On December 4th, 2012, the worst Typhoon (Pablo) I have ever seen hit Mindanao and changed the way I will view ministry forever. We prayed hard as the monster category five storm approached, it miraculously did not hurt our city. However, it totally annihilated entire towns and in some areas leaving no one behind to even report the dead and missing.
Within four days, I joined a team to go on a twelve hour road trip to where the eye of the storm made landfall. I have never seen such destruction. In Cateel, the smell of dead bodies permeated the air as 90% of the homes were flattened. There was not a building in the city with a roof left on it. Actually, there was not a structure for miles every direction with a roof on it. Upon seeing the destruction, it made me wonder how anyone survived. We immediately went to help the hospital which had been stripped from the inside out by the wind. They had long lines of patients, but no medicine and almost no staff. It felt good to bring a vehicle full of trained volunteer medics to the hospital. We literally helped save lives over the course of the first three weeks and did more than I can write here. You can read more news by visiting our website at www.extrememercy.org/news
