Parral under water

Just thought I'd update everyone on things around crazy Parral. It's been raining more than wet season in Seattle here lately, and Parral just isn't well-suited to receive this much rain (for being 400 years old, its drainage system isn't incredibly functional). Saturday night, many parts of the city were flooded, because the river that runs through town rose up in several places. It was so bad in parts that some houses were completely flooded or in some cases, just washed away. I've never seen such power in nature up-close and personal.

The grandparents of a family in the church (a well-off couple) had the river rise up behind their house and flood their house terribly. I wish I would've had my camera with me to take pictures. Unbelievable. I went there to help their family take the non-destroyed items out of their house. At its highest point, the water had risen to about neck-level (from the water marks on the walls), and left everything else absolutely COVERED in mud - thick, sticky mud. The floor was covered in about 2-3 inches of mud and dirty water, all their things were chaotically strewn about, the windows busted out, the bathtub and sinks were full of mud and water. There were broken dishes and shattered furniture scattered about, giving you the idea that the water came rushing in with such a force to break windows and even deposit large logs carried by the river into the living room. The 500-lb. piano was completely upside-down. Imagine the power necessary to turn a quarter-ton piano completely upside-down. I've never seen anything like it.

I went walking along the street where we used to live, in the big house next to the park (these grandparents lived close to our old house). The house is completely gutted by water and mud. Destroyed. I was floored by the fact that we were living there 9 months ago, and now it's useless and worthless. Amazing. That whole neighborhood (where we used to live) was flooded out. The park was destroyed. The tennis court's chain link fence was smashed to the ground. All the playground equipment was destroyed and 30 meters from where it used to be. There were CARS stuck in the middle of the park, carried there by the water. I walked down to a friend's house near that area, and her whole neighborhood was flooded out, except her house and two others next to hers. Talk about divine grace. I saw a big delivery truck turned over on its side, and next to it, caught up in an uprooted tree, some sort of Plymouth resting on top of a cockeyed, washed-out VB Bug.

The mud is the vilest thing. It's everywhere. There is no escaping it. In the streets, in the houses, in the yards, filling cars. I got back to the apartment (thank God we're on the third floor, even though the water didn't get to us), took off all my clothes and stuck them, shoes and all, in the washer!

So in brief, it's been a wild weekend. There are no classes today. I know some of the students and their families were affected (I saw one family from the school whose house was flooded as I walked in the neighborhood next to the park), and there's still some danger in some parts of the city although the river is decreasing in size, thank God.

But all of us gringos are OK, there's no cause to worry (the river would have to be huge to reach us). Please pray for the families in the church that have lost their houses. One man's house is completely gone. Washed away without a trace. He's got absolutely nothing. Pray that God would use this time of suffering to try and prove his people's faith.