Janet Burgess of Mathews recently traveled long distance to assist in disaster recovery in Saipan, the Commonwealth of the North Mariana Islands, in the Western Pacific Ocean.

Burgess had just returned from a mission trip to Tangier Island, where she helped the residents with home repairs, landscaping, and developed what she called her own “ministry of presence,” when she headed on this mission trip two weeks later. Her travel is always mission oriented.

In November, Burgess answered the call in the wake of the Typhoon Soudelor. Amongst the Pacific Islands, 158 homes were destroyed and 296 sustained major damage in the Category 4 storm’s devastation in 2015. As Saipan is a Commonwealth of the United States, the event received a Presidential Disaster Declaration for both individual and public assistance activating the full response of FEMA resources to the island.

Burgess said she received notification of the trip from UMCOR, the United Methodist Committee of Relief...