Preface: El Shaddai
orphanage sits on top of a mountain overlooking valleys and other
mountains. There is quite a bit of land
the orphanage is situated on and there is also a primary school by the entrance
of the orphanage. Wildfires are common
among these mountains due to dry long grass.
Thursday:
During the afternoon around 1 or 2,
a fire is started in the valley next to us.
We think nothing of this because there is always a fire burning
somewhere. Apparently there was also a
fire started a little farther up in that same valley probably around the same
time. By dinner time, the entire side of
the fire is starting to look angry. Oh
and one hill, the fire spelled out the word GOD. Think of that what you may. Right after dinner the fire has spread the
entire length of the orphanage so there’s a fire covering one side of our mountain. It starts to move up the mountain straight
for us. We watch as these two small boys
put out the fire coming for where we’re staying. We then run down to the boys and girls dorms
because that’s the next danger spot.
This time it’s time for action – no more just standing around watching
10 year old boys put out this fire. We
run down straight for the fire. One of
the boys gets us branches off a tree for our weapons. We go out at it full force, attacking the
fire with our tree branches. In case
you’re wondering how you put out a wildfire with branches, you basically just
hit it with all your might until it goes out.
It’s a complete God thing that the fire actually goes out and your stick
doesn’t catch fire itself.
We get
the fire out before it’s close to any part of the boys or girls dorms. We move down and it’s pretty much contained
the length of the orphanage. Yay we
saved the orphanage! But wait, it starts
moving quickly toward the school. The school
has no fire break in front of it to help contain the fire. So we start running in our flip flops in the
dark toward the school. We make it there
just in time to get out a fire that’s heading for the back of the school where
they have a garden. We then watch and
wait as the fire it quickly moving up toward the side of the school yard. It came quickly and full force. The fire got into the school yard where
people were waiting and bravely put it out through the thick smoke and tall
flames. I somehow managed to be
completely surrounded by fire at one point so I just started beating all around
me as fast and as hard as I can. God was
completely protecting me from not inhaling too much smoke or ash. After about 20 minutes we got that fire
out. Yay we saved the school!! By now
it’s about 8 o clock and we’re all exhausted since we’d been fighting fires for
the last few hours so some of us head to bed.
Right when we get all settled into bed, we get a call that the fire is
back in the school yard. Thankfully
there were some people still down there that were able to get the fire out but
they said it was bigger and smokier than the one we had just put out. Angels must have been helping big time in
that one.
Sunday:
So
let’s fast forward to Sunday. Most of
the mountains to one side of us are completely burned. One of our girls is preaching in the chapel
on the property that morning. She got
this really cool word from God about fire.
About letting the Holy Spirit burn away the bad parts so that He can
grow new better things. She even had an
illustration with paint and everything that showed the fire and the new growth. It was really good stuff and very applicable
since the fire had just occurred a few days earlier. We decide to hang up the picture she painted
during the service up in our kitchen just as a reminder of what she talked
about.
That
afternoon must of us are resting in our rooms.
Some people were sleeping, some people were working on a mural they’re
doing on the backside of the building we’re staying in, and some people were
down doing craft time with the kids. I
was working on some pictures and other things on my computer. All the sudden I hear Andrew and Lauren
running around outside and Andrew frantically knocks on the door. He comes in and says, “Get your stuff. It’s right there.� Right at this point Jess comes running into
the room and was like “Hurry up. We have to go!� Now I am extremely confused since I have no
idea what they’re talking about. I turn
around and look out the window and all I can see is flames. A fire had come up the back side of the
mountain and there was no containing it.
I then FREAK OUT and grab some of my stuff. Then me and Jess open the door and run
out. The smoke is so thick you can
barely see in front of you and you definitely can’t breathe. We run up to the chapel – that’s the furthest
place on the property away from where we’re staying.
At the
chapel the people who were doing crafts with the kids get filled in on what’s
happening and decide to run down and try to get their stuff. Outside the chapel window you can see the
fire raging, coming quickly towards us.
We gather the kids in there and run to the baby house – where the
younger kids live. We get all the kids
in and put down our stuff. It’s time to
fight another fire – this one bigger and much closer to home. We head first to the back of the girls and
boys dorms. Now we have fire raging on
every side of the mountain. It’s coming
in all directions, and it’s fast and very hot.
I start beating one area of the fire, but the wind was blowing so hard
every time you’d put out a part the wind would light the embers back up. We grab buckets and start filling them up
with water and throwing it on the fire.
We were finally able to get that part of the fire under control so that
the children weren’t in danger any more.
We move down behind the pig pin and start fighting there. Hours later, the fire was finally out for the
most part, and we were able to breathe again.
We walked down to where we stay and checked out the damage. The fire literally goes around all of our
buildings but did not touch a single building.
It was all Jesus – He stopped the fire right before it got to our
houses.
All I can say is that there were
angels with us that day. No one was
injured and no major property damage was done.
I can’t describe to you how terrifying it was and how close it was to
setting everything on fire. Charmain’s
back yard was completely destroyed, and lots of fences were lost because they
are held together using wood posts. Most
of the grass is burnt and dead now. You
walk outside and see and smell the remainders of that day. It’s definitely a reminder of what
happened. It didn’t seem real when it
was happening, but it most definitely did.
All I have to say is God is SO good!
And your prayers for us are powerful and effective! Now
there are tons of interpretations of why this happened, you can think about it
and decide for yourself. I’m still
trying to figure it out myself.
