Hope for Luzon

Almost three full weeks of clouds, rain, wind, pain and tragedy passed. With ten others from the Ladies Dorm did I sit across from our friend and missionary, Fey, and her family last Saturday. We were waiting outside of another funeral service in one of Baguio's funeral homes. Bodies, of various sizes, were carried to be identified by the countless mourning people upstairs. Eyes were cast downward, some experiencing tragedy for the first time. Fey’s father stoically recounted what happened as sniffles and eyes were wiped. I looked outside and the sun penetrated the grey-est day I had every experienced.

Typhoon Ondoy and Typhoon Pepeng (as they are locally known) caused severe flooding, widespread panic, damaged and lost homes, hundreds of deaths, landslides, main road blockage and countless other difficult situations all over the island of Luzon. I was, at first, apathetic; momentarily taken aback by the photos, the news coverage. Our school even collected donations that I scoured through closest and drawers for. But that was hundreds of miles away. Even during the heavy rain and wind we experienced, I was pre-occupied with my dwindling one-week vacation. For only the damage of a fallen tree and indoor days did I see. The nights were filled with gusts of wind and gushing sounds of water falling from the building's corner, with an occasional object crashing against my wall. I was unaffected.
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(2) I was not fazed until the day before, when I was told the great affect of Pepeng on those around me.

I pictured a regular night for the Kindipan family. A mother was sleeping in her bed. A sister was studying for a test the next day, her brother was practicing his guitar, another sister was chatting online with her friends. Ate Fey, lost her mother and three siblings (and four cousins) that night. There were a hundred others who lost their family in the landslide in Puguis, La Trinidad (about twenty minutes from me).
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Another student brought his family on campus and sought shelter because their home had been flooded. Many other families of students at chest-deep water filled homes in the lowlands. After going to the funeral home, we walked to the park and encountered a friend who spent the day digging through rubbish to find his own relatives. Another 4th year high school student lost her 12-year-old and 8-year-old cousin.

Due to the blocked roads, there were people who traveled for 12 hours, two of those hours climbing and hiking through mountains only to travel by bus again so that he could come back to school (which was postponed for a few days, declared by Baguio City’s Mayor).
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And, yet, in the past eight days, I met two babies less than twenty-four hours after they were born.
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For almost a week has the sun brightly shone, yet, "grey" moments abound. Yes, there is sadness, but I still praise the Lord for Who He is. He, the Sovereign Creator and Sustainer, allowed this to happen. Unanswered questions abound, words can not remedy, and glimpses of pain flourish. But our God is good. All the time. He is gracious, He is merciful. His ways are not our ways, and instead of questioning and out of confusion, all I can do is praise. Yes, this is the time of mourning but it is morning.
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I have been blessed to be around those compelled to show God's goodness to those suffering. PBTS is forming an Ad Hoc Committee specifically for the Benguet community. They are collecting canned goods, clothes and financial contributions. I, also, hope to be involved in this process somehow. To have family (blood-related and Christ's blood-related) who also feel compassion to helpis amazing; I pray it glorifies God's name and that His love and compassion will be shown through your actions. As another friend put it, it is time for re-building, regenerating and renewal.
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The prophet Jeremiah lamented over a lost city. As always, the Lord is my comfort (Psalm 23), and though it seems that all is lost, I will call Him to mind and have hope.

I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:
Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him." the LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD. Lamentations 3:19-26

I ask you, my family, to pray. There have already been answered prayers. Inaccessible roads due to damaged bridges and landslides brought the danger of lack of supplies to northern Luzon. Now, however, there is restricted access to these roads and surely supplies are coming in. Still, there is much more to the recuperation of Baguio, and all of Luzon. There is much to be done and, as with everything, it is in God’s hands. Yes, there is hope, and it lies with Him.

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13

<3 Amy Grace

PHOTO INFORMATION

(1) PBTS Pinsao, Baguio; photo by: Amy Grace Bautista

(2) PBTS Pinsao, Baguio; photo by: Amy Grace Bautista

(3) Puguis, La Trinidad; photo by: Vaughn Palitang

(4) Enroute Baguio, photo by: Valerie Arzaga

(5) Enroute Baguio, photo by: Valerie Arzaga,

Bus could not go all the way to Baguio, so there was a stopover and some had to carefully walk along the cliff (with their belongings) to the next bus.

(6) Pines Hospital, Baguio; photo by: Amy Grace Bautista

One-Day-Old Shaniela Gumihid

(7) La Trinidad; photo by: Amy Grace Bautista

One-Day-Old Baby boy Charog

(8) PBTS Pinsao, Baguio; photo by: Amy Grace Bautista

Morning after the landslides, First sunshine in weeks,

(9) Enroute Baguio, photo by: Valerie Arzaga

(10) Puguis, La Trinidad, photo by: Amy Grace Bautista

(11) La Trinidad, photo by: Amy Grace Bautista

(12) Baguio City, photo by: Amy Grace Bautista