Day 4

What defines Guatemala is not the problems we spoke of in yesterday's report, to the contrary, the beauty and life found in the people here and in the landscape describes what Guatemala is all about. In fact what defined this day for us was the opportunity to meet a man named Diego who showed us around his home town of Pana and gave us a blow by blow description of how he and others, last fall, survived one of the most horrific mudslides there in recent history.

In the early morning hours of Oct. 5, 2005 Diego was awaken by the sound of a wall of mud and giant rocks crashing down from the mountain side and destroying everything in its path – namely the town of Panabaj which sits on the spectacular lake of Atitlan, and is surrounded by three volcanoes. Within minutes Diego found himself racing to the middle of town with as much rope that he could carry to help rescue people caught in the rushing torrent of mud, water, rocks and trees ripping through the pueblo. Mostly kids and their moms, along with the elderly, were caught in the path.

Diego, tied a rope around his waist, then created a series of slip knots that allowed him to snatch victims out of the torrent and send them down to rescue workers who were waiting out of the path of the destruction. He can't remember how many he pulled out that day, but he did recount one incident in particular that made a powerful imprint on his memory.

A woman and her baby were stranded on a wire fence that was on the edge of the current that was running through the town. Diego was on the other side along with firemen and rescue workers. No one could get across to them because of the speed and danger of the current. Diego remembers the woman's terrified face and screams for help. At one point she made direct eye contact with him and pleaded with him to do something to save her and her child. He was frantic with panic that he would not be able to get to them in time as he paced back and forth across the way yelling out for her to hold on, and to be strong for her child.

For a brief moment the current slowed enough for Diego to find a way to get across to them. He took the baby in one arm and held on to the woman with the other. For two hours they hung on the fence. At many points the woman said she simply could hang on any more, she was going to let go. Diego had to talk her through it, and encourage her to find the strength inside to hang on for not only her life but for her baby's life.

The firemen by now were in tears on the edges of the torrent, unable to do anything to help the three stranded survivors on the fence. Then, at last, another slow down in the current. Ropes and two brave workers made their way to Diego and the woman and her baby. They miraculously made it back to safety after more than two hours of hanging on to a wire fence being pounded by rain, wind, and a killer mudslide.

Diego was unable to sleep a whole night for more than three months. Exhausted and burnt our from stress he sought out help from various professional sources, but in the end, he said, “the only thing that help me was crying out to God and talking it through with his family.

We spent much of that day talking about God, and about his desire to be a part of a Christian community that was genuine in practice of the Faith. Earlier in his life he had “tried church” but found that bickering and intolerance had turned him off, so he just stopped going. When I told him about Saratoga Federated Church he challenged me to start one just like it in his town. I challenged him right back to seek out like minded people who wanted God in their lives and to meet together and seek God together. (I made sure we exchanged contact information so that our team in Guatemala could follow up with him and help get him to a good place of fellowship.

Much of the rest of the day was spent with Kyle Stiff and Joe Goll (the OCI/Sepal missionaries we support there) talking over how we could partner together to reach all of the 'Diego's' of Guatemala with the message of Christ and with the assistance that would help meet some of their most pressing practical needs.

Kyle and Joe, and the Sepal team, have tremendous contacts throughout the country. Together we fashioned a vision of how our people from SFC could join with people from the Guatemalan churches to make a lasting impact in many areas throughout the country. Our prayer is that the 'vision' would begin to become a reality within the next 12 months.