Storm survivors grateful
As NTM missionary pilot Zach Keller delivered aid to a remote island hard-hit by Typhoon Haiyan, one man gave Zach a message that needed to be shared.
“I got to fly into several different places that have been overlooked as far as aid,” wrote Zach recently. “It's really interesting to watch people's faces because at first they can't figure what a helicopter is doing landing on their beach and then they see me taking bags off and they start to smile.”
Most people seem shocked that someone is helping them. The majority of aid for typhoon victims is going to the eastern Philippines, but NTM’s four pilots and three aircraft are working alongside MAF personnel to provide aid to islands on the western side of the archipelago.
“The most satisfying experience of this whole time so far is a guy that came up to me, shook my hand but would not let go and stood there looking at me while his eyes filled with tears. … He just said thank you over and over,” Zach wrote.
It had been a long, hard week for Zach and the other pilots and support personnel as they ramped up to provide what seems, in light of the massive needs, a small amount of help for people who need it so desperately, but one moment made it all worthwhile.
It also got Zach thinking about the team effort that made it possible for him and his co-workers to help that man and his people.
He got to experience their gratitude “just because I am the last link in an incredibly long chain of people that have made this happen. I wanted to share it in hopes that it is really encouraging to all the people that are working so hard but don't get the privilege to see the end result.”
Zach is full of gratitude too. “I'm grateful that God is allowing us the privilege of serving this way,” he wrote
Among those helping are people who have given more than $70,000 for NTM Aviation to serve the people impacted by Typhoon Haiyan. Every bit of the money given through NTM will be used to pay for the costs of flying supplies to the people, and for supplies such as food, water and medical aid.
If anything is given in excess of NTM’s costs of providing such aid, New Tribes Mission will turn that money over to a reputable relief organization that NTM has verified is doing relief work in the Philippines.
Because of the great need, NTM has increased the funds it is seeking for this effort to $250,000. Will you help bring smiles to the faces of people suffering in the aftermath of this devastating storm?
You can give at http://usa.ntm.org/projects/haiyan-relief