that our kids are in the US and that is our home.
Closer to home….is this world our home? In some ways it feels like our home, but every day we are reminded that our Savior is in Heaven and that is our home.
Closer to home….I like that phrase. As the airplane carrying Todd and a few hundred other people slowly makes its way across the ocean to Manila, he is getting closer to home. And as we continue to work in ministry together here, growing in our relationship with our Savior – we are closer to home with Him in heaven.
How close are you to home?
What steps do you need to take today to get one step closer to home?
This is the time of year that storms build across the world! With the sophisticated weather tracking software available, you can look online and see the different storms and their intensity. This can either be a comfort or a concern, depending on your location or the location of your loved ones to those storm cells.
Typhoon Ramassan hit us here in Manila as a Category 3, which means that it had winds 111–129 mph and was considered a major typhoon. The local name for Ramassan was Glenda, and she came in like a lion but she left like a lamb!
Trees flattened by the wind and rain of Typhoon GlendaTodd unclogging the drains out on the ledge to keep the house from flooding
A typhoon is a storm that has a circular pattern with the winds blowing counterclockwise (here north of the equator). As the storm comes across a point, the first half of the storm the winds will be blowing from one side, but as the eye of the storm passes over, the winds then change direction and come from the other side. Confusing I know, but that is just how it works….typically.
Glenda came in hard blowing rain and debris all over, but as the eye of the storm came over us, the winds died down and rain stopped, which is typical. But they never picked back up again! In like a lion, out like a lamb! And let me tell you I was so very thankful! Todd and I had spent hours out in the wind and rain trying to keep the drains from backing up and flooding out our house! We may be living in the tropics, but with wind that strong and rain pelting you, it is cold! I was miserable! But I was so thankful that I had a house to come into that only flooded from our roof and blowing rain, but never from rising water (we are on a hill). I cannot say that was the case everywhere! There was a lot of flooding and many homes were destroyed.
Water and relief supplies being packed in rice sacks to be trucked to areas hardest hit
In comes Nazarene Disaster Response! The Philippine Field Office is really efficient at getting relief supplies together, bagged up, and shipped out to the areas hardest hit. There was a whole team of young folks and older ones alike that came together to make a difference in the lives of those impacted, by supplying the basic needs in the midst of yet another disaster. Some of those that came to help were some great folks from Rancho Cucamonga, California that had come a few weeks earlier (Work and Witness Team) to help rebuilding in the wake of Super Typhoon Yolanda. Then, courtesy of typhoon Glenda, they missed their connection and had to spend a couple extra days with us! I am so thankful to be part of a church that cares about the whole person and lends a hand in times of need.
As I write this, we have yet another typhoon sitting out to the east of the Philippines. As I said this is the time of year…. This one is named Halong or Jose. They do not expect it to hit us, but as is the way of storms, it will pull in moisture from all around that will drop buckets of rain on the Philippines and cause wide spread flooding and the need for relief supplies will most likely continue.
Dr. Radcliffe home after heart surgery
In the midst of the storms of life, we have much to praise The Lord for! One of those big praises is that Dr. Radcliffe, surgeon at our Kujip Nazarene Hospital in Papua New Guinea (PNG) has been released from the hospital and is doing well! We are so thankful to all of you who lifted he and his family in prayer through this difficult time. The Lord continued to show His love and care and brought doctors and staff into their path that they had a connection with and they were comforted knowing that their doctors knew The Lord personally!
Regardless of the location of the storm, they are always an opportunity to let our testimony of the hope found in Christ shine! We are so thankful that God has provided the opportunity for us to serve here in Asia. We are also, so very thankful to each and every one of you who are also faithful in prayers and financial partnership. Together many lives are being touched for the kingdom! Thank You!!
Many Blessings,
Connie & Todd
Formerly serving with MAF International in Papua New Guinea – Returned to USA in November to focus our ministry service on family!
Eastern Mediterranean Field: The Nazarene pastor on the Eastern Mediterranean Field who was kidnapped on Friday was released a day later.
Todd & Connie Lou - back in the USA! 