Rebuilding

Typhoons come and go…, international news headlines come and go…, the suffering continues. Kids International Ministries has never before been involved with extended relief work. In the past, in the aftermath of such storms, we were accustomed to the problems of flooding in a big city of congested canals, rivers, and streets: people need help, roads need cleaned off, the river banks that were hours before overflowing recede, and the ebb and flow of living in this country goes on. Normally we just help pick up the pieces and allow folks to move on with their lives. Not this time… The typhoons left a path of destruction that will not soon be forgotten. Why? The water remains and will for several more weeks; people, friends, strangers, kids, and old folks are left in stagnant, disease-ridden water that won't leave their homes, streets, and back yards. People are hurting, suffering, dying. This is not something you can turn your back on and hope they will come out ok. We are sharing devotions, food, supplies, vitamins, and medicines, and imploring people to continue to help. Help is coming…another food container is on its way as the one we received in August, which usually lasts our efforts for 9-10 months, will be depleted in a few weeks. Servers are coming. Some we know, some only God knows. One such case was a Filipina Christian nurse who, after seeing our province under water and the people in pain, Googled and found our website, emailed, and WOW—God gave us a volunteer nurse for the next 4 months! Other God-sent people have arrived from Canada, Taiwan, New Zealand, and of course Filipinos helping Filipinos. Old friends from the U.S., Hong Kong, and Korea are returning to lend additional help. God is good and is drawing people to His Son who suffered the most by dying for us on the cross. Our message of hope remains, and so we continue to bring God's restoring relief plan. Jeff for the countless people who are helping

Pastor Ray

A favorite word of mine for years in raising our kids was the idea of “balance.” Today my kids often hear me talk about “doing their part.” Short-term teams or missionaries who arrive in the Philippines typically hear the same theme as I joke with them about exploiting their God-given talents during their time of service. The truth is that all of us have passions and gifts God has given us to use for His kingdom.

While we have many friends around these islands, one of my favorite groups of people are the Provincial Pastors. These guys live on nothing. It’s flat out amazing to see their homes, churches, empty pockets, and empty cupboards. The people they serve usually have little "materially" as well, and yet they are very content, very happy people. I guess that’s why I love hanging with them.

As an example, Pastor Ray travels over 12 hours from the north to visit us each month. He comes to serve and share God's word with our construction guys, encourage me, go to my son Kirk's games, and teach our children's home kids how to garden. A few months ago our “Magnificent Seven” construction crew was able to bless Pastor Ray and his family by building them a new home in about seven days. It was our way of thanking him for what he does faithfully each month as he shares God’s word and disciples our men and our kids.

Pastor Ray is definitely doing his part and playing a key role.

World Compassion Network

Partnering with great people and organizations yields great results. Please help Joe, Josh, and Clark help more people around the world.

World Compassion Network

Typhoon Ondoy Stats

Many people have been asking about the people in our area that have been impacted by the recent typhoons to hit the Philippines.

Our organization, family and friends have established six feeding/medical stations for the purpose of on going relief work. Many experts are saying the water in the flooded areas will not recede until January. We are committed to helping these areas all the while working with local Pastors, churches and govt offices to insure they get the credit and God gets the glory... Even through suffering God can bring Jesus to the hearts of people...

Thanks for praying,

Jeff

Here are a few things I found from this article: http://www.gmanews.tv/story/173548/ndcc-puts-ondoy-damage-at-p48-b-death-toll-at-277

Tropical storm "Ondoy" (international name Ketsana) caused an estimated P4.8 billion in damage across the Metro Manila, Central Luzon and Calabarzon regions, the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) said Thursday.

In its latest report, the NDCC also pegged the number of fatalities to 277. The death toll is expected to rise pending reports from local government officials.

According to the NDCC, more than half a million people - or 686,699 persons to be exact - were affected and are now staying at 726 evacuation centers.

The extent of damage was broken down as follows: P1.59 billion for infrastructure and P3.216 billion for agriculture.

A total of 4,644 houses were damaged, more than half of them totally destroyed.

Last Saturday, Ondoy brought unprecedented rainfall in the metropolis of 341 millimeters in the first six hours alone, breaking the record for the highest 24-hour rainfall of 334 mm in Metro Manila in June 1967.









Missionaries Marilyn and Jessica are meeting the needs of lots of kids and adults.... Keep praying for their strength as they lead the charge.

Short Term Missions Matter!

It’s been over a week now since the typhoon hit and left unthinkable numbers of people flooded out, displaced or dead. These are not easy times for these people. These are not easy times for relief efforts either—not that we have anything to complain about. God saw fit months ago to line up a team from New Zealand to arrive a day after the storm, and as they transition on to help another ministry, a group from Taiwan has arrived for a week's worth of work.


