Typhoon Round 2

Well, I hope this isn't a recurring theme, but we survived our second typhoon! After only 5 days of being back in the Philippines, Typhoon Santi made landfall in our province. Welcome back, right? We got news that the eye of the storm was basically headed right for us at Category 4 speed. The news channel reports were actually broadcast in Baler (the coastal town about 15 miles away from us). Barry and Lilia, our Trek-X partners and neighbors were in another city visiting their son so we were on our own- and I was quite nervous. Barry had sent us the description of what to expect from a Cat 4 which included roofs flying off, old or weak houses destroyed, all trees down, no electricity and uninhabitable for weeks or even months. I repeat, uninhabitable. That's a scary word ha! I cried as I thought about what that could look like for us and our neighbors, many of whom have old and weak houses. I also couldn't help but think about the baby in my belly who could probably feel his/her mama's stress. Josh and I prayed together multiple times throughout the day for faith rather than fear and wisdom for decisions. We emailed our supporters asking for prayer as well. Thanks to so many of you for praying on our behalf. Before going in and bunkering down for the night, we tied up the tricycle and valuable things in the outdoor kitchen. And that was that. We just waited for it to come. We lost electricity around 9pm and the howling sound of wind and sheets of water hitting our house grew louder by 10. We could hear wind, trees snapping, and the like, but an hour or so later we were calmed to sleep by the sound of much lighter rain on our tin roof. God was faithful to hear the prayers of many for our safety. And the big thing I've been reminded of is that if our roof blew off and Aurora was uninhabitable for months, God would still be faithful. In this life of following Jesus, we just can't lose.
The next morning we went exploring to see the area. Many huge trees (acacia, chico, etc) were down as well as many of the banana trees and bamboo that had survived the first typhoon in August. Debris was everywhere and a few roofs were gone, but for the bigger picture- all our neighbors were well. The eye of the typhoon actually ended up moving a bit south of us and hit a town called Dingalan. This area was devastated by the storm and many people were affected. It's hard to think that that really could have been us. We are thankful to the Lord for protecting us, but we do hope that we'll remember to be in prayer for the people of Dingalan. Join us in praying that God will show Himself through the effects of the storm.

Again, THANK YOU for praying. We were blown away by the emails we received of everyone praying. And for the record, we went six long days without electricity. But we are completely habitable and back to normal now :)

 We couldn't leave our property without climbing through bamboo! 

I am writing this blog from a hotel in Manila. Tomorrow, we send off our close friend and fellow Trek-Xer Monica to Turkey where she will finish her last year of Trek-X. On Monday we will be making the dreaded journey back to the Bureau of Immigration. Our visas expire in November so we will begin the process of extending them. Please pray for this process. Our experience last year was long and hard. It took almost 10 trips to Manila, which is about a 6 hour bus ride through the mountains each time. We hope to have all the necessary requirements and if not we hope for grace! Pray for favor on us from the officers as well as wisdom as we have a few different options of how to renew (and adding a baby to the mix makes this hard to discern). Thanks everyone!