The Waterproof Nation Needs Your Help!

My heart remains in the Philippines and it breaks to see the suffering and devastation right now in my southeast home.  As my newsfeed and inbox fill with emails pleading for prayers and families searching to hear from their loved ones I am convicted to write this update in hopes that it will touch someone else's heart and give them an opportunity to help!  My good friend sent me this update just on Sunday morning from Manila:

Filipinos sometimes call themselves the Waterproof Nation. Typhoons are not uncommon but this one most definitely is. On record as the most extreme storm of its kind ever, Typhoon Yolanda has dramatically impacted the most vulnerable of this country - the fishermen with shack homes on the beach, the women and children taking refuge in evacuation centers that turned out to be inadequate, those too poor to stock up on necessities of food and drinking water before the storm hit.There is little information coming out of the central Philippines yet as cellphone towers are off-line and Internet access has been cut. The info we are getting is coming from satellite phones and military planes taking supplies down there. The number dead is projected to be more than 10,000 with thousands more injured and displaced. The video footage is horrific. So much suffering!Please pray with me. 

First Love has numerous missionaries working down in areas that were greatly affected by the storm.  First Love has already raised $12,000 that has been sent to our missionaries down there, but we are quickly realizing that this isn't nearly enough.  Our president, Tom Clinton, has sent out a new challenge of $25,000 to be raised in order to better help the people of the Philippines.  

This is where the money donated will go to...

We are going to focus most of our relief efforts with the needs of our missionaries,Dan & Tori Beaver, and their work with the poor on Boracay and Panay Islands.  Their pre-school for the Ati Tribe children on Panay was destroyed and their housing apartments for teachers was also severely damaged.  100's of poor residents of Boracay are currently staying in their 3 story ministry center and are in need of food, water, dry clothing, and a bed.  We will also try to help as many as possible with repairs to their homes.  We will also wire funds to our missionary teachers,Mary Olson and Lindsay Pund, who are teaching at Bethel Christian School in Tacloban so that they can assist those in need who they personally know.  I would also like to help Cleo Undheim's brother and his family who lost everything they own during the earthquake last month in Bohol and now they are even more distressed as this Typhoon has hit them.  Obviously, the more money we can raise the more people we can help.  I would like to "go deep" with our help of people, so that it is not just a one time gift of a small amount of food, but 3 months of a deeper commitment to assist as many as possible to get back on their feet over the long haul. 

After seeing so many typhoons in the Philippines already, I know how resilient these people are, and they will not let this beat them. It was always amazing to me to see a family, after losing everything in a storm, get up the next morning and start sweeping the dirt floor and cleaning the mess the storm had left.  Help us out by praying for these people, for the government and give to relief efforts.

Here is how you can give…. You may make out your check to First Love International Ministries and mail it to: PO Box 15836, Loves Park, IL 61132 and write: "Typhoon Relief" on the memo-line of your check or you can make a credit card donation if you wish by logging onto our website at:  www.firstloveinternational.com and clicking on the donate button. 100% of your gift will go directly to relief efforts.  Thank you!

Thanks much for your willingness to help our First Love missionaries in this time of great need! May God bless your efforts richly! 

The Devastation is much worse than we imagined!!!