The Cavalry

Have you ever had an experience in life that made you pay attention to something that was always there, yet never really registered before?

It's been a little over three weeks since our homes and lives were shaken, literally. Before sharing a brief update, allow me to point out the power and sureness of Jesus Christ and His word. A colleague recently highlighted Psalm 62 in light of our circumstances here in Chile. 

"My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him. 

He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken." 

Some things here got shaken. Hard. This includes many who feel shaken in their souls, in how they understand life and death, fear and hope, God. Me...I feel rested, energized even. I feel Jesus present and active. Shaken? No, I feel good. Honest. And you know what, that is Jesus, and it is cool. Really cool.

The cavalry has arrived. What does this mean? This means there are others who have come to be servants and help us display the love of our Savior. This also means we have been able to move full speed ahead with our two main relief objectives: 1) prepare and distribute hot meals for those without a home; 2) construct and deliver temporary shelters. One team from Baptist Global Response (BGR) in Texas has come and gone. With their knowledge and experience, they led the way in setting up a 'field kitchen' in Llico (on the coast of the Gulf of Arauco, south of Concepción) from which we prepared and delivered meals in Llico and Tubul. This required a lot of shopping, loading, and shipping of supplies...especially LOTS of food. After a week, those men headed out and were replaced by a second BGR team. They will be coming back to Temuco tonight since the number of people they were feeding has dwindled...a good sign. We are grateful for their efforts, knowing it wasn't easy or comfortable. Cots, cold showers, long hours, and lots of travel. Saturday a team from Arkansas arrived to help us build shelters. Monday an IMB media team arrived. 17 more arrive on Friday. All are hard at work, hurrying to bless lives and give a taste of what Jesus is like. If we were to tell the story with pictures, it would look like this:

Lots of logistics and travel...

Why we go...

Llico

Tubul...

The field kitchen...

The camps outside Tubul...

"Camp 3. What the wave left behind." 

Sharing a warm meal...

Building temporary shelters...

Plans Change

Today is my birthday.

Originally, the plan was for my family to spend a few vacation days in the beautiful city of Santiago.  When we landed in Santiago last August, after spending 4 months in the tropics, and saw the incredible snow capped Andes mountains hugging the edges of the city... it reminded us of Denver, and we felt like we were home.
Today, Anders was going to indulge me with a visit to Starbucks.  Then a trip to the zoo with our favorite little people.  And at some point in the day, the plan was to replace birthday cake with Dunkin' Dounuts.  But due to the current circumstances it's obvious why we had to cancel my birthday vacation.

"In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps."  Proverbs 16:9

Here's a bit of what today looks like instead.  I'm at home with the kids and a terrible sinus cold.  The Texas BGR team flies home, and the next Texas BGR team arrives.  Trent will be busy with airport runs.  In the meantime, Anders, David, and Linda are up north running the soup kitchen in an area that is in utter ruins.  Llico was hit by a tsunami after the earthquake, a large portion of the community was washed out to sea.  Most of the people are living in tents or make-shift shelters up on the hill.  There is no electricity or clean water, and there has been an outbreak of Hepatitis and Typhoid.  With the help of Baptist Global Response (BGR), we are able to provide hot clean meals for hundreds of people every day.

Lord, thank you for changing the plans.  May my 31st birthday forever be a humbling reminder that my life is not to be all about me.

Week In Review

It's been a week since our last post, we've been so busy that the days have all been running together.  Here's a look at what we've been up to this week in our continual disaster relief effort.

Monday: Spent the day finishing up the care package project.  A little more shopping, some more packing, tying up the boxes, and then loading up the truck with 300 bags of flour and 300 care packages.

Tuesday: Early in the morning, Anders, David, and 2 Chilean friends took off with the loaded truck for the north, to the community of Arauco.  The truck was indeed a blessing, but very slow!  It's putt-puttin' caused the driving time to double.  Once in Arauco, they headed for the local Baptist church to unload the truck.  The government officials, the police force, and the church have all been working together and made a list of homes in greatest need.  We left the care packages with them, and they distributed the boxes on their own.  On the way home, the crew was able to stop and stretch their legs and enjoy a beautiful view.

Wednesday: More shopping, and back to the warehouse to fill 500 boxes.  We had the help of some youth from a local Baptist church.  They have been a huge help, and have provided lots of needed energy.  We also began our project of constructing our first "temporary shelter".  Once food is no longer an issue in these hard-hit communities, housing will remain an issue.  Our hope is to begin a sort of assembly line production in making these temporary shelters.  

Thursday: This was a day that reminded us that we are still in an earthquake zone, and things are not over yet.  In the early afternoon, just south of Santiago, a large aftershock occurred measuring at a 7.2.  About 15 minutes later there was another large aftershock measuring at a 6.9.  Simultaneous to this event, Chile's presidential power was trading hands.  The new president was giving his inauguration speech, with many other world leaders present for the occasion.  The powerful quake hit, a new tsunami alert was posted, and the presidential crowd headed for the hills because the occasion was taking place on the coast.  At the same time our first volunteer team, coming in from Texas, was in the Santiago airport at the time of these large aftershocks.  They said everyone ran in different directions looking for cover, so they thought they should do the same.  They were stuck in the Santiago airport for 6 hours waiting for their flight to Temuco, and counting the numerous rumbles that followed.  They arrived in Temuco around 8 p.m.  After a spaghetti dinner we began making plans for what to do next.  This team is a part of Baptist Global Response and their specialty is setting up a large outdoor "soup kitchen" that can feed thousands of people in one day.

Friday:  Trent, David, and 2 of the BGR team members drove up north to find the best location for the soup kitchen as well as work out details with community officials.  Anders, a couple of our national partners, and the other 2 BGR team members go shopping for their kitchen equipment.  This was an all day event.  But to finish off the day, they were back at the warehouse to load the 500 boxes into a Micro bus.  Whew!

Saturday (today):  Anders, and a car full of youth, are following the Micro bus up north to deliver the 500 care packages.  They will drop some off in Canete, and they will hand deliver some to homes located out in the country that have not received assistance.  The rest of our team and the BGR team are putting together the menu for the soup kitchen and will then begin another shopping trip.  Our hope is that by Monday we will have the kitchen set up and running and ready to feed 3,000 people a day.

* You're prayers are a crucial part of this relief effort!  God has been abundantly pouring his grace upon us as well as opening doors and working in the little details of this effort.  We ask your continued prayers for God's supernatural strength and stamina.  Thank you all for your prayers and support!