Well those of you who keep up with our post are wondering why so soon. We just posted 10 days ago. Well a lot has happened since then. First of all I want to update you on the situation with Marta, Jenni, and Isabel. We have been in discussions with Barbara from El Salvador and we have all decided that it is best that they move back to El Salvador. They will be going to another city instead of San Salvador and Marta can start her sewing business up and the girls can get back into school. There were too many hurdles to jump here for them to survive. Thank you all for your prayers and support. We feel this will be the best for them. We are not saying good-bye to them but see you later. We plan on keeping up with them and to visit when time allows.
Next, I want to tell you about May 19th. Last Friday, Carol and I were headed to Guatemala City to buy food and supplies for the up coming teams. We had almost gotten into Guatemala City at the San Cristobal bridge. The traffic has to merge with other traffic at this point and it is always backed up. We were at the end of the bridge and the traffic had slowed to a crawl. The next thing we know is we are sensing darkness around us and the sensation of cars hitting us. A semi truck goes flying by pushing cars along the way then turning accross the median taking power poles with him before he runs into an embankment. This lasted about a second or two then the cabin started filling up with smoke. We couldn’t decide to get out or not, but we were afraid that our truck was on fire. We exited the truck to find out that a delivery truck was laying on the back of our truck on its side and facing the opposite direction. I walked to the side to where I could see men coming from all over to help get one of the men free from the truck. The truck had been clipped by the semi and spun around and tossed onto our truck and the cab resting on a concrete post on the bridge. The post was inside the cab. The man on the passenger side being pulled out of the cab died on the way to the hospital. The driver somehow walked away unharmed.
The miracles that took place that day. First the truck that landed on us hit our cab before sliding down. If we had been one more car back or in the other lane, we don’t want to think what if. As soon as we got out of the truck 2 guys came running across the street and asked us if we were all right in perfect English. They helped us with the police and contacting the insurance agent for us. They stood by us and maked sure that we were taken care of all of. Next, I had to go to the police station and give up my id and drivers license. It appears in Guatemala you are assumed guilty until proven innocent. Everyone that was involved in the accident had to give up their id’s and be held until we could appear before a judge and give a declaration of what happened. That was probably going to include spending the night in jail. Finally our insurance adjuster came and told us thru a friend of ours who just happened to be near the accident that speaks perfect English that we should go to the hospital to be checked out and we could get a “get out of jail free card”. We would just have to give a statement to a lawyer that would be provided by the insurance company. We went by ambulance to the hospital where we got checked out. We were ok except for a little soreness. We finally were released from the hospital around 10:30pm at night after the police decided that a declaration was not necessary due to the video evidence that became available. I am leaving out English speaking angels along the way but God put people in our path all day that translated for us and took care of us.
Around 8:30pm Marielle and Bob from our Adventures staff came to the hospital with phone chargers and food. We hadn’t eaten since early that morning and were starved and our phones were dead. We can not be more thankful and blessed by all the angels that God sent our way that day. We are also so blessed to be apart of a wonderful community of faith in Adventures and Shoreline church that has been there for us. It is such a joy to be able to do life with them. God is so so good.
Please pray for the driver of the semi and the family of the man that died in the truck that hit us. We rode to the police station with the driver of the semi whowas handcuffed and sitting between Carol and me. We saw in his eyes sadness and remorse. He did everything in his power to keep the truck under control and even ran in it into an embankment to save lives. He will probably be prosecuted for the accident but he should not be. The brakes failed and he did the best he could with the situation.
