For the first time in my whole life, the
only time I cried over the news on TV was on the huge devastation and inconceivable
effect left by typhoon Yolanda to the people of Visayas. As a Christian, I was
deeply moved that I have prayed to God that He give me an opportunity to take
my part and do it for the affected people. Thus, when ATS announced that teams would
be sent to do stress debriefing to our brothers and sisters in some parts of
the region I instantly signed up. I just knew that this was the chance the Lord
has given me and I have to go. With my professor and eight other team members,
whom mostly I have just met, I went prepared for anything.
The day came and I was still bothered with the possibilities of
discomfort I might experience, working with people I was not close to, and fear
of being not able to provide the help. Nonetheless, I was more excited for this
trip as I surrendered all of these worries to the Lord. To be able to sleep in
a barangay hall instead in a tent and use a clean toilet and bath in a neighborhood
church, which the Pastor one of the team members befriended with just a few hours when we
arrived, was an answered prayer already. After meeting Pastor Paul, we learned
that it seems impossible to visit the places that were planned prior to the
arrival so we just prayed and let the hands of God lead us to maximize our stay.
On our first day, we got invited to join the Dawn Watch Prayer by the pastors. From there, we were able to talk
to pastors from different churches and all of a sudden our second day was
already filled up. And then, I believe the Lord has brought the team to
minister to this neighbor church and they were all blessed and grateful after
the debriefing process. We wrapped up our first day by ministering to the
barangay Purok leaders and evening
devotion. The second and last day was spent with seven different churches were
the team spread out to preach for the Sunday service for most of us, followed
by the PSP. It was only perfect to end this trip with the sharing of all our
striking experiences on our last evening that have truly blessed each and every
members of the team.
As we listened to the prayers of pastors in Dawn Watch, I have learned that they view this calamity as God’s
punishment to our sinfulness that I think was strongly influenced by this
particular prophecy they kept mentioning for this region. In response, I have
introduced to the people I talked to the God who revealed Himself to me as a
loving and compassionate God in the midst of a life disaster, which I
personally experienced. I have learned that to feel doubt about our God and the
words we preach is a normal reaction in times like this. But irrefutably, I was
greatly encouraged and touched by their faith despite of the losses they have
experienced in which I have seen as their way of protecting themselves from
deep pain and more questions. Hence, I helped people to lament and pour out to
God what they truly feel with the disaster through this PSP. The result was
astoundingly indeed a blessing for all of us that their hope to spring back was
intensified and they have wished that we would come back for others. Also in
the midst of a blow, I cannot ignore the fact that natural evilness of human
can also maneuvered the situation such as politicking a simple relief-goods
giving and that really infuriated me quietly. Largely, I was truly amazed by
the faith and hope of the survivors to hold on and very strong will shown by
the smiles on their lips to have their life back.
One of the utmost impact on me was the decision made by this pastor,
whom his church I was assigned to minister, that in spite of his option to leave
the city he opted not to but stayed to attend to his members even he and his own
family experienced the same losses. Truly, obeying to God’s calling to us
brings real joy and meaning to life in which not only brought me out of my
comfort zone but also made me do things I thought could not do such as preaching
and living in discomfort through taking part in a portion of suffering of my
fellow countrymen. Indeed we are at our happiest when we serve Him at the right
place and at the right time.
