THE CHURCH WHEN THE TYPHOON HITS

Dagupan City is hit hard when typhoon Pedring (International Name: NESAT) came.  From where we are, there were no howling winds but the rain was pouring mad.  Soon enough waters would rise and we see in the news that people are moving towards the evacuation center.  Our church was not that affected as waters immediately subsided when the rains stopped.

The church may not be affected but our members are.  We immediately had someone go to our members to provide some rice, canned goods and some cash assistance.  We never had to wait for anything to come from any organization.  Everyone is busy with some form of relief operation and we can’t wait for anything to come before we start giving. We’ll give what we have.

Typhoon Pedring would eventually leave but another typhoon was on its way: Typhoon Quiel (International Name: NALGAE) .  And this was worse than Pedring.  Stronger winds and larger volume of water would come our way. Waters would rise submerging houses and livelihood.  Many would scamper towards the evacuation center.

The scenes of the PASA LOVE serving the evacuees with a hot arrozcaldo to warm them and ease their hunger.

One evacuation center in Dagupan City is Dagupan City People’s Astrodome just beside our church.  More than a hundred families close to five hundred individuals sought shelter in this astrodome most of them are kids.

October 2, 2011, we still held a worship service knowing that only a few will come as some are flooded or the streets leading the church are flooded.  We worshiped the Lord praying for the many families that are affected.

Most of the evacuees are children. In spite of what has happened, they are still able to smile especially when they received lollipops.

After the worship service, we went inside the Astrodome and saw for ourselves the condition of the evacuees.  What we saw broke our hearts.  There were many kids, even babies all over the place and it was so hot.  They only have few food and they are simply waiting for the next relief goods to come.  Babies are crying everywhere and mothers are having a hard time about it.

I went back to the church telling myself that we should do something about this, and not just praying.  We can pray all we want but these people will need more than prayers.  The following morning I could no longer take it that I told my wife we have to do PASA LOVE.  I can’t stand the sight that we are a church and the people in need are just beside us.  We can’t turn a blind eye.  We have to do something!  Let use the funds that we have and don’t look back anymore.  These people need our help.  I think it’s bad stewardship to save up money when right in front of you are people needing help.  As far as I know, as a church, we’re committed to serve people and not save money.

The scene inside the evacuation center. Many mothers are happy about the arrozcaldo because it's also good for the babies and kids.

There wasn’t a moment to lose at that time.  We called on our team and started purchasing all the necessary materials to feed the evacuees.  We sounded the alarm for the volunteers to come and help out.  It wouldn’t take long that they would come and PASA LOVE would do what it do best –serve the people.

We cooked our famous and favorite arrozcaldo (chicken porridge) and served more than 400 individuals, many of them are kids.  We also gave lollipops to the kids. Some of the kids brought pots and pitchers but we can only serve them in cups.  But later we asked them to come back for seconds which they did. Many of them were pleased and grateful with what we served them.

The PASA LOVE volunteers. Loving every moment of serving God by serving the people.

Looking at the tired faces that brightens with every cup comforts us knowing we did the right thing.  I look at our team mostly youth who took time to serve and I’m extremely proud of how they understood what it means to love God by serving the people.  We call PASA LOVE “UNCOMFORTABLE,” because of the effort and sacrifice put in here, but we’re totally okay with this.  We love what we do.

Every PASA LOVE event begins with prayer and ends with prayer. We could not imagine what will we do without God leading the way for us. PASA LOVE is not about what we can do but what God can do through us.

If that wasn’t enough, PASA LOVE hit the streets feeding the tricycle and jeepney drivers.  We usually create traffic when we do this.  Some private vehicles would even stop and ask for some arrozcaldo when they saw that it’s all free.

PASA LOVE often asks, "Who else can we serve?" They look around and saw the tricyle and jeepney drivers who are plying flooded waters for them to earn as well. So we decided to serve them too by bringing the arrozcaldo on the streets.

Where is the church when a typhoon hits?  They should be praying, but most importantly, they should be SERVING. 

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Want to know more about PASA LOVE?  Just click here.

You can be part of PASA LOVE by praying for this ministry but also by giving resources that can be shared to the needy people.  For more information just visit www.psycheasy.com or email at easy_rael@yahoo.com.