A few hours before it made landfall, it looked like the eye of Typhoon Tisoy was going to pass through Legazpi, just a little to the north of Sorsogon Proivince where PAMI is located.  Unfortunately, the eye actually made landfall in Gubat about midnight on Dec 2-3 and passed east to west right through northern Sorsogon Province at category 4 strength (140 miles per hour).  It was accompanied by a storm surge of about 10 feet and about 16 inches of rain.  It practically went right over EBI in Sorsogon City and Castilla.  It greatly affected the whole Province and almost every town where PAMI has ministry.   Many places are still without electricity over two and a half weeks later.  PenaFrancia and Candumaay Matnog churches were halfway destroyed, and sustained over $500 damage each.  EBI had a collapsed classroom cottage and a falling big tree knocked over the property wall and fell on another classroom (denting the corrugated steel roof and breaking rafters).  Several other PAMI churches/parsonages had damage as well.  Plus there’s probably about a hundred PAMI member homes with damage.  Some homes lost roofs, some were flattened, and some were washed away.  With water levels coming up to window level, people hoped to save valuables and electronics by placing them on top of tables.  Many took refuge in stronger built church buildings and schools.  Afterwards, people waded through hip deep water in streets in some areas.  Thankfully no PAMI people got hurt, and no one in Sorsogon Province died.  However, I read a newspaper article that said four lives were lost in other parts of the Philippines.  The following pdf files show a sampling of the damage.
RebuildingPeniaFrancia
Matnog typhoon damage
Bulan-list-and-pictures-of-some-victims-of-Tyhoon-Tisoy
The damage seems similar to the typhoon that affected our area in December 2015.  It seems like we are affected by significant typhoon damage every 4 or 5 years or so.  Since about 20 typhoons hit the Philippines every year, it just depends on where it hits and how strong it is. The typhoon season runs roughly from July to December, so hopefully the threat is done for another year.  PAMI supplied about $4000 in typhoon relief in December 2015, and we plan to do about the same this time as well.  Hopefully the government and other organizations provide help as well–e.g. Philrads, Operation Blessing, Compassion, etc.
PAMI not only supplies some funds and food, but pastors, students, and others join together with bayanihan teamwork.  Already a bunch of people worked together (like an Amish community barn building) to rebuild the PeniaFrancia church, making the most of the $500 help that was given them.  They still need more budget to finish, but at least the framework and roof are back together (see picture below).

PAMI pastors and others are now gathering with another bayanihan to rebuild the church in Candumaay Matnog.
Please pray for PAMI people to have strength to cope and to be a beacon of hope and light to others.  Please pray for protection from any further calamity this coming year.  Also please consider a donation towards typhoon relief.
Here are other pictures of typhoon damage:

 
Here is the breakdown of the first $2000 = 100,000 pesos of PAMI typhoon relief funds:










 

















 








Philrads provided food relief to 5 barangays around Matnog (Ptr Marlon’s hometown), including coastal areas:
Salmat Lord s matagumpay n pamimigay ng tlong s coastal area n tinamaan ng Bagyong Tisoy Matnog s mga volunteer s slmat and God bless at s sponsor 10 kilos of rice 3 corned beef 3 tuna in can 5 sardines and 300 grams of milo per family …..




Operation Blessing rice and food distribution at EBI: