Meet Stanley in Yei, Sudan

New video at http://www.youtube.com/feedthehungryUSA

Crises Hit Pacific Islands

Philippines Flood Disaster
- 73,892 people rescued
- 2,254,915 people affected
- 389,616 located in 561 evacuation shelters
- 736,197 displaced people
- 3,374 homes affected




Padang, Indonesia Earthquake
- 7.6 Magnitude
- Devastates Padang
- Current Death Toll: 529 people (number of casualties are expected to increase rapidly as search efforts continue)

Samoa Tsunami Disaster
- 8.0 Magnitude Earthquake devastates Samoa @ 6.48am local time
- Deadly Tsunami strikes islands at 07:00am

Historic and devastating floods in the Philippines, a killer tsunami in Samoa, and deadly earthquakes in Indonesia... its been a horrific week for literally millions of people in these Pacific islands. In the Philippines alone, more than 2 million homes have been destroyed.

Pete Sumrall, President of Feed The Hungry received an emergency e-mail from David & Beverly Sumrall. They pastor Cathedral of Praise in Manila, Philippines, a vibrant church started by Dr. Lester Sumrall more than 50 years ago. Beverly shared these gripping words:

"Flooding was horrific all over the city-- what had been knee high rose to neck high in a matter of seconds-- areas that were neck high rose to 15 feet. Thousands of people spent day and night on the roof of their houses without food or drinkable water. Areas of the city which had never flooded before were inundated with water. The floods rose so suddenly. Entire families grabbed their children by the hands and ran for their lives, only to have their little ones swept away by the raging torrents. They were too weak to hang on, and too little to survive. Many children are among the dead. In the Marikina Jail, prisoners were not allowed to go out to seek higher ground, they drowned in their cells."
The need is enormous and the situation is desperate. Feed The Hungry is responding immediately to help displaced families in Manila, Samoa, and Indonesia by purchasing tons of staple food items and water for the church to serve the suffering.




If you'd like to help families who have lost homes and belongings because of these natural disasters, please visit http://www.feedthehungry.org/ and help today. Thank you.

Managua, Nicaragua

We have been in Nicaragua for 6 days now, enjoying a wonderful ministry experience with a team of 11 wonderful people from Cornerstone Family Church of North Carolina. Under the caring leadership of Troy Doudy (who serves as a missionary in Nicaragua along with his wife, Ginnette and son, Aaron) we provided food paks and conducted evangelistic services in Nueva Guinea, Calderon, Santa Rita and Bluefields. It is the peak of rainy season here, and we battle the rain and mud...lots of mud... each day. However, the weather conditions cannot dampen the excitement of the team as we see God's hand work in mighty ways!

We have seen people respond to salvation, be filled with the Spirit, and receive miracles. One miracle that stands out to me took place in Nueva Guinea - a mother and father brought their young son up for prayer. There were many people lined up to receive healing and we did not even know they were there. Suddenly the father began to weep uncontrollably. When asked through the interpreter what was happening, he told us that their son was scheduled for major surgery to remove a cancerous tumor on his neck. The tumor was clearly visible as a large lump. When Pastor Jonathan Morgan from Cornerstone began to pray, they closed their eyes to agree for a miracle for their son. When they opened their eyes the lump on the side of his neck was completely gone! As I looked at it, I could see a couple of lines but it was perfectly smooth and flat. Praise the Lord! There were many more miracles throughout the trip just like this one!

It was an honour to meet Pastor Angel Gahona in Bluefields. He is in the process of planting 20 churches in Nicaragua, pastors a large church in Bluefields, and is starting a major feeding center to minister to the large number of people in extreme poverty in Bluefields. Lamar, Kandesa, and I traveled with him to one of the poorest areas, which is called "July 19". It's funny that it has a name, since it's actually the city garbage dump. However, it is home to the very poorest who try to survive each day by scavenging in the waste along with the pigs. It is in this very area that Feed the Hungry will partner with Pastor Gahona to begin a feeding center that will feed people each day - in body, soul, and spirit. Pastor Gahona will also use his cell group leaders to target other families imprisoned by poverty in Bluefields and bring the hope of Christ through the Word of God and food provided by Feed the Hungry.

Once we returned to Managua we were able to visit the feeding center where Feed the Hungry is feeding over 250 children. When the bus with our team pulled into the center we were immediately surrounded by children who were laughing and screaming in their excitement to see us. They knew we were bringing food! We held a children's service, where the US team presented their salvation skit, and a clown talked about Jesus using tricks like sticking a needle through a balloon without having it pop. Then we helped to serve the children as they ate their meal. It was heartbreaking to see that many of the children were sick due to improper sanitary conditions, and a number had the tell-tale signs of malnutrion (such as orange hair).

I am so glad that Feed the Hungry is able to make a difference to these children, and hope to be able to increase our ability to help even more children in Nicaragua. I have left a piece of my heart in Nicaragua, with the beautiful children who are so gracious and determined and who need Jesus with all their hearts!