Short-term teams continue to play a huge role in what Kids International Ministries is able to do in the Philippines. We see passionate people using their God-given abilities to impact our Children's Homes, schools, and the surrounding communities; now the circle of love has increased as we give out water, food, vitamins, clothes, etc. in Jesus’ name.

Had it not been for these two teams, our efforts would have been minimal. We simply did not have the human resources to sustain what these folks have accomplished and will yet accomplish. God's timing was perfect months ago as we planned the dates for these arrivals.



God's plans for your adventure to the Philippines is perfect also. If you have the time, we have the cause. People need help in Manila today and in the days and weeks to come.

Won't you join us?
Jeff

The Flood

As you may already know, last weekend brought one of the worst floods in the history of the Philippines. More rain fell in metro Manila and surrounding regions in nine hours on Saturday than the entire amount Hurricane Katrina dumped on New Orleans in 2005. In fact, the nine hours of rain exceeded Manila's usual rainfall in the entire month of September! In just NINE hours!

One of the worst hit areas in Manila was Cainta, where Kids International Ministries is located. Thankfully, no one at our organization was hurt or severely affected by the flood. We have been able to recover fairly quick and instead are focusing our time on helping those who were hit hard by the flooding. The Philippines is already one of the poorest countries in the world, making relief efforts even more difficult as hundreds of thousands of families have lost everything they own.



We at KIM have begun our relief efforts right in our community, which is called Cuatro Community (named for the golf course that borders it). Tuesday morning, over thirty people joined in at KIM to help those in need. A diverse group of people, foreign volunteers, some of our older kids from the home, the Long family, other local missionaries displaced from their homes, and several of our Filipino staff members all worked together with one goal: to help those who needed it most. To be the hands and the feet of Christ! What a beautiful picture it was, to see so many different people unified by a purpose: to feed the hungry.

We went out in groups, handing out 500 meal tickets to women and children around the community. Then we spent most of the morning preparing the food... cutting, peeling, and chopping vegetables, mixing, rolling, and baking meatballs, and cooking tons and tons of rice! Then between 12 noon and 1:30pm, we fed these people, gave vitamins out to all the kids, and along with the help of Marilyn, our nurse, offered medical help as well.



As with any major disaster, such as this, it will take time to rebuild. Hundreds of thousands of people need to rebuild their homes, cars have been completely filled with water and are not working, people's belongings have floated away and disappeared, trash and mud line the streets, and hundreds of people have lost their loved ones.

Please keep praying for the Philippines during this trying time! Pray for those who were severely affected by the floods and pray for opportunities for us to reach out and help our community! Also pray that the next 2 storms that are supposed to come in this weekend are SMALL and do not further damage people's homes.

To see pictures of the floods and our relief efforts, please check out the website!

1 John 3:17
But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?

By land and by sea: The Road trip

It all started with a casual conversation with Jeff Long, the director of K.I.M. It went something like this; “Monday we’ve got a truckload of supplies headed down to Mindanao. It is a 3 day drive through beautiful countryside…”
“Really? 3 days through the Philippines?”
A nod.
“Is there any way I can get involved with that?”
Another nod.
“Alright, sign me up.”
58 hours, three major Islands, over 1,700 Kilometers, two ferry rides—all nonstop—altogether amount to the road trip of a lifetime.

Jun, Jesse and myself just spent 58 hours traveling from Manila to Malaybalay city. We transported a truckload of supplies from the YunJin Ministry center in Manila to the Children’s home in Malaybalay. We got off to a slow start Monday night, but once the alternator was fixed (it powers the lights) there was no looking back. We then spent the next three days venturing through beautiful countryside. Winding through village after village, jungle after jungle, I experienced the Philippines first hand. We only stopped a few times to eat in make shift restaurants, which were really people serving and selling food out of their homes. We would eat our “cinigan” or “adobo” with a plate of rice and a glass of coca-cola while we left the truck running. Besides that we did stop one morning to take a shower, or more like paid a woman to use her hose and bucket. However, amidst the mad-dash there were some enjoyable moments of pause. One night on our second ferry I stood on the top deck against the railing admiring a partly cloudy sky, bright stars, lightning in the distance and I remember thinking to myself “do you realize where you are?”—moments were all you can do is stand in awe (ps. 46:10).




58hrs later we arrived at 6am to Pal-ing, Malaybalay. The trip was one for the books.


(Continued series from Joe who spent the summer volunteering in Manila)