Thank you to Chris Zuniga for allowing me to use your post to remember all the details of the night and for being an example of what love and passionate, selfless servanthood looks like.
The couch was crammed at the Zuniga home as Fabian and I along with our host family were all on the couch one night watching movies. It had been a gloomy day filled with constant rain. It was supposed to be our off day from ministry, and we almost made it the whole day as such. Around 10 at night in the middle of the movie we could hear screams from a distance. At first we all thought it was Naomi, our host’s daughter, in her room. We heard knocks on the front door to find out that was wrong.
Two Ecuadorian women were in the doorstep frantically yelling and blazing through words. Tanya, a close friend of our ministry host, was able to translate enough to find out the river not too far away was rising and these two women wanted us to get people out of Sacha Runa as soon as possible. Chris (our host dad), Tanya, Fabian, and I put our rain boots on and made a run to the car. We drove down to the river to see it twice as high as it was a few days ago. We made a run across the bridge and up the hill to start our trek through the jungle to find their home.
One of the ladies took off running as she screamed for her kids’ safety. Fabian and Chris followed her while Tanya and I stayed back with the older lady. The distressed lady we were with said her brother was trapped in his house and she wanted us to get him out. She took us down a path that had mid calf high water. Luckily for us it wasn’t moving too fast, so we trekked through the water until we got to her house. A man was sitting on the side of the bed staring off into the distance. It turns out he can barely walk and his sister wants us to carry him out; but the brother won’t leave. As they fight back and forth, we decide it’s best for us to pray for this man and move on to help other families. After we pray for him, the older lady begins to calm down enough to where we were able to go looking for other families and kids to help to higher ground. We leave the house with a friend’s mother and meet back up with Fabian and Chris who had just gotten 3 kids out of a flooding house.
With kids and bags in our hands and others following us we made our way down the path only to find it taken away by the river. Unsure what to do, the locals lead us a different way. Every way we went the river had taken over and was blocking our path. The Ecuadorian ladies were starting to panic, but after following a fence line we were able to find a way out.
We brought everyone back to a communal at high ground which overlooks the bridge. The river had risen even higher to the point where Chris’ car was under water. Not caring about the car at this moment, Chris, Fabian, and I started to make our back to help more families before the river swept them away. We found our way back into the area and walked into a family-friend’s house. There were several kids wearing no clothes, just sitting there. They didn’t even realize the danger they were in. Fabian, Chris, and I got the kids dressed while the parents packed a few bags. Once we got outside we started to hear huge trees repetitively cracking and being swept away by the river. Just by the noise alone we could tell the river was getting higher. We helped the family get safely to the communal.
At this point the river had risen even higher to the point where Chris’ car was picked up and moved a few hundred feet. Part of the bridge had been destroyed as well, leaving us stranded in Sacha Runa unable to get to the car or house. Trees were being swept away like rag dolls and big boulders were getting tossed like pebbles right in front of our eyes. We went back to look for more families as the rain continued to pour over us. One woman wanted us to help her find her husband, but we found ourselves unable to reach his house due to the river being too high. We went back to the communal with the lady to try to calm her nerves and stay safe.
By this time we realized across the river there was a mud slide that covered the road with several feet of mud and large trees. We had to stay 10 hours through the night while a rescue team cleared the road so that they could get people across the river.
That night we were all praying fervently as we watched the river fly by us. It was raining, wet, and freezing all night long. Fabian had given up his jacket to a naked kid who was cold so he prayed for God to give him warmth due to his lack of layers…he was a frickin’ heater all night long. You could feel the warmth radiating from him.
The emotions and things we saw that night have taken some time to process. God definitely used us and guided every step that night. I think the biggest takeaway I have from that night is the Lord’s good and perfect timing. He had protected us from so much disaster and possible harm. If we had been too late, the river would’ve been too high and we wouldn’t have had the chance to help all those families out. If we had gotten there earlier, we could’ve been trying to cross back over the bridge when the river took it away or been driving on the road when the mudslide came through. He used average people like us in a big moment.
The Father’s will and love for us exceeds our own understanding. His goodness can be seen in every situation. It wasn’t by our own doing but by God’s guidance and timing that we were able to help the families of Sacha Runa get to safety. It was a reminder of how His plans far exceed mine.
