Love in Action

Report from Texas, USA

Disasters are Ephemeral
but Master’s Love is Endless

By Robert Yuan, Houston, Texas (Originally in English)

Just two weeks after Hurricane Katrina struck the southeastern United States, Hurricane Rita developed off the coast of Florida, becoming a Category 5 storm with winds of over 160 miles an hour (257km/hr) and breaking Katrina’s record as the most intense hurricane in the region’s history.  However, through God’s grace, Rita missed the city of Houston and weakened before making landfall on the Louisiana-Texas border on September 24, 2005. 

Heeding Master’s August 27 instruction to “always in the future” respond to disasters, local initiates quickly organized a Supreme Master Ching Hai relief team with headquarters in Houston, even as millions of residents were evacuating the city. However, the initiates soon learned that their aid mission would be challenging since all the food, bottled water and gasoline in the area had been promptly bought up by residents stockpiling supplies in the days before the hurricane was scheduled to strike.

Thus the Houston team asked initiates from other centers, including those from out of state, to bring food and water to the headquarters. A number of out-of-state practitioners then formed volunteer teams and promised to arrive with relief supplies before the hurricane hit the coast, overcoming many obstacles to obtain the items, which were in great demand as far away as Oklahoma City, Dallas and Austin. The initiates arrived in Houston only an hour before the hurricane arrived and as they entered the headquarters, Rita’s winds and rain quickly intensified.

On the next morning, September 24, the wind speed at the disaster sites gradually decreased to 60 miles an hour (97km/hr), so the initiates loaded their vehicles with relief supplies and traveled to the hardest hit areas in Beaumont and Port Arthur, Texas, 100 miles (161km) away.

As the team arrived in Beaumont, the wind and rain began to subside but the roads had been blocked off by the police to prevent looting and to keep people safe from the dangerous fallen electrical lines and debris that cluttered the streets. As the workers approached the police barricade they asked for permission to bring food and water to the disaster area but were politely refused. Not giving up, the convoy proceeded to the next freeway exit praying for Master’s help in accomplishing their mission. Then after some questioning, the police allowed the relief party to cross their barricade and the initiates had to drive carefully through debris, fallen trees and downed electrical lines.  As they surveyed the area, the volunteers noticed that most of the residents had evacuated as recommended by the authorities; however, they did not give up and combed the streets for survivors.

After some searching, the sisters and brothers encountered a local man and asked if he knew of any place where people needed relief supplies. He responded, “Yes,” adding, “I haven’t eaten in more than two days as the evacuation resulted in the local stores being closed.” Then Master answered the initiates’ prayers as the man volunteered to take them to neighborhoods that needed provisions. The team next went from neighborhood to neighborhood, distributing supplies at apartment complexes and hotels where the residents thanked them and encouraged them in their efforts. Many of the initiates in turn humbly thanked the local people for giving them the opportunity to serve others and thus serve God. During the distribution process, the sisters and brothers experienced many time- and space-transcending moments, in which neither victims nor rescuers but only pure love seemed to exist! As the day neared its end, the team said farewell to their God-sent local helper and departed.

Then on Sunday September 25, the initiates assembled an even bigger convoy including three large rental trucks and three vans, and again set off to the Beaumont area for another day of miracles. The plan was to split up and go to Port Arthur, Jasper, Lumberton, Vinton and other towns also affected by Rita.  Next, as the convoy neared Beaumont, it stopped for a meeting near the Interstate-10 highway, and one of the brothers walked to the nearby Elegante Hotel to obtain information on the local situation. He returned with another God-sent messenger, who reported that the Hotel was full of Katrina evacuees who had also been affected by Rita and were in desperate need of food and relief. The messenger got the team past the nearby police barricade, and as the initiates’ trucks pulled into the Hotel entrance, they were greeted by the forgotten Katrina victims’ cheers and clapping. Then news teams from CBS, ABC, NPR, BBC, Fox and other media outlets, many of whom seemed to come from nowhere, began interviewing our relief workers, who efficiently distributed food to the needy victims. Basic food items such as bread, jelly and peanut butter became instant delicacies as they were devoured by the recipients, who also eagerly savored dry instant noodles right out of the bag, making even the initiates’ mouths water.

As the brothers and sisters completed their mission in Beaumont, an elderly woman who managed the Port Arthur Holiday Inn volunteered to take them to more needy people in Port Arthur, and promised to get them past a barricade established by police. This was a great surprise since the disciples had earlier decided to skip Port Arthur due to news reports warning people not to go near the city, which was still flooded. And although only the military and rescues workers with permits were being allowed in, the disciples realized that they should drop their preconceived ideas and follow God’s will! With this new God-sent helper, the disciples successfully passed through the police barricade. Then upon arriving at the Holiday Inn and being greeted by several officers, the practitioners politely asked how they could help the victims. The police replied that the local residents who had not evacuated before Rita struck were in desperate need of food. Representatives of the team were then introduced to the city’s mayor, Oscar Ortiz, and the chief of police. It turned out that Mayor Ortiz was also a victim as his home had been damaged by Rita, and he and the chief sincerely thanked the team and offered their assistance. In response, one of the disciples said, “It would be helpful if you could give us authorization to go through the police barricades so that we can help those in need.” The Mayor then presented the team with an emergency relief certificate signed by him and the chief, who later sent two officers to deliver a second certificate to a group of initiates down the street unloading supplies.

As the team continued their miraculous day of relief work back in Beaumont, they were met by another guide, a local man who took them to a hurricane-damaged condominium for the elderly that lacked power, food and water on a sweltering day. The man was so touched by the initiates’ sincerity that he joined the team in bringing food and water up many flights of stairs to the victims who were either too old or too weak to walk down to the lobby. At one stage of the project when the recipients asked for bread, which had run out earlier, the team members looked at each other in bewilderment. Then, thankfully, one of the brothers found a previously unnoticed box of bread among some boxes of gasoline cans, thus brightening the eyes of the elderly victims, who hugged the team in appreciation. To the workers, this experience alone made their efforts worthwhile. With their supplies depleted, the initiates next dropped their helper on the side of the highway near his apartment and saw him fight back tears while waving goodbye to the convoy as it headed back to Houston.

On the third day after the hurricane struck, the military moved in to assist the victims, but the relief team members nonetheless continued their work by distributing a new batch of supplies purchased the night before in Houston.

After this last distribution effort was completed, the sisters and brothers were escorted by local officers back to police headquarters, where they donated their remaining items and happily concluded their mission.

As the team members looked back on their three days of Hurricane Rita relief work in the Beaumont and Port Arthur areas, they were awestruck at all the miracles that had occurred and at the love they experienced with the help of Master, Who led and taught them each step of the way. And through the Katrina and Rita disasters, the initiates also came to realize that while purifying the planet, God also bestows Hiers love on Earth through their efforts.♥