2019 Summary, January 2020 PAMI Bulletin and Typhoon Recovery

By the end of January, year-end statements and a January 2020 PAMI Bulletin were mailed out to those that made 2019 contributions to PAMI.  The year-end statements included the following summary of PAMI ministries in 2019:
Dear Friends:
Thank you for your gifts and prayers for PAMI in 2019.  They are fitting of Hebrews 13:16 that says “And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.” 
This has been another fruitful year of ministry. About 65 people were baptized!  Three graduated from Emmaus Bible Institute on April 3rd.  Two of the three were added as workers, along with a couple that graduated in previous years.  We were able to distribute another 500 Operation Christmas Child boxes and carry out a lot of discipleship along with that.  160 Compassion sponsored kids were served weekly at EBI.  An all-PAMI youth camp was held in April and a crusade in May, with a couple hundred attending each.  Churches were started in Culasi Matnog and San Jose Bulusan.  Other gatherings, retreats, and workshops were held.  Film showings, Christian radio, Bible study outreaches, children’s feedings, and VBS continued.  Weekly Values Instruction Classes were done in several public schools and Family Development Sessions were held with government welfare recipients.  Several balikbayan boxes were sent with books, CDs, games, toys, school and office supplies, hygiene supplies, clothes, laptops and projectors.  Some building refurbishment/improvement and typhoon relief/repairs were done.  It’s through the partnership of dedicated Filipino workers and faithful supporters like you that all this is possible.
Regarding the January 2020 PAMI Bulletin , it includes before and after repair pictures of two of the worst hit PAMI buildings–the PenaFrancia Church near EBI and Candumaay Matnog Church.  It also has some pictures of distribution of typhoon relief goods.  And page 2 is a January 7 report from Sis Ofel that praises God for batches of typhoon relief from different sources along with corresponding ministry opportunities.  For more info and pictures, see below:
PenaFrancia Church and Candumaay Matnog Churches both lost their roofs, and various PAMI pastors came together with a bayanihan group effort to repair each of these two places.  In addition, enough donations came in to provide $1000 of materials for each of these two places, so that they could be fixed up better than their original condition.  Both places needed refurbishment even before the typhoon, and the typhoon damage just forced the issue.  Deteriorated rafters were replaced and leaky roofs were made watertight.  Besides using new sheets of corrugated steel for Penafrancia, bamboo slatted walls were replaced with plywood and painted.  For the Candumaay Matnog Church, a cement rim was added to the top of the walls to provide a solid base to tie rafters to, and a thatched roof was replaced with colored corrugated steel.  These roofs should be more long-lasting and storm resistant.

PAMI pastors preparing a cement rim on top of the wall of the Candumaay Matnog Church


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In addition to PenaFrancia and Candumaay, the Lapinig Church also needed a new roof.  The following pdf file shows pictures of Lapinig and Patag Churches prior to repair.  These were part of the third batch of repairs.  Altogether, $7000+ was distributed for relief/repairs–$2000 in mid-December, $2000 at the end of December, and $3000 at the end of January (which included $1000 for Lapinig, Patag, and EBI, and $2000 for Mabini).
Photos of Lapinig and Patag Church Feb 2020
The collapsed cottage of light materials at EBI (see pictures in the Dec 2019 PAMI Newsletter) was replaced with a more sturdy new classroom of cement walls with steel roof (see below).  This additional classroom space will be used when Compassion sponsored kids split up into different small groups throughout campus for teaching and feeding time on Saturdays.

Some typhoon relief was provided by Sister Judy Jeniebre (left side in below picture, dressed in blue), an EBI graduate who has a successful overseas placement service business in Manila.






A hundred backpacks of school supplies was provided by BCCL (Bicol Center for Christian Leadership), a college in Legazpi that has partnered with EBI in the past to do continuing education classes.  These were distributed in Manurabi Matnog, a seaside barangay where several EBI students came from, where there was a lot of typhoon damage.  The homes of some of these students were washed away.





Here are some repairs and typhoon relief done in Mabini:

Replacing a portion of the Mabini feeding center roof



Mabini Pavilion damaged by typhoon


 
 
 

Building a scaffold to aid in removal of the damaged Mabini Pavilion roofing



Now that the old roofing is removed, they are ready to replace with sheets of corrugated steel once materials can be delivered