12 | January 2025
The Ministry of Presence after Flooding in Spain By Dr. John Heading, Ohio Disaster Relief director
The ministry of presence is the first mission of Ohio Di - saster Relief. People who experience traumatic events need to talk and express their feelings. In late October, a massive flood struck the Valencia re - gion of Spain. An Ohio Disaster Relief team respond- ed to a call from missionaries in the area to come and help. Our team went from shop to shop in Paiporta, Spain, with the missionaries to talk to the survivors. These are their stories. Andrea is a young, single lady who operates a cleaning business out of a small shop in Paiporta. As her work day wound down on October 29, she was getting ready to make the five kilometer trip to her apartment. It began to rain. In just a short time the street in front of her shop flood - ed. She saw a car float by, and soon a city bus floated past her shop.
Roseanna cooks Valencia paella for the Ohio DR team.
During our time in Paiporta, we encountered a man who came to help with the flood recovery and was helping rebuild a hostel. He walked to Paiporta the day after the flood and saw bodies along the road. Every shop owner on the street had a story to tell, and our Ohio DR team practiced the ministry of presence as we cleaned up the destruction and shared the gospel with many of the storm’s victims. And then there’s Roseanna. She is a retired surgeon who hadn’t had a long conversation with anyone for over two years. Our team met her on the sidewalk outside our hotel. We invited her to join us for coffee at the church around the corner, and she said yes. She came every day at 9 am for coffee and conversation. On the night before we left, she made everyone Valencia paella. In just a few days, on a sidewalk she never uses, Rose- anna found a new family. “It’s not just work, it’s people,” said Angela Jolley, IMB missionary to Valencia, Spain. Disaster Relief is about the people we meet and the hope of Jesus we get to share with them.
Shop owner Andrea with Ohio DR Team members in Paiporta, Spain.
Scared, she called her father and he told her to go to the highest point in her shop, which was a storage room with shelves. She climbed onto the top shelf and for the next seven hours, she stayed there as the flood waters in her shop rose to seven feet deep and began to fill the storage area. The water stopped rising before it got to her. Across the street from Andrea’s shop was the local ex- ercise club. We met the guys who operate the club. On the night of the flood they had to knock a hole in the wall to swim out of the club with a couple other people. We also interacted with the owner of a private police academy who joined his fellow officers after the flood to start search and rescue in the area. He discovered a number of bodies of the victims.
“Thank you Volunteers, Always Loved”-- Valencia, Spain.
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