Although the media coverage has been very sketchy, I am sure that most of you have heard about the double dose of natural disasters that have recently hit Guatemala. Last Thursday the volcano Pacaya erupted, spewing lava a kilometer into the air. The resulting cloud of ash quickly began to settle on Guatemala City leaving up to three inches of black soot in some areas. This is especially significant to us since we will be living close to Pacaya when we move there.
This was quickly followed by tropical storm Agatha, which dumped as much as 15 inches of rain in parts of Guatemala. The resulting floods and rock and mud slides have resulted in 150 deaths with 100 still missing. Over 1,800 Guatemalans are now displaced and living in shelters. In addition, the rain turned the ash into a black mud and caused the ash still in the air to mix with the rain and fall as black, slimy drops. Streets were slick with the mix, resulting in numerous car accidents.
Guatemala City’s airport was shut down for five days and reopened on Tuesday. This has left several of our friends in a difficult situation. Don and Melissa Derstine and their family were scheduled to move to Guatemala on Friday. Due to the shut-down of air traffic their flight was rescheduled for June 7th. Scott and Melissa Davis were in the states visiting family and are still waiting to return to their home. Numerous teams that were schedule to fly in and assist with various ministries had to reschedule or cancel their trips.
On a positive note, I have spoken with most of our friends in Guatemala and was relieved to hear that they are all okay. Dick Rutgers has assured me that all of the kids in Hermano Pedro along with he and his boys are fine. Steve Osborn from Amor del Nino reports that they survived the weekend without power and water and all of the children are doing great (although a significant portion of their back yard was washed down the mountain along with a couple of large trees). I just received an e-mail from Mayra Garcia and found out that she, her family, and the kids at Kairos Christian School are okay.
When we received the news of these events our entire family had the same response…we all wished we were there to help. We already consider Guatemala our home, and it is filled with so many friends and children whom we love deeply. Our frustration concerning the sale of our home has grown, and we just want to be there. Combine this with the knowledge of these recent hardships and you will find that we have reached “critical mass.”
So, please pray for Guatemala:
- Pray for the families of the dead and missing.
- Pray for the families whose homes were destroyed and who are now living in temporary shelters.
- Pray that Pacaya will stay calm and allow the airport to remain open so that teams can get in to help.
- And pray that our home will sell soon so we can make our move to Guatemala.
