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Earthquake
Recovery and Rebuilding
The living Gospel going forth in China
I
received the following e-mail Sunday from our Charis family members
serving in China. I have left out names and identifying details; but
as you pray for them, God knows who they are. ~Kristin
Well, I wanted to send a little update. First, I want to say thank
you for your prayers ... they are what helps to sustain us out here
and I know there are things we can't see that happen for our good
due to those keeping us up before the Father.
This last week had a few challenging days ... we were in the heart
of the recent earthquake and the devastation I can not quite
explain ... even in the out-skirting areas it has pretty much been
pummeled ... but inside Beichuan it was unbelievable. One Times
reporter titled his letter “Descent into Hell”... he wasn’t far from
the truth.
Four and Five story mounds of buildings all mangled together…
180-200 thousand residents ... and that is just the start of the
disaster that has a total destruction zone of 40,000 square miles!
The day we got in, there were still many survivors under the rubble
some 3-4 stories down banging/tapping and calling out in muffled
voices ... we walked away knowing many of these would never be
reached ... bodies pretty much strewn in all directions and no time to
bury the dead as the living had little time left ... it was an
impossible task no matter what tools you had due to the location
being in a valley surrounded by steep gorges and mountains that
continually break off and fall into the valley below as the now
4,000+ aftershocks have taken place ... many over 5.0.
We were able to do a bit of good, but definitely not qualified for
such work. Right along with us and doing the brunt of the work was
the Chinese army. They were working their butts off ... not that
things couldn’t have been done better ... but I was quite impressed
with how quickly they responded filling the valley with over 130,000
troops before we left.
Because of the destruction, the roads were destroyed and heavy
machinery could not get in ... so it was picks and crowbars. Our main
task, other than doing basic first aid, was walking around listening
for voices. When we or someone else would hear, we would pull rubble
until we could locate their exact location ... then we would call the
army over and they would get to work. Many were so wedged in, there
was no way to get them out. Having to pass on them to go to the next
one was not an easy task on those that made those decisions.
By the end of the first day as we headed out, the army came in mass
and began sealing out everyone, so we knew getting back in the next
day would be a challenge.
The second day a few friends allowed me to tag along as we tried to
sneak in some back ways or find possible routes over the mountain
into the valley. It was great the Lord provided us a police caravan
that we were able to jump/sneak in with and ride to the front
lines ... and we made it to our destination by some interesting turn
of events that I believe the Lord had His hand in...
After we set off from that area, we went to a new area and were met
with soldiers at each of these new areas. They were doing a good job
at getting first aid and setting up tents for those who had lost
their homes, which is over 5 million as of now. Our hope was to get
ahead of the army as it moves a bit slower and we thought we might
be able to get to some areas before they could. We spent a good deal
of effort trying to get in, or figuring things out, but in the end
we were not able to get in again. But we were able to drop off some
supplies of food and water that hopefully helped one smaller village
that had been decimated on the outskirts of the red zone.
As we left one slope of a mountain where a fairly big landslide had
taken place that made it a bit precarious for crossing, we got back
in the car and headed back finding out later that another earthquake
(5.6) took place and more landslides killed more people in the
valley... ((the earthquake was 8 minutes after we left this highly
volatile area)) I really believe God protected us, even though I was
fairly clueless to the real danger there.
All in all, I was honored to be apart of the efforts. Although at
times I feel my effort was less than a drop of rain in the ocean in
that situation, I am still grateful to have been able to
participate. It helps to understand a bit better what happens when
people lose everything in the world.
There were many situations, even one today, where we found a
possible route to go back down into the valley and we decided
because the time for search and rescue would probably be over by the
time we got there, we decided to hold up and wait till next week
when things calm down and see where we might be of more assistance.
I am reading right now where they are evacuating all evacuation
teams because valley is about to be flooded and we would not have
been able to receive word of such an event.
I realized I needed to go back to the faith board and get a new dose
as I thought about praying for the dead to be raised. When I got
there and saw all the bodies in pieces everywhere, or those bloated,
I thought of Lazarus...same time frame dead 3 days! And I realized
what a puny faith I had for raising the dead ... I was like ... I don't
think so ... I don't think they want to come back with a body like
that. Not to make light of it, but I did realize that Jesus just had
some astonishing faith to pull someone out of the grave like that.
And He said we would do much greater works!!! Man if that doesn’t
stretch my thinking, I don't know what does. But I know He is going
to do that type of stuff through us as a body... and hopefully
sooner than later.
I know this was enormously gargantuan email. In fact, in my life I
don’t know if I have written one this long...
If you got this far, thanks for reading! You deserve a gold medal
for endurance!
The pictures here show a bit of the devastation we worked in, as
well as one of the little girls rescued that day.... she was a
beauty! 3 days under rubble and not a tear---smiling and just
bouncing along. Sometimes I think that is a picture of me. I am
bouncing along in situations not realizing that things could have
turned out much worse. But I know I got a big Dad holding me in His
arms :o)
Love you all,
R
PS: Just as I finished, the building started shaking a bit and we
had another 6.1 earthquake! I'm not sure if this is normal ... 4000+
after shocks ... but it seems kinda strange to me?! It definitely
makes things more interesting, that's for sure.
Just remembered a couple of our team mates who are still up in the
mountains about 40 miles past the quake that is blocking off their
route down. All the cops have left and they are camping out with the
entire town in a nearby field as no one wants to stay in buildings.
They are going to show the Jesus film tomorrow as they all camp out
in their little “woodstock” event. They are having great
opportunities to just hang out, build relationships and share at the
moment ... please keep them in your prayers even more so than us.
Also, I just heard word about the people group we work with-- many
of their houses have been destroyed. Anyway, just a lot of stuff for
us to be praying/thinking about.
_______________________________________________
Our International Charis
Family
Your stories from around the world touch us and we pray for your
safety.
Thanks, Love and Blessings to every one of you!
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