(they aren't allowed to say certain words it's illegal and they can be sent to prison, foreigners are just exported, their mail is read, so Jesus/God = "the Boss", Pray (although I see they used it here = "Yarp", believers=Christians, etc.) I've with-held their email address because your responding could put them in danger.
Howdy All,
For five minutes today, China was supposed to fall silent to commemorate those lost in last weeks earthquake. In Chengdu the moment was marked by blare of bus horns as people stood, head bowed and silent. I took pictures and a bit of video from the balcony of my hotel and before the moment was passed raised my voice to the boss on behalf of the nation and its loss. It was the first moment of fervent lifting since arriving. I have lifted in silence or quietly as I walked or pedaled from place to place. Today it was different. Oh that doors long shut would be opened! Oh that once opened they would not be shut! Oh the that leaders of this nation would have their hearts and eyes opened and they would lead this nation to true salvation. The thought of the task before this nation makes me weep.
I would imagine that if you drew a circle with radius of 60km, a circle 75 miles in diameter, that you would enclose the worst hit areas of the nation. Inside that circle, town centers start at a shambles and escalate in damage to complete destruction. The mountains are full of villages where homes, the oldest made of brick and timber and the newest of concrete and brick, are either completely destroyed so badly damaged that even without the threat of aftershocks they are uninhabitable. The areas I've seen are at the edge of the most severe damage. I don't know exactly what to say at this point but the thought begins this way: buildings can be rebuilt, eventually the power will come back on and water will be restored. New businesses will replace the old ones that have been lost. What about the people? Perhaps the new structures will be better than the old but people can not be replaced. Those lost are lost forever, perhaps eternally.
The environment for the work that we do is much different here in Chengdu. People are afraid. The authorities are very serious about not allowing things to move ahead. And yet now is the time to do just that. I don't advocate standing on a street corner with a bull horn and a fist full of literature. Rather, what is needed is men and women willing to go into the affected areas and pour out their lives for the people. The people around us need to see us as we seek to serve their needs. In the midst of that they must surely ask why we do what we do. In that moment we should be able to say that it is the boss's love that compels us. Along with the men and women, first doctors, nurses and medical personal able to assist in field conditions and swing a hammer, dig a trench and comfort those that mourn, the people also need medicines for conditions that arise in camp life. They also need tents. Right now many places have tents but villages off the main roads are sleeping under sheets of plastic or whatever they can find.
Yesterday I rode to the the town of Du Jiang Yan. It is the beginning of the hardest hit areas. The roads into the town are blocked by soldiers in riot gear and only properly mark medical and supply vehicles. I arrived at dusk and managed to end up on a back road that our driver had taken a few days before. The main road was well lit and full of cranes on flat beds, earth moving equipment, supply vehicles, troop carriers and ambulances of all shapes and sizes. Lights flashing, sirens wailing and the roar of the heavy equipment filled the new fallen night. The full moon, well above the horizon, peaked occasionally through broken clouds leaving the sky mostly black. I wished that the thirty pound pack that had started on my shoulders, I couldn't rent a bike with a luggage rack, now tied to the handle bars had contained a raincoat. It didn't but it did have a solar powered player with the G story and an audio version of the NT. There was also a stack of half books and medical supplies.
The day before the trip we had been following on TV the story of man trapped by rubble. His name was Chen Jie. All day while I got about the business of trying to establish contacts in Chengdu, the rescuers worked to free the young man. Finally, when I came home around 2030 or so, they were down to the last details of lifting a huge section of wall off of Chen Jie. I watched as the wall crept of fractions of an inch at a time. Then there was a flurry of activity, men shouting and Chen Jie was free! I praised and thanked the boss for that moment as they put Chen Jie on a stretcher and in moments had him at the bottom of a mound of rubble. Chen Jie was unconscious when the set the stretcher down. People were celebrating and excited, they tried to rouse him. It became clear that he was unconscious. Then people began to realize he was not breathing. They began to perform CPR and finally, though others had spent hours, nearly a full day freeing him from the rubble, Chen Jie was dead.
