September 27th (Abridged)

Very briefly put, the experience was life changing. Not only in bad ways, but also not only in good ways.

We were in a room playing cards, when I looked out the window, I just saw a wave of mud and trees coming straight for us, then I heard someone (Mitch, who’d randomly been looking out the window) yell, “Landslide! Everybody get out!” Then we all leapt up and ran, and before we’d made out of the room, the landslide hit and the wall collapsed. We ran through the main room, while everything was collapsing around us, and made it to the porch, where we just watched in stunned shock as we saw a wave of mud swelling everywhere. Then it started going up on the porch and we had to run to high ground.

When we made it to high ground, we could only stare at the destruction around us and pray that God would protect us. Prayer had never come so easily to my lips, and surprisingly, it wasn’t only pleading for protection but also praise for how good God is. And why shouldn’t I praise! God had made so many things go right so that we would all survive!

We had to wait in the rain and wind for an hour or two while a safe path to a safe place was scouted out by the people who lived here. It took crossing a river of mud and a ride in a bus that didn’t have enough seats, but we did make it to the gym we’d cleaned yesterday (I’ll share more about domestic missions in a later posts).

We were given dry clothes, food, and places to rest, and we spent the rest of the day attempting to relax and talking about our experience. More tears than could be counted were shed, but there was also more laughter than can be explained from the world’s view.

At night, we were moved again, this time to a hotel that was full to the brim, but willing to take in a group of 40 people who needed a place to stay. They cleaned out their conference room and let us stay the night and fed us breakfast in the morning!

Then we were loaded into vans and driven back to Gainsville! The destruction was so evident during the whole trip, but God’s goodness was even more evident!

I’ve been doing surprisingly well. I don’t think it’s occurred to me yet just how close I came to dying. I lost everything that wasn’t on my person, including my shoes, but gratitude is still at the forefront of my mind! The noise of the mountain coming down and the alarms going off are very triggering for me, but God is reminding me that He’s given me a spirit of power, love, and self control, so I don’t have to be afraid!

Thank you all for your prayers and please keep them coming as we continue to learn how strong the storm was and how strong our God is!

If you want more information, I posted a blog titled Spetember 27th (Unabridged), where I talk about my experience moment to moment!