False Alarm and Pastor Joseph

The thought that I would be eating was quickly diverted to hopping in the back of a pick-up truck and going to a property of a pastor we met today named Joseph. Pastor Joseph of the "One Family in Christ" ministry cares for thirty-five orphans, runs a hardware store and used to run a school for 600 school-children. By the grace of God, not one of the thirty-five orphans were killed, despite the fact that the area they live in came crashing down during the earthquakes. The children were gardening at the time. Praise God. However, the school, though standing, is now a property that will need to be torn down completely and built from the ground up. I think this is the most overwhelming fact of this entire tragedy, not just that so many people lost their lives and so many structures were absolutely devastated and collapsed, but also that the vast majority of structures in the PaP area are "condemned," even if they survived the earthquakes. EVERYTHING needs to be torn down and rebuilt. Pastor Joseph is a business man and a man of God. He preaches and teaches the Scriptures, but he runs the hardware store to underwrite his ministry. With the small profits he makes from the store, he puts money back into the orphanage to buy beans and rice for the children as well as pay his teachers. The 600 school-children's parents, each paid a tuition of $5 a month, but now that income is gone since the school building is condemned. Pray for Pastor Joseph and "One Family in Christ" ministry. I think some of the folks we are with are looking prayerfully at becoming ministry partners with him.