Communications with the team in eastern Samar has been slow and difficult.  Getting photos and even detailed information has rightfully taken a lower priority than serving the people of Samar and spreading God's love and mercy.

But today there are pictures and more detailed information from the team on the ground led by Pastor Gerry Brown.  Here is Pastor Gerry's update with minimal editing:

We got here safe and the team is doing well.  It is as bad as you can imagine. The destruction is in most of the east side of the island, and total destruction in most of the barangays (villages) surrounding us. We did lose two church members from Calvary Chapel Hernani; a father who leaves behind six children and a widow, and another

young girl from our youth group.  The facilities here are our first priority so that we can house the teams. We have had difficulty removing the debris and damaged areas of the church and one of the houses.

We made assessment runs yesterday [Sunday, Nov 17] into all the surrounding areas. It looks more like a tsunami hit Hernani, with 95 percent of houses and all government buildings gone. The jails opened their doors and released prisoners to save their lives when the storm hit. No problems are evident from that.

Pastor Ken bending rebar

We had no trouble crossing the island. We are experiencing trouble getting gasoline and diesel though. Which means we have to make long trips to the capitol to buy 20-30 gallons at a time.  With the facilities that are left standing, we are able to house 30-35 people now. Some of the original team will leave today [Monday, Nov 18], some on Tuesday, and some on Sunday the 24th, so you know what we are looking like at this time.

I was able to meet with the Governor of Eastern Samar, Conrado Nicert Jr., and the provincial police manager of Samar, Levi Nicart, today, and after talking with them, we have now been asked to handle a feeding station in Hernani, where we lost the two members and the Church and Pastor's house. There are 100 now confirmed dead and 260 still missing in Hernani.

Pastor Gerry (left) talking to local officials

We have always had great relationships with the government officials here, but God’s hand is certainly on us at this time because as we were talking, in walked the Chief of Police, Eufronia Loyalk Obong, Sr., who immediately came up giving big hugs and thanking me for coming. The Governor liked that and asked for a meeting with me, the chief of police, and Hernani's Barangay Captain. And the Governor promised to provide protection for us when feeding and giving us the initial rice to start up the feeding. They are giving us the three rooms left standing in the school and we will be working to put together a makeshift kitchen right away. That gives us great opportunity to minister to government officials, and the police department, and the people in the most devastated areas hit by the typhoon.

I hope you are all on board with us. Since the communication is so difficult with us right now, I am moving as God is leading and thanking God for the opportunity that He is opening for us all. I was able to secure fuel for the ministry as well after our meeting and we are now put on priority status with the gas stations as God has shown favor once again with past relationships with the owner of

Pastor Gerry ministering in prayer

this station and he knowing our works in Eastern Samar and thanking us for coming and doing relief. 

Thank you for your help. Please keep all praying for us and for the people devastated here in the Philippines.

On Sunday, November 17, Pastor Jimmy Morales of Calvary Chapel Lone Mountain dedicated over half his pulpit time to giving an update to his congregation regarding Typhoon Yolanda relief.  If you would like to see this update, you can check it out on YouTube by clicking the link here: http://youtu.be/tBMMvkDXmfo