Update from my Aunt & Uncle:
Hi! Friends, Sandy and I hope that all is going well with you these days. We are busy helping to deal with Sandy's brother Steve's battle against Leukemia disease as he starts his second round of the stem cell (bone marrow) transplant with Sandy as the donor, plus we are also preparing to leave for Costa Rica on October 22nd for a 12 day mission trip there. We appreciate all of your faithful prayers & friendship for us. This next week will be an important week for us all. We are believing it will be the start of the completed healing process for Steve. We will try to keep you informed about how it is all going.
We have been getting reports from our ministry friends in the Philippines about the catastrophe there the past 2 weeks that was caused by the two typhoons. The first typhoon "Ondoy" hit the Metro Manila area with it's 15 million+ population. Most of the Metro area was flooded. That brought them to a standstill. Streets with running water like rivers. They had 17 inches of rain in a day or two! Most of the media sources are stationed there, so it was hard for any news to get out. Several days later Typhoon "Pepeng" arrived farther north on the same main Island of Luzon. This is where Sandy and I minister when we are there. All of the SLWM churches are in affected areas. Most areas received 2-3 feet of rain in a day or two accompanied by very strong winds. Pepeng caused MAJOR flooding of 6-20 feet of water in many heavily populated areas. In the mountainous areas there were many dangerous mudslides that destroyed many homes and killed hundreds of people. Transportation is very difficult because of numerous road blockages and bridges destroyed. Many rice and vegetable fields had crops that were ruined. Several of our SLWM pastors are telling of the deaths and terrible trials of the people as they deal with the situation. It will take many months of hard work for the Filipino people to recover from this. Many areas of Asia have been affected with other tragedies. We need to be praying for ALL of them.
If you would like to help by giving for this particular need of the Filipino people you can send any amount (tax deductable) to our SLWM giving address listed below. ALL of the money designated will be used to help those that our SLWM churches can reach in their areas who have needs.
Below is a letter and pictures from our dear friends who live in the area where we travel and minister there. There compound was one of many that sustained heavy damage from the typhoon. The scenes are typical of what has happened in many places there.
Blessings, David & Sandy
Please send to: Living Word
Living Word Fellowship
321 East Robinson
Knoxville,IA 50138
Please put on memo line:
SLWM -Philippine disaster relief
Letter from our friend Leslie Gomez:
Hi again