Doreen Sparman

International FTH Director

Canada

Blog by Proxy

Lamar Austin (FTH US) and Doreen Sparman (FTH Canada) are leading a group of 15 down the Escondido River in Nicaragua. The group arrived in Managua last Friday and they've been visiting villages all along the river on the way to Bluefields-- a great little port city on the Atlantic Coast.

Lamar's called in a couple times & Doreen has been able to send a few photos, but web access has been a little sparse, as you could imagine. It's the rainy season (the REALLY rainy season) and the team's been holding up well.

Here's a neat story-- the guys ran into a village farmer who received help from Feed The Hungry on a previous mission, for several years he's harvested a crop from the seeds that we sent to Nicaragua several years ago and used the surplus to benefit others in the village. Pay it forward brother!

Hopefully Lamar or Doreen can connect soon and post a first-person update. Today they are at a feeding center that FTH helped resurrect in Bluefields; two hundred children or so are coming to the center daily for lunch and school tutoring.

News from Uganda

Our friend Solomon sent an update yesterday, thanking everyone for thier prayers for Priscilla. She’s come a long way & has a long way to go but “with God all things are possible” as Jesus said! Here's a photo of Priscilla helping to move bricks as the new school is being built-- she's always smiling and wanting to help or share what she has with the other kids.

----Original Message-----
From: solomon mwesige
Sent: Tuesday, June 09, 2009 5:57 AM
Subject: Priscilla

Greetings in the name of the Lord. Priscilla is doing great, God has been very faithful, she has not been down sick or in hospital since the last time I wrote asking for prayers, I believe the rice and soy meals and the new vitamins you gave us have also done a great job in boosting her immunity, she has not missed class since and her brain power has increased. Based on what the Doctors have said though, they think that she will keep loosing her memory till she cant learn anything new. We have seen that happen at the school in the past, but these days her performance in class is a lot better and her academics are progressing.

Thanks for investing in her life both spritually through prayer and the food and vitamin support.

Solomon

William sent an email to report on the positive impact the fortified rice meals are having on the children at 'Little Angels'. We are so grateful to Feed My Starving Children and their volunteers who pack these rice & soy meals that Feed The Hungry ships to childcare partners throughout Africa.

Greetings and many thanks from me, my wife Jane, the staff and all the children at Little Angels Children Centre. God bless you for your generous heart that has made a great change in our school. The FOOD and the VITAMIN TABLETS that you gave us has really made our children HEALTHY.

Since we recieved this blessing the children who used to be sick all the time are now now well all the time! If you can see them today you would just praise God. The number of children at the school are increasing every term, when we first recieved the rice meals we had 150 students and now 207 . We pray that God may open more doors for you that through you many things can happen in our community and nation. God bless you!

Pastor William Walusimbi
Director

At Work in Port au Prince

The Feed The Hungry team arrived in Haiti on Monday & Tuesday. Seeing the kids at the Mercy & Sharing Orphanage and School was again an emotionally moving experience-- most of the children are here because they were abandoned, left by a parent to basically die. Some were left at the Hospital General in PaP, some were left on a street or field, one was found inside a cardboard box... and I hate to even think of this... one abandoned child I met a few years back was thrown into a latrine hole when only a few months old.

It's hard to comprehend how a mother or father, or both, could consciously decide to do such a thing; I honestly don't know what combination of factors make child abandonment such an accepted 'fact of life' here. Maybe it is abject poverty... a mother knowing she cannot provide for her child (but I've seen moms & dads do some extraordinary things to make ends meet when it comes to their child's survival); maybe it is social stigma or superstition... most of the abandoned children have some kind of handicap or another, either a physical or mental challenge; maybe Voodoo has something to do with it, the nation has been steeped in the dark religion for over a hundred years.

Regardless of how, when, where, or why they've been abandoned IT IS ABSOLUTELY AMAZING to see the wonderful joy and absolute life that these kids exude. From the littlest infants to the largest teens, every one responds with life and laughter to the smallest gift of love-- a smile, a wave, a tickle, a hug, a little game of catch-- causes great joy to erupt.

Today I've been privileged to feel a small portion of what Jesus must have felt when he had the kiddies pressing all around him, getting blessed by their time with Jesus and Jesus getting blessed by his time with them. Remember the disciples tried to shoo them away but he rebuked the guys pretty good saying, "Let the little children come to me! Stop keeping them away! For the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." He treasured his moment away from the do's & dont's and stresses of adulthood to let loose and feel the joy, sheer innocence, and trusting abandon that makes a child a child... and I treasured my moments today.

JP has arrived in Lahore!

JP called from Quetta, Pakistan... they made it through the border and will clear the vehicle through Customs in Quetta.  He's met up with Salik John from the Evangelical Fellowship of Pakistan and they'll get a good nights rest and then go to Lahore; then back to Germany on Tuesday or Wednesday.