Nehemiah Update 9 - Tumbod

We appreciate that so many have prayed for us to stay dry. However, someone here said that you had to first be dry before you could stay dry, which has been real challenge the last few days.  In fact, what I just said is actually quite ironic since it just started ripping down rain again and I’m getting wet where I’m standing!

I’ve seen a lot of rain in my 43 year career at Reign (sounds kind of catchy, doesn’t it?). And because of all my years of work in Asia, I seen my fair share of typhoons, but always from the comfort of a safe building with air-conditioned rooms in which to stare at all the rain. This is the first time I’ve had to live through a typhoon and experience it on an organic level.

We were up early and left San Jose by 630a.m., on Thursday to take boat to Tumbod Island, where we were going have another four sessions of classes and a chapel. We were scheduled from 8 AM until 2 PM. It had been raining the entire day on Wednesday and most of the night - a heavy driving rain. Fortunately, there was a break and we were able to get onto the boat without a problem. A quarter of the way to Tumbod, the heavens opened up. Unfortunately, the students day packs had been stowed down in the hold where it was dry, but inaccessible. The day packs are where the students keep their rain gear so when it started to come down, we got out the tarps for the tents and used them to wrap up team members without any weather protection. By the time we reached the halfway point, Pastor Christian got a call that the mayor had canceled all school and government services due to the poor weather. And this is the first time that I found out that we were in the middle of a typhoon.

Tumbod was on the way to where were going, so we stopped by just scope things out. The island has a brand new large concrete floor basketball court which is open on all sides, but big enough to provide protection for hundreds of people. And with all the kids out of school, there was nothing for them to do, so let’s do an impromptu morning of ministry!

So the word went out that we were going to be playing basketball, doing face-painting, puppets, songs, skits, and drama. Over 100 turned out, not counting the 50 moms and dads standing outside the perimeter watching and listening to everything that was going on. It was a great morning of unexpected ministry, and we were escorted down to the dock by dozens of kids.

We decided to head across the narrow straight to Liminonkong to give the students an opportunity to go shopping and get some snacks. We also needed bread, eggs, and other essentials for meals.  It had been raining on and off all during the morning, but nothing too serious, but by the time we landed at the dock, the heavens opened up. We were walking down the street ankle deep in water. Afterwards, we boarded the boat, but by now the winds and kicked up.

I want to say this on the front-end, we were not in danger. We were in a boat large enough to handle the waves that we encountered , it’s just that they were decent size waves. The situation was exacerbated by the fact that we had no protection from the rain so we were getting soaked as we headed through the waves to the beach. We rode the waves up and down and around the point to the village of Pangulatan with waves foaming on the shore, and the dark sky threatening even more rain.  How did the students respond? What else, they sang most of the way!

We finally made it to the beach, which is about a 45 minute journey from Liminongkong.  We unloaded the boat and started hauling all of our gear a quarter mile down the beach through driving rain.

Because it was raining so hard we decided not to set up tents because they would get so wet inside so we brought everything to the small chapel. It took a while to unload and get everything there. It didn’t help that we had to wade through a knee-deep stream that ran from the jungle into the ocean at that point. Normally, there’s a little plank bridge to walk across, but it was gone and had been replaced by round slippery log. Using the log was a guarantee of a full immersion dunk into the stream. Full immersions are great for baptisms and swimming, but not on a day you’re trying to unload.

The rain continued all day long. There were lulls where it would be lighten up and then out of nowhere the rains would come crashing down. Most times, literally with no warning. We finally set each tent up individually one at a time (that’s the most that would fit) in the shelter of the chapel and then walked it out to where we staked it down.

It was spaghetti that night for dinner and it sure tasted good. For the first time in Asia, most of us were cold. I ended up wearing a light long sleeve base layer shirt I brought by mistake. That was a fortunate mistake. We had a time of worship and prayerr and we got everybody in the tents by 10. I decided to let them sleep in since Friday’s school had canceled as well.

But I fault myself as a leader because I usually think of most things we need to bring. Who knew we would need scuba gear for our tents? At the very least, I should have had a parent note informing me whether their child swim or not. Thankfully, no one drowned in the lakes that had formed in a number of our tents by morning. Sleeping bags, blankets, mats, packs, so many things soaking wet. My passport is currently recuperating. I could’ve sworn it was in a Ziploc, but I will be continually reminded for years to come of my negligence every time I open it’s sad, wrinkled and curled cover.

We crammed into the chapel for breakfast, sitting on only one side since the other half was being blasted by rain blown in by the typhoon force winds. By afternoon the rain had let up some - at least for a few hours - and we were able to pull out the wet tarps, packs, pads, pillows, sleeping bags, Bibles, shoes, and clothes out the tents. We hung everything to (mostly) dry and got the students packed back in again later in the afternoon in a somewhat dry tent. I’m just hoping the rain holds off again this evening. Right now it’s just gale, force winds and very little rain.

But again, the students are doing well. We were talking tonight about what we’re learning through this experience. We came expecting ministry, but that was changed. A question I challenged the students with was were we able to lay down our expectations of what we felt these days should be, and be thankful to the father for what he has given us instead. Eli noted that as a team we know how to do Ministry really well, but we’re not so good at stillness.

There are eight families in this village. They rely on fishing for food and a source of income. They have not been able to get out to fish for three days and consequently, they haven’t had anything to eat. So Kaity went into town with Pastor Christian, and they bought food for each of the families. Everyone of the team members pitched in, bagged it all up, and individually delivered them to the huts. They followed it up with just a simple prayer and then came back. That was a work that everyone felt good about.

To say that we’ve had some epic travel days is an understatement. In fact, the word epic is beginning to lose its meaning in the many times that it can be applied to our time here. But God is doing a good work in and through the Nehemiah students. And they are responding with thoughtful, open hearts.

This is an exceptional team.

For the Nehemiah family,

Tom

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