I sat talking with pastor Preval Meritil, longtime friend of Heaven's Family and my host once again for this, my fourth visit to Haiti. Together, we had done a lot of work since the earthquake one year earlier, and this time I was leading another work team, checking on projects that we'd started at our adopted Resettlement Camp, and visiting the orphanages Heaven's Family had been supporting even before the earthquake. Preval told me about another needy orphanage named El Bethel, meaning "House of God." Since El Bethel was on our way to the Resettlement Camp, we decided to visit.

The afternoon was hot, and I welcomed a seat in the shade under a tree. I was in Myebon, a riverside town in southwest Myanmar, bringing relief to victims of Cyclone Giri with one of Heaven's Family's Burmese ministry partners, M.B. Thang. We had just helped a widow and her four children with funds that would enable them to rebuild their flattened home, and the rare sighting of a white guy in this remote area attracted about thirty curious neighbors. M.B. and I took advantage of our captivated audience to share the gospel—and they were very hungry to hear about the Lord. I also told them about Jesus' followers from far away who had sent me to help them.

When I told her the news, San Kyi could not stop her flow of tears, which she quickly wiped away as they streamed down her face. I was glad that they were tears of joy, but as I rejoiced with her, I could not help but think of the untold tears of grief she had wept in the months prior to our meeting.

Six months ago, Cyclone Giri swept across the western coast of Myanmar with 155-mph winds, claiming several thousand lives. Now, as our weathered 40-foot cargo boat chugged slowly up the Laymyo River, I was witnessing the cyclone's devastation with my own eyes. Hills, once blanketed with lush tropical vegetation, were scoured clean except for a few battered, solitary trees. The skeletal frames of former homes stood as silent reminders of the storm's raging fury.