To be honest I’m not quite sure where to start this blog but I guess we’ll just dive right in! As I mentioned in last week’s blog this past week we were in North Carolina doing our domestic ministry! We had several days of really good ministry that I’d love to share, but this post is going to focus more on the end of our trip and God’s goodness and mercy! As some of you might know my squad and I were in the middle of a landslide on Friday, but I’ll start at the beginning to give you the full story.
Friday September 27 at 8 a.m. after a lot of debate our host came knocking on our cabin door waking us up and asking us to move to the dining hall. He was concerned about the trees surrounding our cabins and wanted to move us to a higher and safer building. So we got ready, some of us grabbed our sleeping bags and some other things and we ran up the hill to the dining hall. Our leaders were also asked to move the vans to a higher safer location so they were moved up hill to a small parking place next to the dining hall. After getting to the dining hall we ate some cereal and watched the rain fall, it created a waterfall in the back and after awhile started to flood into the right side room by the bathrooms.
A little bit before 9 our leaders called us together in the main room to let us know that we’d be waiting out the remainder of the storm in this building and also to tell us not to go into the flooded side of the building anymore. We prayed as a group and then all split to do our separate things, some people were playing games, some watching a movie, others sitting and journaling. At 9:10 one of the guys on my squad started yelling “Run, get out of the building” and everyone started running for the door. There was a huge rumbling sound like thunder and we were all sprinting and falling to get out. By the time we had all made it out of the building and onto the porch the right side of the building had completely collapsed. The whole building was flooded with water and mud and there was a huge river running where the building had been. A huge wall of water, rocks, another cabin, and trees had all come and taken out our building. One of the cabins we had been staying in had also collapsed and the other filled with water. Some of us managed to grab a couple of our things but we quickly ran up to a small slab of concrete where our vans had been moved to. As we stood there on the concrete in the pouring rain people were crying and calling parents, we were rushed into the vans and then moved out of them trying to figure out where to go. At one point another tree fell down around us and without thinking about it we all took off running down the hill but were moved back up by the vans. Our leaders tried calling 911 but couldn’t get through and because of the river we were trapped with no where to go. Our host made it to us and explained that he and two other men were looking for a way to get us out but we were gonna have to wait until they could figure something out. One of the other two men that was there to help us was a trained survival expert so he was able to survey everything and figure out the best way out.
We stood in the pouring rain up there waiting for an hour and a half. During that time we cried, we prayed, we sang worship songs, and some of us even found ways to laugh. We watched as the river of water kept growing, the trees around us were shaking, and the rain just kept pouring. After a while our host came back and told us they had found the safest place for us to cross and had set up a rope for us to go across on. They took us in pairs and had us hold onto the rope and walk through the river (barefoot by the way). To give you an idea of how fast the water was going one of the girls parents tracked her phone that was swept away: within 5 minutes it had gone over 3 miles. As soon as we crossed the river they loaded us into a small bus and drove us down the road to where they had another safer building.
By the time we got there they had gathered clean clothes and food for us. We were able to call home again and got cleaned up. We stayed there for the rest of the day and settled in. During this time we were told that the AIM disaster relief team was on its way to come help us out and again all we could do was sit and wait. The disaster relief team finally made it to us after hours of trying. Because of broken gas lines nearby and fear of getting trapped by rising water we were moved to a hotel 20 minutes away. Somehow the disaster team had found this hotel and even though it was already overflowing the owner agreed to let us come and sleep in a conference room for the night. Several of the guests already staying there heard what happened and offered to come and get us in their trucks, so at 10 p.m we were loaded into trucks and caravanned to the hotel. We stayed there for the night and by the next morning one of the girls fathers had driven over 8 hours with a van and small bus to get us back to Georgia. Saturday afternoon we finally made it back to our base in Georgia. The Lord was so very good to protect and provide for us through all of it. That’s just the basic rundown of what happened but now I want to share a little bit more detail about how we saw the Lord working.
First off the fact that we were even moved to the dining hall was because of Gods prompting. If we hadn’t of been moved then we would’ve been trapped inside the cabins that collapsed when the landslide came. Second just the fact that all 36 of us made it out of the building with only one sprained ankle is absolutely insane! The fact that my teammate was looking out the window at the exact time he needed to be in order to warn us and that no one was in the bathrooms that got destroyed is crazy. There’s no way that any of us let alone all of us would’ve made it out in time if Gods hand wasn’t on us. Another way that God showed up was by literally bringing a survival expert to help us. It is so clear and evident that the Lord was protecting us the whole time.
The Lords didn’t just protect us but he also provided for us in so many ways. He brought so many people to help us and bring clean clothes and supplies. He literally helped the disaster team get to us by opening up prison gates. They had tried 8 different paths to get to us and finally they came to a women’s prison that was right next store to where we were. The gates to the prison were wide open and it was the only way they could use to get to us and later get us out. Those gates closed later Friday night after we had gotten out. The Lord also led our disaster team to a hotel with a place we could stay the night as well as provided people with vehicles that could help us get there. He opened up a way for the dad to make it to us with vans and he helped us to even get out of Asheville and Black mountain. The World Race also did a fundraiser to help us replace all of our supplies that had been swept away and within 48 hours they had raised $30,000 to fully replace everything!
God is SO GOOD and there’s no way we would’ve made it anywhere without him! God gets ALL of the glory! He is good but not just because he saved us, he is good because that is who he is. Even if he chose not to save us he would still be good and he would still get the glory through that! No matter what happens he is good and can only ever be good! I’m so very thankful for all that the Lord has done and all the people who have been praying and helping to cover and support us! I’m just in awe of who my God is!
Thank you for reading this and for all the prayers and support! If you have any more questions or want to know more message me or leave a comment! More videos below
Love,
Emilee
