Humility is something that I felt today as Tiffany, Peter Marc and I went and visited three families who lost their homes in the earthquake and who were each given a temporary house to live in. These are the same houses that were donated to Jacob's Well Camp and they are given to families/people who lost their homes from the earthquake. Gersan's church has given 22 homes to people and plan to give another 28 by the end of August.
One of the families has a blind man, his wife, their daughter, son, and two grandchildren. The man could see some lights and shadows and some figures before his house collapsed on him, but now he is totally blind. The wife, mother and husband were all in the house when the walls and the roof collapsed on them burying them inside. The wife and daughter were cooking dinner when it happened and they were able to craw their way out. It was a few minutes later when the son said "where is my father?" and they realized that he was still under the debris. They then went and rescued him. They were overjoyed to have this house donated to them and they are extremely proud of it, because it is theirs.
Another family that we met and talked to lost their home and they are living on the same place as their house used to be. The woman is a trained nurse but currently doesn't work. She lives with her boyfriend right now but they plan to marry next month. She has a daughter who was pregant during the earthquake and gave birth to a son a month and a half later. They also have another grandson and another member of their family who is handicapped because of injuries from the earthquake. None of their family lost their lives during the quake, but some were injured.
The first family that we visited and for me one of the most encouraging ones, is the family of a woman who lost 11 of her family members during the quake. Her husband, son and a couple of other members are still alive and live with her. She was only able to recover two of her family from the debris that used to be her house, the other nine are still buried. She invited us in and told us to sit down on two of her beds and she had her grandson in her arms the entire time. She told us of what happened and how her life has been since that day. Can you imagine loosing 11 members of your family all at once? Unbelievable.
All three families, when asked if they believed in Jesus Christ, all said that they do. They all praise Him for saving their lives and for giving them the houses. They don't know Gersan at all and are still amazed that they were able to receive a new house. To me, this afternoon was a truly humbling experience. These people lost everything (material wise) and some of them lost their family members. They were buried beneath rubble, injured and confused, yet they praise the God who saved them and has blessed them since.
All of them are extremely proud of their new homes and they were overjoyed to have us come and talk to them. I would not be suprised if it made their day, it certainly made mine. They each invited us in, offered us chairs or a place to sit and were very open about telling about their experience. We prayed over each family and a couple of them broke down crying during that time. You could just see the gratitude in their faces and smiles. They meant it.
Today was a life changing experience for me, Tiffany and Peter Marc. Tiffany and I talked with Gersan about it just before dinner and he told us that he is happy that we got to go. I told him that even though I just went along for the ride, I like to watch and listen to people, so for me to sit there and hear their stories, that was incredible. I hope that you are moved by these three accounts of the grace of God and the praise that He is receiving from these families.
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