Cyclone Pam 3/13

Hello everyone.

Most of you are on Facebook, and so have seen our pictures and updates about the cyclone headed our way. But in case you aren’t, just wanted to make sure everyone knew that there is a cyclone (Pam) in the northern waters of Vanuatu at this point and heading south. As of now it is a category 4 but is predicted to possibly increase to a category 5 by the time the eye gets to our latitude, albeit out at sea. The winds and rain have begun (started in the night). It’s 6:15am now and starting to pick up a bit. Not too bad yet. Eric is actually on his way to a nearby village (Etas - 10 minutes away) to pick up some Christians there who aren’t in adequate housing. He’s bringing them to the church building in Port Vila to wait out the storm. They put boards over the windows there last night in preparation for their arrival. 

At our house we are as prepared as we can be. We have shutters on the windows, sandbags at the door to keep water out, water, solar lanterns, rice & tuna, toilet paper (the essentials) and each other :)

Please pray specifically for the following: 

- Pray that we will all rest in God’s strength. Pray for our kiddos especially to have His peace and calm in the midst of this scary storm. He is far greater than anything this storm can throw our way. 

- Pray for the safety of our friends and loved ones, especially on outer islands, most of whom do not have adequate housing to face a storm of this magnitude. Pray that they will listen to the warnings and go someplace safe to wait it out. (We have spoken with several friends in outer island villages who are making preparations. They are okay for now…just keep praying). 

- Pray that the gardens will be spared, and if they can’t be spared that we will all rally together to love on and provide for each other in the aftermath. 

The local power company cuts power when the winds get to a certain speed, so it is possible that we may be without power for a while. We’ll keep you updated as we can. ~S