Bishop sees tsunami damage firsthand

Martinez calls for
prayers, special gifts
to aid disaster victims

 

Bishop Joel N. Martinez is to return Saturday from a weeklong visit to Indonesia, one of 12 countries affected by a tsunami Dec. 26.
Before he left, Martinez called all 135,000 United Methodists in the Rio Grande and Southwest Texas conferences to be in intercessory prayer for people affected by the Dec. 26 earthquake in the Indian Ocean and resulting massive sea waves.
Further, Martinez asks all United Methodist congregations in the two conferences to collect a special offering Jan. 23 for South Asian disaster relief. That money is to go to the United Methodist Committee on Relief.
Martinez, president of the denominational mission agency, led a nine-member United Methodist delegation to Indonesia’s Sumatra region. The group included the chief executive of the General Board of Global Ministries; the top executive of the relief committee, a unit of the mission board; the elected head of the mission board’s Women’s Division; the chief executive of the United Methodist communications agency; and representatives of United Methodist News Service. Martinez was the only bishop.
During the trip, the group was to:
> Discuss with leaders of the Methodist Church in Indonesia how The United Methodist Church could work in partnership with them in relief and long-term recovery efforts.
> Visit Banda Aceh in northern Sumatra to see the aftermath of the tsunami firsthand and Medan in southern Sumatra.
> Deliver 100,000 doses of antibiotics and anti-diarrhea medical from the mission board.
> Stop at hospitals and refugee centers to offer comfort to disaster victims.
Martinez said the group was taking the heartfelt concerns of U.S. United Methodists to Indonesian disaster victims in the form of healing medicine, pastoral care and humanitarian outreach.
The bishop said he intended to share impressions of what he had seen in Sumatra at various clergy and laity gatherings in coming months.
Before leaving, Martinez urged Southwest Texas United Methodists “to become partners of hope with the suffering people of South Asia by giving generously in response to the call of UMCOR for funding for this emergency.”
“The United Methodist Church, along with other ecumenical partners, will be working in South Asia for years to come,” the bishop said in a statement sent to all congregations Jan. 5. “Through UMCOR, the long and patient effort to rebuild the infrastructure of hope in communities and lives of our brothers and sisters in that region will require generous gifts.
“We must, therefore, do all we can now so that the resources for that long-term ministry will be available.”
Southwest Texas United Methodists have always responded generously to people in need, Martinez said.
“I am confident that your prayer, caring and giving will be at a level commensurate with the dimensions of this tragedy in our time,” he said.
The disaster has affected children drastically, Martinez noted.
“It is estimated that up to a third of all those who died were children,” he said. “The survivors among these most vulnerable of God’s little ones are counting on us as they face a difficult future.”
The relief committee has been working since Dec. 26, Martinez said, to respond to the disaster that has affected people in Asia and Africa. The committee sent funds to partner churches in the region to support initial disaster response.
“The General Board of Global Ministries has established the South Asia Emergency, UMCOR Advance No. 274305, as the avenue to receive contributions for relief and reconstruction work,” he said. “One hundred percent of the funds given through this Advance channel will go directly for this ministry of compassion since the administrative costs of UMCOR are cared for by other funding.”