Dear brethren,

Philippine news reports plus firsthand accounts by our brethren in the central and northern parts of Luzon tell the sad story of super typhoon Haima (Filipino name Lawin).  It plowed across Luzon on October 19-20, leaving a huge swath of destruction.  Crops ready for harvest were devastated, homes were damaged or blown away, power lines and their poles were downed, and thousands of people fled to evacuation centers or were displaced. Many church buildings were damaged or destroyed.  The land already had been saturated by another typhoon a few days before Haima hit with even greater fury, causing major flooding and dangerous landslides. For more details, see the news report below.
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Dear brethren,

Please ask everyone you know to pray for the saints in northern Luzon in the Philippines as one of the worst typhoons ever to hit that region is hitting them with torrential rains and powerful winds.  It is considered in the “super typhoon” category and is named Haima or locally Lawin.

I have received a number of messages from Filipino saints pleading for our prayers as the early rain and wind was moving into the Isabela and Cagayan Provinces.  The path will take it across northern Luzon, so other provinces will soon suffer devastation as well.  A couple of sample messages are reproduced below along with a map showing the path of the typhoon.
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Dear brethren,

Typhoon Koppu entered the Philippines October 12 and was given the Filipino name Lando.  The heavy rains affected several parts of the Philippines but the brunt of this monster storm was felt on Luzon, especially the central and northern provinces.   As of October 22, it has 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 are now hungry and seeking food and shelter, including our brethren.
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Golden Opportunity to do Good in the Philippines

Dear brethren,

There are times we need to act without delay!  “Cast your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will find it again….Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let not your hands be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well” (Eccl. 11:1, 6 NIV).  When there is a need and we have the means to act, we should act in confidence that God will bless our efforts to have a good result.  Please read about this golden opportunity to cast our bread and sow our seed.
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Dear family, brethren, and friends,

The government of the Republic of the Philippines recently reported 30 provinces are suffering the effects of severe drought.  I have received numerous reports and appeals from brethren pleading for help.  Because of my travel in the Philippines during April and many duties awaiting when I returned home, I have been delayed in putting out a general appeal for help.  I saw the crops drying up and withering in some areas on my trip.
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October 28, 2014^th Year of Our Lord

Dear brethren,

This report is filled with good, happy, encouraging, uplifting news from the Philippines!

Willie Pastor released from prison

Finally, after wading through much bureaucratic red tape, on October 15 Willie and Kathy Pastor completed all the necessary steps for Willie to be released from prison.  After his release at 2:50 P.M., he sent me an email message later that evening which said in part, “I am so happy and thankful that after 4 years 2 months and 23 days in prison I was released and able to see the freedom land again” (this was the time served in the national Bilibid Prison, not counting the time spent in the provincial jail).
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August 30, 2014th Year of Our Lord

HALBROOK REPORT: 55rd PHILIPPINE TRIP

July 29-August 28, 2014 

Dear brethren,

A merciful God permitted me to join Jim McDonald in the Philippines in 1995 and has guided me safely through my 55th trip July 29-August 28, 2014.  Christ told Peter after guiding him to a great catch of fish, “From henceforth thou shalt catch men” (Lk. 5:10).  “Disciples are fishers, human souls are fish, the world is the sea, the gospel is the net, and eternal life is the shore whither the catch is drawn” (McGarvey, Fourfold Gospel, p. 162).  With 74 lessonspresented, 67 answered the gospel call.

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Super-typhoon Haiyan (Philippine name Yolanda) is likely the strongest typhoon or hurricane on record with sustained winds of 195-199 mph and gusts up to 235 mph. The storm itself was 300 miles wide and created additional cloud cover over nearly the whole Philippine nation. It was equal to a Category 5 hurricane. Category 5 hurricanes include Hurricane Camille which hit the U.S. with winds up to 190 mph in 1969, Katrina which hit with 175 mph winds in 2005, and Wilma which hit the Caribbean Sea with 185 mph winds in 2005.

The same type storms are called “hurricanes” in the Atlantic and Northeast Pacific, “typhoons” in the Northwest Pacific, and “cyclones” in the South Pacific and Indian Ocean.

Haiyan hit the Visayan Islands in the central Philippines with the greatest concentration on Samar and Leyte. Damage is still being assessed but over 100 people are known to be dead. In spite of great devastation, many people were evacuated to places of relative safety.

We are beginning to get reports of widespread damage to the homes of brethren at Tacloban City and Ormoc City on Leyte, and at Bogo on Cebu. While waiting for more information, let us pray for our brethren as well as alien sinners who are suffering from the typhoon in many ways at this time.

To see good Bible study material, go to:

www.HebronChurchOfChrist.com

www.biblework.com

www.truthmagazine.com

www.CEIbooks.com