Update On Relief Efforts After Typhoon Lando
Dear brethren,
Many of you will remember reading the appeal for help after typhoon Lando hit the Philippines on October 12. Luzon was most severely hit, especially the central and northern provinces. As of October 22, it left in its wake 54 dead, hundreds injured, and 100,000 displaced from their homes. Corn, banana, and rice crops were destroyed and thousands of houses damaged or destroyed. Many people were left hungry and seeking food and shelter, including our brethren.
There was a great outpouring of financial help from around the nation. I was able to put many U.S. brethren in direct contact with brethren needing help. Because of generous donations, I was also able to relay additional funds to areas that were hard hit. Several of you asked Chip Foster and Harry Osborne to carry funds because they entered the Philippines not long after the devastation occurred. Doubtless, other efforts to extend emergency benevolence were made about which I am not aware.
Several mature and reliable Filipino preachers fanned out into areas that were hard to reach and shared benevolence with saints who were in great distress. Only God knows how many suffering saints rejoiced to learn that brethren 10,000 miles away were praying for them and extending a helping hand. Many sent expressions of gratitude, and tears of thanksgiving were shed. Here is how one brother from a remote area described in broken English the tears of gratitude during the distribution of benevolence: “the brethren are needs help there…some of them they cry to thanks for the help…and they have great Thanksgiving from the Brethren USA.”
Such temporary relief does not solve all the problems of widespread devastation, but such expressions of love and care make the trials easier to bear. I have often heard that the money received does not mean as much as the knowledge of the love of saints in distant places. Jesus said in John 13:34-35, “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”
Where crops were destroyed, it will take several months to get back to normalcy, but at least our brethren in the devastated areas are on the road to recovery with the assurance of God’s love and the love of saints far away. May God bless each and every one who has prayed for our brethren and extended help during this time of trial.
Steven Saunders, Jim Barnett, and I will leave on November 30 to teach God’s Word in the Philippines. We will not enter the hardest hit areas but will see some brethren who suffered from the effects of the typhoon. We hope to lift their hearts. The funds for this trip have been slow to arrive, but I am confident that God will provide our every need. We solicit your prayers for safety in travel especially in view of the turmoil created for travelers by Muslim jihadists, and pray for our success in teaching God’s Word effectively.
In Christian love,
Ron Halbrook
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