March 11, 2011. The earthquake of Sendai, Japan, the horror of everything as I watched on CNN, watched the water from the tsunami waves sweep everything in its path into the city. It looked so innocuous, like covering a piece of meat on your plate with a sauce but when one realizes that it was an entire city being covered completely by water and that the highways posed no barrier for the water to flow, it made me realize the immensity of the power of nature. It was hard to fathom, hard to imagine what people were going through there. Here in Peru, as I sat glued all morning to CNN English it was to find out selfishly, how the earthquake that killed so many across the Pacific would affect us here.
There were warnings of tsunamis, we were told not to go to the beach until further notice. CNN spoke of evacuations in Hawaii, California. My girl friends and I sat watching, each in her own home wanting to know what decision to make. You see, we had booked a bungalow two months ago on the grounds of the Scripture Union property at the beach. It was going to be a fun, relaxing time to get away from the busyness of our daily lives. And it was the exact weekend of the earthquake in Japan, and we were being warned to stay away from the beach. CNN had footage of the waves hitting Hawaii and they were 1and a half meters high and later, in California, about 1 meter or half a meter high. We made the decision to go as planned as we figured that by the time the waves hit the Peruvian coastline, it would be about 15 cm. We were the only crazy people going to the beach and when we got to the property, the guard at the gate asked if we knew about the warnings. Everyone had left, and others had cancelled their reservations. We, on the other hand were there, live and in person, waiting to enjoy ourselves at the pool and on the beach. In a nutshell, they thought we were absolutely nuts.
But then, they don't know us, people who fear only the One who can kill both our bodies and souls. We all felt a peace about being there and we were not letting anything stop us from being there. That first day, we hit the empty beach and took pictures. The beaches south of Lima during the summer are normally packed full of people, and here we were, the first 3 of 6 all by ourselves along with the birds on the beach. Later we had a time of worship in the bungalow and as we finished sharing about what God was and is doing in our lives, the lights went off. It was about the time the tsunami was to hit. The guards came and told us that the blackout was to get people out of their homes and close to the highway in case the tsunami hit and we needed to leave the bungalow. So, grabbing our essentials; Stella her laptop and flashlight, Carolina her cell phone and camera, me my huge purse and its entire contents we sauntered out to the gate. The greatest danger we faced that night was that one of the guards asked if we wanted to spend the night at his house in case the blackout went on all night long. We politely declined and said that we would be fine with out cell phones and the flashlight for light. We took pictures and laughed. Stella got eaten alive by mosquitos. The guards listened to the football game and Carolina put on her tunes from her cell phone to counteract the noise from the game, my mom called and laughed when she realized I was at the beach. That's when I realized that my mom loves my nephews more than I because she has stopped worrying about me. But then, I guess she knows me too well by now. If there ever is danger, there I will be, smack in the middle of it. And so we hung out waiting for the elusive tsunami until 9:30pm when Stella decided she had fed the mosquitos an entire meal of her blood and she was not going to put up with it anymore. Back at the bungalow we watched Mamma Mia on Stella's laptop. Then went to bed by cellphone light. Soooo romantic. LOL.
The next day we hung out at the beach until the other 3 girls showed up and then we stayed on at the beach and the pool. 1 private pool, 1 lap pool and an entire beach all to ourselves. How good can it get? It was fun. The waves were strong and high but who needed to go in the water when there were pools to go swimming in? We went into the town of Mala for lunch later and got some groceries for the dinner that night and breakfast and lunch the next day. There was going to be a wedding at the chapel on the grounds that night and we wanted to go and peep in on it and somewhere in the early evening we realized that the bridal party had rented the bungalow next to ours to get ready in. About 45 minutes before the wedding started, a key guest, one of the bride's attendants, was found standing in the middle of our living room asking if she could use our shower as their shower was occupied. We said yes and then later on, ended up helping her with her makeup and hair as well. That earned us invites to the wedding. So all 6 of us later on traipsed into the wedding, watched the vows, got to throw rice at the bride and groom. They invited us for the reception as well but we decided to decline and instead decided to have a bonfire and worship on the beach.
God spoke to all of us that night on the beach. Touching us, speaking to our hearts. It was a good time. Somewhere during those three days we made friends with a goat we named Edward as well. I fell off every piece of equipment at the Jungle Gym playground for kids. Swam laps after who knows how many years. It was a great time. It felt like a gift that God gave us, just us. Cleared out the place and gave us the time with each other, our own selves and Him.
I guess I do tend to run toward danger. I guess that is my life and more so now with the ministry I do as well. And only because my God is with me, He has gone before me and all I do is follow. I know if I had not felt a peace about it, I would not have gone. Safety is being in the center of His will for me, not in a place deemed as safe.
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