All videos and pictures are by Trevor Curington.
We turned back and forth to each other. “Ha, some day off huh?”
This picture doesn’t lie. We are tired, we are dirty, and torn up from the thorns. But these are the days that you are proud to be apart of.
Here is the story.
~
Elsie, our ministry contact came running in short of breath and panicked.
“There is a fire at the Girls home! Nam will be here in the truck to pick you up in 5 minutes!”
The house of 13 guys got silent. No questions asked, no seconds wasted. We dropped our playing cards, and closed our computer. In no time at all we were out of our church clothes and in our work clothes, we had collected all the buckets we could, and before we knew it all 13 of us and 5 missionaries were sardined into one truck, flying towards the girls home.
Clueless of any details about the fire, we were praying for the best, and grabbing whatever we could in preparation for the worst. We were laughing and excited because we are guys and guys love adventures, mysteries and challenges, and yet we had a sick feeling in our stomach that something terrible could have happened to the 30 little girls living at the ranch that was burning.
~
Crammed into the back of the Tuk Tuk (truck with seats and roof in the back) it was impossible for most of us to see anything outside. It was when Tyler said he could see smoke from about 2 kilometers away when we started to get silent and started praying.
“God we are nothing, and we can’t stop this fire with buckets. But God here we are and we are willing to help. Use us. Protect these girls. Save this property. WE NEED YOU GOD TO STOP THIS FIRE!”
~
The scene was a combination of relief and utter chaos.
There was smoke everywhere, and giant flames jumping from tree to tree in the field, but thankfully it was all on a neighbors property, although it was charging towards our ministry site.
The second problem was that the girls were everywhere with little buckets. Some laughing, some screaming; but all of it dangerous for any 8-12 year old girl.
~Instincts~
There was no real game plan.
No real communication.
The 13 of us just knew that we had to get the girls out of the way, and keep the fire away from the houses. Splitting up we had guys cover the forest section, some covering the garden area, a few to the pond, and a few to the fence.
“Keep the fire back. Keep the fire back. Oh God keep this fire back!” Was all I could pray as John and I took the fence. We moved the girls to the well and had them fill up buckets so we could run them back and forth to wet the line of concret to stop the fire from passing on the ground because we weren’t going to be able to stop it
We chopped down banana trees and cleared the brush to eliminate the fuel. It wasn’t much, but God gave us a favorable wind and started pushing the fire back into itself, so as it met the fence line, the fire would just die.
~
PRAISE THE LORD
You might wonder why I would be so happy with a picture like this.
Well you need to see the whole scene.
When we arrived at the fire, our prayer was that God would hold this fire back.
We had buckets- The flames were huge.
We were 13 ignorent men just trying to help- The fire was a hungry 5 acers big
We had God- God was in control.
Our prayer was “Dear God. Protect our property.”
LET ME SHOW YOU THE PROPERTY.
The fire was intense. The day exhausting. But I see this picture and I am in awe of how God could so greatly protect the girls, the new ministry home, and us.
This fence line IS THE PROPERTY LINE. Not a single flame crossed this line! GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME!
