TEAM BLOG: The following event happened on our second morning at the church of our ministry site in India. These recollections are all true and really happened…..unfortunately!
Tyler:
At 5:30 am this morning I woke to a HUUUUGE crash in the room where we were all sleeping! I heard glass crashing and screams all around me. It was still dark and at this point I was on my feet, but so disoriented. I was going somewhere, but had no idea where. With the chaos I started crouching as I ran to avoid the people/bullets/rocks that were coming through the windows at me. I wasn’t sure exactly what it was, but I knew it was BIG and I had to get low to the ground to protect myself! I remember thinking during this moment, “I hope my mom knows that I love her!!” (Sorry rest of my family for not thinking about you too, but there wasn’t enough time) With all the chaos I really thought we were all dead. At about this point I also caught the glimpse of an Indian and felt him brush past my left shoulder. I knew he was heading towards the front door to get outside. It felt like there were 50 other Indians in the room at this point and everyone was still running around and still screaming. The locals knew we were Christians and that we were staying in the church. I knew they had either come to kidnap one of us or they were stealing our laptops. I knew if they made it back to the front door and got it open then it would be much harder to stop them. So as the Indian that had brushed past me reached for the handle to the door, I put him in a headlock and took him to the ground. We landed at the base of the door. The screaming, running, and noise all culminated around me in what I could now tell was a pile of people……
Michael:
Derek and I both woke up at 5:15am to the comforting sound of fans starting up thanks to our fickle electricity turning back on. After turning the lights off, I drifted back to sleep. 15 minutes later, it happened. A loud ear-splitting shatter busted through the room like a grenade and I jolted up, disoriented, and darted to the door as I heard screams. On the way, I picked up the first person I saw, Emilee. My first thought was that someone had busted down the door and was trying to steal our items. Still on instinct, I get tackled to the ground by one of many attackers. I brace myself as I anticipate the initial blow…
Beka
All of a sudden I am huddled in a ball in the corner of the church. My heart is pounding harder than I have ever experienced. I am surrounded by my team family; we are all shaking and panting. What has just happened to us? All I know is that I was frightened from my bed by a loud crash and saw through blurred vision and sleep filled eyes what appeared to be a pack of rabid kangaroos running across the church in a panic. On my way running away from this band of rabid animals I was trampled several times before I reached the huddled mass of bodies. For a brief moment I thought this might be the end of me, here in this small rural village in India.
Christina
I have no idea what is happening, or what just happened. I heard screaming, crashing, and remember hearing my own voice yell, “JEEEEEEESUUUUUUSSSSS!” The cotton balls in my head are starting to clear. I am no longer on top of my sleeping mat. Miraculously I have come to the front door of the church we are staying at. I do not remember how I got there. I look around and see my teammates. We are all out of breath, and our hearts are pounding rapidly. I feel adrenaline rushing through my veins. I ask loudly, “”Why are we screaming? Why are we here?”
Derek
I remember waking at 5:25am. I moved from my sleeping pad to sit on the step of the small stage in the church building, turned sauna, underneath a fan. Within a minute of finding relief from the heat I dosed off to sleep….. BOOM!!! I lurched violently to my feet, skin jumping off of my bones, as I heard the door busted down five feet away from me. Not a second later the sound of machine gun fire filled the room. I felt an intravenous shot of adrenaline and got tunnel vision as I looked up to see my wife and the rest of my team in sheer terror frantically scramble off of their sleeping pads towards the front door of the church. Round after round pumped through the glass windows and concrete walls of God’s house. I saw the bullet time animation of The Matrix become my life. Emilee and Michael were the first to make it to the door. As I sprint for the door I see Tyler duck and run as the projectiles nearly skim over his head and liter the floor. As he joined the first of our team he swallowed them with his six foot four inch wingspan. With no time to react Alison and Beka ram into them creating what looked like a five car pile up. Glass still shattered and bullets still ripped our fortress apart as Christina scurried over in desperation to reach our team. Closing in on my destination I realized that I was heading for a dead end. The front door was still latched and no one had attempted to free us. I slide on my knees like a figure skater and slam into the huddled mass covering my wife and team. I suddenly recall a challenge that the AIM staff gave at our World Race Launch about being the “First To Die.” The death they implied was metaphorical of course, but I had no idea that death was about to become a physical reality for me. I was the cherry on the top of the cake, the last linebacker to jump on the pile. For a moment there was a petrified silence and the cease of gunfire. Violently I turn my head to say hello to the “little friend” of the guerilla that had my number. Gripped with fear like panicked jack rabbits we all yelled and cried out, “Jesus!” He was the only one that could save us now. This was the longest six seconds that I was sure would result in the quickest end to my life. I had read about martyrs in books, but didn’t think that I would become one.
Emilee
At this point, I am in a deep sleep after a long day of ministry. All of a sudden, BOOM!!! I hear someone busting down the back door and machine guns going off. Men dressed in black filled the room. Disoriented, I find myself crawling over Alison. Michael grabs me and we run frantically towards the front door. This is it. We are about to get martyred for our faith. The team huddles in front of the door. My heart is pounding in my chest as I realize what’s about to happen. Willing to risk their lives, Tyler and Derek run in front of us to guard the team. I hear Christina yell “JESUS!”
Alison
I was in the middle of a deep sleep and all of the sudden there was a GIANT boom and crash. It was all in slow motion to me. I looked up, saw Michael crawling across the floor as fast as he could in my direction, picking up Emilee on the way. Tyler was just behind him on his feet, bending forward, with arms flaring. It looked like the Matrix. I knew there was either some rabid animal that had come through the window. I scrambled to get to my feet, but before I made it to my feet I ran head first straight into Beka and knocked her over. Then we both scrambled to the corner where I finally made it to my feet and turned around to find the rest of my team scrambling across the floor to the corner. Then I heard Christina yelling “Why are we over here? Why are we screaming?”
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At this point we all looked up and realized the room was empty. The only person we saw was Abraham, our translator, who had been asleep on the stage at the rear of the room. He was waving his arms and saying something, but we couldn’t quite make it out. He turned and walked back towards the rear of the room and was looking at the back window. We thought now that this window must have been where the noise and chaos originated. Abraham then bent down and told us that the noise was…………..
A SET OF CONGO DRUMS, A SNARE AND A TAMBOURINE!!
They had fallen over when the ceiling fans kicked back on after the electricity had returned after being off a couple of hours. When they fell, the snare was punctured. The tambourine rolled off the stage and continued rolling for about 5 more yards. The sound echoed off the church walls. This was the sound that we mistook for shattering glass/bullets/grenades/ etc. Even with this revelation our hearts were still beating ridiculously fast and we had about as much adrenaline running through us as is physically possible. The Indian that I, Tyler, tackled was actually Mike. In my defense it was dark, but he told me later that he thought I was jumping on him to protect him and he remembers telling me, “Thanks bro” after I got him to the ground.
Later that morning the people who live around the church asked our translator why we had been screaming so loudly before it was even daylight. They wanted to know what was going on. Abraham told them and I quote, “They were just playing before they woke up.” Yeah, not sure if that one made it through translation. Haha. And in typical Abraham fashion he told us, “Things don’t make sense when you sleep. No problem!”
Things absolutely didn’t make sense for those 6-8 seconds of time. This blog probably doesn’t give justice to what we experienced. It was by far the craziest thing any of us have ever been a part of!! Welcome to the World Race!
