Greetings and love from the Presbyterian church of Pakistan. I trust in the Lord that you are fine. I am pleased to share with you about our continuing relief work for the victims of flood. Presbyterian church of Pakistan is vigorously involved in caring for the victims of floods. Out team of ten people went to Noshehra on October 7th. Noshehra is about 400 miles from Gujranwala. It is the second largest city inKhyber Pakhtoon Khwa, and one of the most important city of this province. Nosherha is also one of the worst hit city of Pakistan. River Kabul runs through this beautiful city. And this very river devastated the entire town. We saw and experienced the desolation cause by this mighty river first hand. I myself and my team worked very hard to work with the Diocese of Peshawar to understand what was the most important and immediate need of the people. We found out that kitchenware was the most needed stuff. Then we worked extremely hard at putting the goods together. As per our commitment, we continue to provide the very best of whatever we decide to provide to the victims of flood. We chose for each family, 1 Melamine Dinner set, consisting of 75 pieces. And one set of Stainless Steel kitchenware. Steel ware consisted of 3 cooking pots, 1 water set consisting of 1 jug and 6 glasses, 2 ladles, a cutlery set, and some other small things.

I praise God for the very dedicated and extremely hard working team that God has given me. Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Pakistan has great heart for the relief work is always personally involved in these efforts. We purchased the best quality stuff directly from the factories. Gujranwala is the biggest manufacturer of both Melamine and steel ware. In this way we eliminated the middle man and bought the needed thing at much reasonable prices. Melamine dinner sets came in beautiful boxes, but we have to pick steel pots from the factory unpacked and in the big sacks. We collected the entire item on October 6th and brought them to the Gujranwala Theological seminary. Then it was a huge effort to pack steel items in the boxes and load them on to the trucks. Almost 40 Seminary students have been volunteering themselves regularly for our relief efforts. You can see some of the activity captured by the camera. Our task was made bit difficult by the late delivery of steel goods from the factory. We could hardly finish packing and loading the truck by 1am October 7th. We had a plan to embark on this new adventure by 2am. As soon as the truck was loaded we sent the truck off with our prayers. Two young seminarians accompanied the truck bound to Noshehra. We could hardly close our eyes before it was time to hit the road. We traveled once again on the great Grand Trunk Road, that originates from Feroze pur, India and goes all the way to Peshawar. We arrived in Rawalpinid, where once again Rev.and Mrs. Samuel Titis welcomed us to their house at St.Paul’sPresbyterian Church. We enjoyed their hospitality and had breakfast in their lovely home. We most grateful for their hospitality. From there we restarted our journey to Noshehra. Rev. Wasim Riaz joined us from Texilla. We arrived in Noshehra at about 11am. Two seminarians, Christopher Daniel and Basharat Rashid, with the hug truck filled with stuff, had already arrived there. The truck was unloaded in the beautiful campus of the Christ church. People had already gathered there. Christ Church’s school staff led by the principal, Mrs. Qamar Ibal, helped us in down loading the truck and putting the stuff in the Church. They also were of great help in preparing the list of recipients and distribution. Unfortunately, Rev. Salamat Masih, pastor in charge and my former student was unable to join us. But his mother and wife, as well as his church staff helped us a lot and provided us with best of their hospitality. Church was filled with the people Christians, Hindus and Muslims, all there. Before the distribution we worshipped together and gave thanks to God for sparing the lives of those people from the most terrible of floods. We distributed 500 dinner and kitchen sets to the needy people. In the beginning it went well, but towards the end it became very difficult to control the people. People, largely women started pressing and pushing us in there bid to get their hands on the stuff. Although we had brought lots of stuff but it seemed so little in the face of huge need that people have. It took us 5 hours to distribute 500 boxes.

We had lunch on the bank of river Kabul. The lunch was provided by the Christ Church. We enjoyed fresh fried and Bar B Q fish and Kabuli Palao. As the food was being prepared we ventured into the River on a small boat and dipped our hands into the water that destroyed most of Noshehra. I believe that relief organizations are only dipping their hands, in their efforts to help, while victims of flood have been drowned. Getting into the boat and enjoying the most delicious food were the only relaxing moments in our entire journey. We finished distribution by 7pm and kindly refusing the cup of tea, we hit the road back to Gujranwala. We arrived back exactly at midnight. We give thanks to God for his goodness and grace on us there was no mishap.

Although our team were suffering from long travel, restlessness and sleeplessness, next day we started preparing for the next trip to Rahim Yar Khan. We had a very little space we had plan to go to Rahim Yar Khan on 10th. I was feeling little sick when we went to Noshehra. As we were preparing for Rahim Yar Khan, I started running fever, soar throat, Nasal congestion, cough and head-ache. Yet I had to keep up with the work load. We loaded 2 big trucks of food items, dinner sets, winter bedding and tents for over 300 families and sent them off to Rayim Yar Khan at about 4 am this morning. I could not accompany the team which is on its way to serve the victims of floods in five different areas of Distt. Rahim Yar Khan. It is 14 hours journey by road. THIS TIME A MEDICAL TEAM OF 6 DOCTORS AND NURSES IS ALSO GOING WITH THE TEAM. We will be setting up medical camp for 4 days. We hope to serve over 3000 people there. Please pray for the safety and security of the relief team. Please continue to pray for me and other leaders who are working very hard to share the love of Christ with poor and needy people. As winter sets in, people will be needing warm clothes, blankets and other winter related bedding. More than that rebuilding of their permanent houses will be a greatest need. Please pray for the rehabilitation of the victims of floods. I will be sending few pictures with this email. But lots of pictures will be available on the PCP website:

www.presbyterianchurchpk.org

I thank most sincerely all those who are helping us with there prayers and financial gifts. May God bless you all.

Sincerely,
Rev.Dr.maqsood Kamil
Executive Secretary
Presbyterian Church of pakistan