Pakistan (MNN) — Floods in Pakistan destroyed thousands of homes throughout the last months of 2010. As the country continues to work through the shock of devastation, rebuild is making progress.
Operation Mobilization is making noteworthy headway in Pakistan. Lacking the correct experience on their Pakistan team, they hired masons and laborers to help with the work. Many homes simply need repairs, but others need to be completely reconstructed. About three in ten need to be rebuilt from the foundations up.
With the expertise of hired help, though, the team has been able to complete 40 houses since work began in December. Some people have already moved into their sometimes-dramatically restored houses. "It was impossible, looking at our house, to imagine living in it, but you have made it possible," said one beneficiary of the reconstruction efforts.
The 30-person team, made up completely of at least nominal Christians (all supervisors are evangelical Christians), plans to build at a rate of 50 completed houses per month from now on. The goal is to provide homes for 250 families by the end of June.
The OM Pakistan teams are also working on other projects beside reconstruction. They continue to perform surveys of various families, determining where to work and with which people groups, hoping to establish long-term relationships to introduce micro-enterprise and move people toward self-dependency. They are also working on follow-up to those who received immediate aid, and they continue to distribute cold weather packs.
Needless to say, OM Pakistan teams are busy. Even still, they are fervently working to spread the Gospel as they joyfully labor for the Lord. As people see that the teams are really interested in restoring their livelihood, they are more and more likely to be open to what they have to say about God and Jesus. The country currently has about a 0.6 percent evangelical population.
Pray for alertness and provision as the OM teams build and share the Good News of Christ. Pray that even the nominal Christians on the building teams would be transformed by the overflow of Christ from the lives of their supervisors and the OM staff. May the Lord continue to use the devastation of this catastrophe to build His kingdom.
To help OM Pakistan reach their rebuilding goals, click here.
