We waited a little bit for the ground to settle and were instructed to stay seated and to not move until further notice. In a matter of minutes our leaders made the decision for us to go. They instructed us to pack up our things as fast as we could because we needed to get up the mountain before another earthquake or aftershock due to landslide and more falling structures. So, we packed up as fast as we could, there was no time to waste. As we packed, people were crying, I was crying. People were praying, I was praying. It was an unintentional holy rumble. We left the village in groups of 5 to trek back up this mountain. Adrenaline kicked in and this was the quickest 40 minutes of my life yet most frightening 40 minutes. We had to be aware at all times which side we would fall to if the ground were to shake again and had to be aware of all structures. As we trek up, the ground is still shaking on occasion but it feels constant because of how big the original was. As I trek up with my group, I am seeing the face of the village people. It is heart breaking. It was one of my teammates that put it into perspective. We get to leave and flee to safety and these people don’t. They have nowhere to go and will continue to live in constant fear. As we trek up, it is getting harder, harder to breath, harder to stay calm, harder to leave.
Finally, we made it to the top and followed our squad leader Kaylaynn to some random heavy-duty tents in this wide open area. The World Food Programme greeted us and had invited us to stay in their in-progress food holding tents. What a relief. God is always providing. They invited us to stay as long as we needed. Eventually, everyone made it and set up camp in these large tents. Still feeling real tremors and phantom tremors, the squad wanted to know how we could be of help. Some went to another village that was heard to be hit hard, some went and prayed, and some stayed back to get themselves together and pray. The damage was bad before but is now even worse.
Over the next couple of days we continued to do the same thing. There were still feelings of anticipation of another earthquake and still the feeling of tremors that were not actually there. Some of us began to get restless and emotions were just toppling down.
The night we had arrived to the tents at WFP we were informed by a squad mate that someone from another World Race had put together a 24 hour prayer time.
