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Last month, a GFA-supported Compassion Services relief team traveled more than 2,500 miles through Pakistan by train, bus and truck to bring relief supplies to Christians who had lost their homes, churches and livelihoods in last summer's devastating floods.
After traveling from Karachi to the north by train, team members filled more than 200 packages with relief supplies, including flour, oil, sugar, salt, beans, lentils, tea, soap and other basic necessities.
When their rented truck was ready, the team set out for a village where about 40 Christian families live.
The GFA team discovered that the entire village has been relocated. Families who once safely slept in their own homes now live in these UN-provided tents.
Amid the chaos, this child blissfully slept in her temporary bed.
The floods did not spare places of worship. Scenes like this have been repeated in churches of all denominations across northern Pakistan.
A young believer walked through the rubble that previously her place of worship.
It will take many months to rebuild what formerly stood as a testimony in stone to Jesus Christ in a non-Christian land.
The floods also brought disaster for farmers. Fields that once made this area a breadbasket were washed away, and farmers who once grew staple crops now eagerly seek one meal a day.
The GFA team met these needs and others, reloading their truck again and again to bring food, blankets and other desperately needed supplies to the believers.
Working until late at night, team members personally placed the supplies in the hands of grateful men and women like this woman in northern Pakistan.
After returning to their base camp at 11:30 p.m., the team got up early the next day. Then they headed out to another stricken village, where more flood victims were waiting.
The team met victims of all ages and sizes. In one village, a 107-year-old man leaning on his cane was the first in line, while this turban-clad local cradled his precious supplies to take to his family.
In addition to relief supplies, the team also brought spiritual support, praying with the victims and encouraging them from God's Word.
In all, the team brought hope and relief supplies to some 228 families in two days. Before and after the relief trip to northern Pakistan, they met with Bible college students and pastors in Karachi. An earlier team had taken food to nearly 400 families on a two-day trip to Pakistan's Sindh region.
In the end, the GFA-supported team put feet to the prayers of those around the world who were standing with the suffering believers of Pakistan--truly "the least of these" our spiritual brothers and sisters in need.
date posted 10/13/2010
