By Donna

August was definitely a month of celebration! A month in which to celebrate the goodness and mercy of God in keeping His promise to never leave us nor forsake us!

The month started us off celebrating Joana’s 23 birthday! Through the years we have watched Joana blossom into a beautiful and talented young lady. She is on the threshold of graduation from university, finishing her degree in Communications within the next few months. We also celebrated Jason’s birthday on the 23rd, who received a nice gift sponsored by his brothers and sisters *(see picture), and Jorge’s birthday on the last day of the month. All  filled with happy moments with lots of heartfelt wishes and emotions.

Gloria attended the Orientation Week at Macau University where she begain studying Biomedicine. She is now enrolled at the Uni together with Ben and Joana, each in their own respective faculties.

The month of August was definitely marked by the appearance of Typhoon Hato. One of the strongest typhoons on record, Hato hit Macau full force on August 23^rd, Jason’s birthday. In fact, as we sat in our living room listening to the wind howl at app. 12:30 pm, we were commenting that it was the actual time of Jason’s birth! We were in calm discussion with our neighbors, who by the way had to flee their home as the roof blew off above their heads, until we heard the glass shattering in the upstairs area. The gale winds had found a way in and had lifted the glass doors off their railings, smashing the glass and hurling debris inside and outside the house.  Thank God no one was upstairs when the glass broke…

Hato devastated Macau, killing 12 people, injuring at least 244 and left the city without water and power for days. Winds over 220kmp were recorded and an enormous serge level which caught the territory by surprise and flooded many areas of downtown and outer islands, including the village of Coloane. The city faced a severe challenge in removing huge piles of waste from the streets, with 2,600 tones of debris collected on one day alone. There was an amazing volunteer spirit in cleaning the city, from students to expats to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army!

Thanks to Jorge, Gabriel, Joana, Ben and Jason we were able to clean up our home and the neighborhood in a few days. Jorge repaired the broken door and boarded up the windows upstairs. The boys went to Eman and Mandy”s flat to cover the 5 broken windows there. It was all out teamwork!

Four days later, tropical storm Pakhar brought heavy rain and light winds on Sunday the 27^th. Thankfully, not much damaged was caused. The city of Zhuhai was relatively calm, after Hato had left its path of destruction a few days earlier. We continue to pray as there is another tropical storm in the area, ready to hit landfall somewhere in the next few days……

For He commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof….He makes the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. Psalm 107:25,29

The name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous runneth into it and is safe. Pr 18:10