Tuesday mid-day shower was a welcome relief. I had been up most of
the night trying to coordinate a potential shipment of 25 more water
purifiers. It was hot and as the cold water turned warm from the solar
unit, I lathered my hair and sighed a sigh of relief. As I was thrown
to the floor, I heard screams before I actually hit the hard tile. As I
tried to get up I realized the floor kept sliding out from under me and
I could not get a footing to get up. Once I did get up, I realized I
was on the second floor of a four story house and that it was taking
every thought I had to grab a towel and try to get down the stairs that
were swaying like an aerial trapeze. I first realized I had cleared the
house into the crowd of screaming neighbors and at first, I thought it
was due to the continuing earthquake, but in hindsight it was probably
the sight of an old foreigner emerging from the house with just a towel
and a head full of shampoo with a toothbrush still in his mouth. Pretty
scary sight I must admit.
I am not sure what the highlight of the week was as this was just one
of many. For the next 20 minutes we stood clear of the house with the
ground swaying underneath our feet, and it was like trying to run on a
shifting sailboat with nothing to hang on to. I was the better off with
only bruises and a stubbed big toe, I thought I had broken. Tonight I
am writing from inside the house where I will sleep hopefully without
interruption. We have been sleeping in tents since the quake that
measured 7.3 and had six quakes ranging down to 5.8 within 20 minutes.
Sleeping in tent city with many panicked people and hundreds of dogs
barking in unison, military jets taking off at all times during the
night and the rolling of the ground has left for sleepless nights.
I am to be at the airport at this moment, boarding my flight for home, but I am not. Both Mary Jo and I were compelled to extend my stay until Sunday night in an attempt to complete the 2 additional purifiers that New Life International gave us. The quake disrupted our schedule by three days, so here I am, tired, dirty, hungry and entirely happy that God is so good and has allowed me to complete my work here on this trip.
We now have 4 systems installed with one more to install tomorrow and then I will return to the last two installed to purify and train the locals in their operation.
My life here has been an emotional roller coaster that would not only be hard to imagine, but impossible to explain. I have seen what seemed like the worst the devil could dish out and then today. The area of Spindupunchwk which has been the hardest hit is where I have had the privilege to work. I returned for my third trip, and today I was shocked at what lay before me after Tuesday’s quake. Once at a junction where we turned off in a different direction than I had previously been it looked like heaven and hell met. I climbed up a steep one lane road through incredible beauty with pine and other trees and looked out over the massive valley and still higher mountains on the other side. Just then as we rounded the corner, there were signs of fresh landslides across the road. As we traveled for the next 15 miles I passed what I would estimate were the remains of 6000-8000 homes of which there were only approximately 30 standing. I could only count three that looked like they would be safe to enter and the rest was worst than a war zone. Village after village was in total ruin. Most people are so traumatized they just are existing but trying to function. In one village there was a group of multistory homes perched on the side of a 500 foot drop. The homes where strewn down the mountain with the concrete floors still intact but looking like dominos with 12 people still buried under an impossible recovery situation. For almost 2 hours we wound up and down to the village of Sirubari. Here one of the few structures that remain has the second floor slid across the first floor and hanging precariously across the road. It is extremely dangerous as the slightest aftershock will immediately bring it sliding down across the road with no regard to the villagers who must walk past it on this dirt trail.
I then had to hike down ½ mile of Grand Canyon style hiking (you know, the ones with vertical steps of stone and mud going straight up or down) and then we located the area to place the purifier. This has a slow but continuous stream of water and will soon be providing the first hope these people have had.
So many miracles, but they will have to be written when I am conscious. Please pray for those who are so affected; those who are risking their lives to help and to those who are able to support financially. It is easy to continue life as normal and think this only happens to the other country. It is so real, it is so devastating, there is so much pain, anxiety and terror and this is just the beginning. Cholera will hit as soon as the rains come and mudslides will take out hundreds, Malaria will follow with the rain, and this beautiful country with its welcoming people will continue to be hammered by the reality of what the devil would choose for all of us.
I cannot express enough how to take time to love, don’t sweat the small stuff, decide what is really important and follow your heart as God leads.
I am to be at the airport at this moment, boarding my flight for home, but I am not. Both Mary Jo and I were compelled to extend my stay until Sunday night in an attempt to complete the 2 additional purifiers that New Life International gave us. The quake disrupted our schedule by three days, so here I am, tired, dirty, hungry and entirely happy that God is so good and has allowed me to complete my work here on this trip.
We now have 4 systems installed with one more to install tomorrow and then I will return to the last two installed to purify and train the locals in their operation.
My life here has been an emotional roller coaster that would not only be hard to imagine, but impossible to explain. I have seen what seemed like the worst the devil could dish out and then today. The area of Spindupunchwk which has been the hardest hit is where I have had the privilege to work. I returned for my third trip, and today I was shocked at what lay before me after Tuesday’s quake. Once at a junction where we turned off in a different direction than I had previously been it looked like heaven and hell met. I climbed up a steep one lane road through incredible beauty with pine and other trees and looked out over the massive valley and still higher mountains on the other side. Just then as we rounded the corner, there were signs of fresh landslides across the road. As we traveled for the next 15 miles I passed what I would estimate were the remains of 6000-8000 homes of which there were only approximately 30 standing. I could only count three that looked like they would be safe to enter and the rest was worst than a war zone. Village after village was in total ruin. Most people are so traumatized they just are existing but trying to function. In one village there was a group of multistory homes perched on the side of a 500 foot drop. The homes where strewn down the mountain with the concrete floors still intact but looking like dominos with 12 people still buried under an impossible recovery situation. For almost 2 hours we wound up and down to the village of Sirubari. Here one of the few structures that remain has the second floor slid across the first floor and hanging precariously across the road. It is extremely dangerous as the slightest aftershock will immediately bring it sliding down across the road with no regard to the villagers who must walk past it on this dirt trail.
I then had to hike down ½ mile of Grand Canyon style hiking (you know, the ones with vertical steps of stone and mud going straight up or down) and then we located the area to place the purifier. This has a slow but continuous stream of water and will soon be providing the first hope these people have had.
So many miracles, but they will have to be written when I am conscious. Please pray for those who are so affected; those who are risking their lives to help and to those who are able to support financially. It is easy to continue life as normal and think this only happens to the other country. It is so real, it is so devastating, there is so much pain, anxiety and terror and this is just the beginning. Cholera will hit as soon as the rains come and mudslides will take out hundreds, Malaria will follow with the rain, and this beautiful country with its welcoming people will continue to be hammered by the reality of what the devil would choose for all of us.
I cannot express enough how to take time to love, don’t sweat the small stuff, decide what is really important and follow your heart as God leads.
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