In the aftermath of Hurricane Otis, God is working through local churches as they meet physical needs and share the love of Jesus Christ.
Pastor Eusebio Angelito and his wife, Catalin, nervously waited for the monster storm that was predicted to hit on Oct. 25—another hurricane, but a big one named Otis that was quickly building in strength.
Our teams distributed shelter kits to Acapulco residents where Hurricane Otis ripped off roofs and flooded homes.
The last truly shocking Pacific cyclone to hit the state of Guerrero was Hurricane Pauline in 1997, a Category 4 event. More than two decades later, Hurricane Otis stirred up memories of Pauline among older Acapulcans. Otis strengthened, in a single day, into the strongest storm in history ever to hit Mexico’s Pacific Coast, and it hit one of its most populous coastal cities.
There was no time to evacuate before the direct hit from the Category 5 storm. It ripped through high-end resort areas and tore along the narrow boulevards winding up through the many mountainside neighborhoods. As with most Acapulcans that day, Pastor Angelito and Catalin were unsure just how seriously to take the approaching storm.
“We had no idea it would be this strong,” Pastor Angelito said, describing how he and his wife pushed their mattresses against the door of their bedroom and prayed. “It surprised all of us.”
By midnight, light rain turned to lashing wind and water forced its way into their home. This was a different kind of storm.
Samaritan’s Purse Responds
For weeks now, Samaritan’s Purse has been on the ground in Acapulco serving communities in Jesus’ Name, working through local churches and pastors who want to minister to their city even as they face their own grief and loss.
Pastor Angelito’s church, Window of Heaven House of God in Colonia los Dragos, is one of more than a dozen other area congregations partnering with Samaritan’s Purse to help homeowners fix their roofs, provide access to clean water, and distribute relief items such as tarp kits, lanterns, and home water filtration kits.
The many faithful churches of Acapulco have partnered with our Disaster Assistance Response Team to identify people in great need in their communities, such as Angelica who received a shelter kit at a recent outreach at the church. The homeowner was most pleased with the solar-powered lantern.
Angelica and her child were among hundreds of residents who received, through local churches, shelter supplies and water filtration systems for their homes.
“It still stays so dark at night. This lantern is important,” Angelica told the pastor. “We have no electricity still.”
Electricity is lacking in most neighborhoods, including in nearby Cumbres de Llano Largo where Samaritan’s Purse has been deploying volunteers from local congregations, as well as from churches who’ve been sending people from Mexico City since the storm.
From Mexico City to Acapulco
Pure Vida Church in Mexico City has sent dozens of volunteers over the last several weeks, and the experience has helped the congregation refine the future ministry God has been leading them to do.
Volunteers from Mexico City churches served Acapulcans by tarping damaged roofs.
“Of course we have come to Acapulco for vacations many times,” said volunteer Lorena Kazemi who was working on the home of Juliana Mariche, tarping her roof alongside members of Pure Vida. She said her husband, Amir Kazemi, pastor of Pure Vida, has long had a burden to reach Acapulco with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. “Working with Samaritan’s Purse on these homes has helped us to see that Acapulco is where God is calling us to plant a church.”
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Volunteer teams have helped tarp scores of homes in this mountainside community, most of which were perched along steep hillsides. These densely populated and boulder-strewn hills of the Sierra Madre range, stripped bare by the hurricane winds, are finally showing new growth of trees again. And as our teams and local churches continue to serve the communities in the Name of Jesus Christ, new spiritual growth is emerging, too.
Volunteers helped tarp scores of damaged roofs in the mountain communities surrounding Acapulco.
Fernando and Claudia, two Llano Largo residents, are among the most recent homeowners celebrating their new journey with God—which they say was sparked by the powerful storm. The 165-mph winds that stripped the trees also rattled the couple whose home was ripped apart as they fled down the mountain. When they returned to the property, everything was gone except for the studs still attached to the foundation.
At a loss for what to do, they happened to hear about Samaritan’s Purse on the radio and worked up the courage to ask for help.
Fernando and Claudia, who were provided shelter through our tarping teams, received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
Within a couple of days, they heard from us and then saw the orange-shirted volunteers walking the path toward their home. Within an afternoon they had shelter over their heads and became curious about why so many strangers would leave their homes to come help them.
The couple decided they needed to reconsider what they had been believing about God.
“Before the storm, we saw God as a distant person,” Claudia said. “But the storm was an awakening. It was God saying ‘You need to change your ways. There’s something that has to be different in your life.’ Now God feels much more present. He has blessed us through the help He provided, and He has given us a desire to change our ways and to help others the way we have been helped.”
Reaching the Lost in the City’s Hard Places
Iglesia Nacional Presbiteriana Jesus de Nazaret has served as our base of operations for staging supplies and as a hub for information to understand the needs of the city.
Local churches, like that of Pastor Pedro Molina, are working hard to serve their communities still hurting after the storm.
Pastor Alejandro Loya said the partnership between Jesus de Nazaret and Samaritan’s Purse has encouraged the congregation and given his church new eyes for the city. It also brought order in the midst of chaos.
“We didn’t know where to start,” Pastor Alejandro said, describing the stress of ministry when everyone is suffering together. “I was riding around the city with my son on my motorcycle checking on church members and doing what we could. When Samaritan’s Purse came, we gave them connections and an understanding of the needs. They gave us a clear vision for what needed to be done.”
Through our partnership with these local churches, Samaritan’s Purse has distributed many tons of relief to Acapulco communities, including around 5,000 shelter kits to individuals. Some of those include mosquito netting to avoid dengue fever in low-lying areas. We plan to distribute thousands more of these kits in the coming weeks.
Samaritan’s Purse even provided cooktops to help churches expand their hot meal ministries.
In addition, our water, sanitation, and hygiene teams have established 10 water points, many of them constructed at local churches and a number utilizing solar energy to make the system self-sustaining and economical.
Overall, Samaritan’s Purse has sent four airlifts of relief supplies to Mexico for Acapulco, containing over 180,000 pounds of cargo. Almost 240,000 pounds of food have been distributed. With help from the military and the local church, the team has also handed out over 10,000 household water filters/buckets; 1,422 hygiene kits; 482 cooking kits; and more. We praise God that chaplains have reported 155 decision for Christ. (Totals as of Dec. 13.)
We’re also providing struggling churches with new heavy-duty roofs to replace those destroyed by the storm.
We are amazed how God is using the work of Samaritan’s Purse, our volunteers, and the local churches to create in-roads for the Gospel that were closed for many years.
“For a long time we’ve been told ‘Oh don’t go there. It’s very dangerous,’” Pastor Alejandro said about certain areas of Acapulco, the tenth deadliest city in the world. “But now, because Samaritan’s Purse wasn’t afraid to go to those places, I am not afraid. Our people aren’t afraid anymore. This has opened up new opportunities for the Gospel, and this is why this church was started 35 years ago.”
Through the tireless work of volunteers and local churches, God is reminding people that He loves them and that they’re not alone.