When they freed Chen Jie I sent my friend John a text message telling him that Chen Jie was free. John had been there in the morning when the saga began. He had flown home that afternoon but I wanted him to know. He wrote back a very short note, "Really? Those workers are real heroes! PTL" I did not have the heart to send him a message telling him the end of the story. I could not help but think that despite the efforts of those heroes, and they are heroes, Chen Jie was lost if he did not know the boss. For 12 hours he had been a captive of the rubble. During that time, anyone could have shared the good news with him. No matter how arrogant, proud or strong he might have been going into the weeks disaster, pressed on all sides by the rubble he might have been willing to listen to the hope of the good news. I might have eternally changed his life but there was no one there to tell him the truth.
I didn't sleep well that night. I kept thinking about the people we had touched in the villages we had visited. One village in particular where I had a chance to talk to a young girl, I kept thinking how I would feel if I heard that she had been killed and though we brought food and water I had not taken the time to tell her and the others the good news. I decided that if certain things didn't work out for the following day that I would ride to the village and take them the good news.
By the time I had turned off the main road to the narrow road that led up the village I knew it was going to be the boss that got me there. The dark night made the occasional candle lit family dinner seem that much brighter. Small candles were everywhere, white ones on tables, red ones lit for prayers as people knelt, prayed and burned money for the ancestors. The yellow circles of light seeming to make deeper the lines of care on people's faces. During the day, there were a lot of smiles and laughter but the night was owned by the quiet.
As I rode I would come upon knots of older boys and men carrying short lengths of pipe or heavy sticks. Here and there would be a baseball bat or pick handle. Usually, I was so quiet on my bike that they did not even realize I was there until I was among them. They would dray back in surprise, realize it was a foreigner and before they could recover I would be gone.
By the time I got to the village, a wide spot in the road really, all the tents were dark. Occasionally I would hear low voices but no one was around until I came upon two old women sitting and talking in front of a tent. I told them that I had been there three days before and had brought food. Did they know where the girl was? I told them that she spoke very good English and also her sister's name. Another woman came from the tent. She had helped us quit a bit and remembered me and understood who I wanted to talk to. She took me up the rode to the family's house then she went to get the girl. In the thirty odd meters we had walked, we had gathered quit a crowd. They were curious, friendly and excited. Finally someone asked where I had come from and when I told them Chengdu a good 50km away they were duly impressed.
Dianna finally arrived, wrapped in a wool house coat. Clearly she had been in bed. I told her why I had come and who I was. I told her about Chen Jie and my fear for her village. I told her the good news. She translated what I had to say and then I showed her how to use the player. She said she would make sure that everyone got to hear. I gave the family the medical supplies and other things and then told everyone that I had to go. Dianna protested and disappeared. Her father came and told me that he would give me a ride to Chengdu. I protested and said I would be fine but he and those around me disagreed and said that they were afraid for me. I agreed to let them take me down the mountain. We loaded my bike and gear into a van and headed for the road out of the city.
On the way down the mountain we came across the same knots of men and boys. The groups had come together and vigilante style stopped us we headed down the mountain. These were not friends saying hello. There was an anger I could not account for. We explained who we were but at each stop they insisted on seeing the inside of the van. Finally satisfied, they allowed us to drive on. It was then that I was told that two people had been robbed and killed the night before.
It is a strange world that I have fallen into this time. Many things are going right as the government does an amazing job of responding to the emergency but this is not a short term project. The rebuilding alone...I don't even know how they will clear the rubble. Somehow, we need to be in this place. When I say we I mean the greater body not just OFH. We need to be here and be bold. I suspect that we need to be here in a way that we are not associated with those foreigners that are already here. This area is hard and people are under tremendous scrutiny. It is the stepping off point for one if the most rebellious areas in the country. That means everyone suffers. We don't want to jeopardize what others have struggled to build or the progress they have made. I really need wisdom and direction. The following are some things to lift up and respond to. Thank you for keeping me and mine lifted. In the vine, Tim
1. A way to purchase tents in the South and get them to Chengdu
2. A way to purchase medical supplies and get them to the affected areas
3. A medical team with boots and backpacks that can rough it. This could be led by nurse but a doc would be great.
4. Proper govt. contacts to get the team approved.
5. A way to get into some of the more isolated areas
6. A system for long term follow up that includes people already here.
7. The people and government of China as they recover
8. literature
9. Provision for me and a translator to be in Chengdu if the situation warrants it.
10. Wisdom to know if it is time to just go home.
11. That the village would understand and respond to the things they hear and read
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