My Amazing team (plus a crazy kiwi down front)
Leading this trip to New Zealand you wouldn’t think I’d be
stretched as much as 11 months of traveling through mostly 3rd world
countries, but in less than 2 weeks, I’ve been challenged in ways I hadn’t
experienced all of last year. I’ve entered into a whole new kind of
brokenness and received strength from the Lord in ways I sought out during Race
where I was rather comfortable, or as comfortable as one can be on trip such as
that. Who would have guessed in a rather
first world beautiful New Zealand that I would experience all those things I
hoped and longed for during the World Race?
After a week of getting settled in our beautiful base camp
of El Rancho in Waikanae Beach, Christchurch had been struck by another devastating 6.3 magnitude earthquake (the same
magnitude that left most of the older buildings of the city in ruins from this
past February). We were already
planning on making a trip to Christchurch at some point during our stay in NZ,
but now there was obviously a more pressing need for this team to get down
there ASAP. What can I say except that
the Lord opened up the right doors for us to get down there in record time.
We were able to partner with the an amazing church called Grace Vineyard
which is situated right in the heart of where the quakes did the most damage to
the residential areas. So we became
like first responders arriving on the scene where the city and volunteer organizations
were absolutely exhausted and feeling hopeless facing earthquake after
earthquake. The city was just starting
to see real progress in the recovery efforts from the February quake when they
rocked again by another devastating one last week.
So we drove down in faith, not even sure there was
sufficient housing for everyone. But
upon arrival several homes in the community had contacted Grave Vineyard and offered to house any volunteer
workers. So not only did our team have
cozy houses to stay every night, but amazing hot meals to come home to after
long days of hard work that were more physically, emotionally, and spiritually
draining than almost anything I’ve experienced.
One of the biggest issues among the local residents is liquefaction. Lique-what?
Most of the residential areas in Christchurch are build on a
swamp/marsh. So when the earth shakes,
the sand and silt mix with the water and are forced up filling people’s yards
and for many their homes with a thick clay-like substance that dries to a
cement like mixture. The government has
determined that nearly 2 billion dollars worth of homes and properties will be
deemed unlivable causing a mass shift/displacement of the city’s population. At least 5000 homes in the local area will be
forcibly displaced due to damage caused by liquefaction.
One of the main jobs that we were able to help in is going
around to homes of the elderly or single parent’s and help them dig out literally
tons of liquefaction from their yards and around their homes with shovels and a
wheel-barrel that they could not do on their own. It was back breaking work, but so
appreciated by the wearisome residents who face upwards of 24 quakes a day,
most very small, but I felt about a dozen tremors in my week there, one of them
lasting nearly 10 seconds at a magnitude 5.3.
My wonderful co-leader, Tanna, working the barrel… we moved massive amounts of silt!
It was an incredible opportunity to help those in need in
what is being called New Zealand’s worst disaster in modern history. I don’t know why the Lord allows tragedies
like this to happen, but what I do know is that to love your neighbor as
yourself is rarely more powerful than when people are in their greatest
need. God comforts us so that we can
comfort others…
(Promise I’ll post a less wordy blog next time with more pictures!)
