Tsunami Letter

I have alot of things in mind to write about but can't seem to gather my thoughts at this moment to lay it down. So, I decided to post a forward letter I received from a link a friend of mine forwarded to me.

Below is an inspiring story of God's hand of protection on His own in the midst of the terrible tsunami distaster. This letter is from a Brazilian colleague of Kristin Bohreer's parents who works in Aceh Province, Indonesia.

The letter is originally in Portuguese.

Dear Pastor Mark & Helen,

For your information, and so that you continue to pray for Aceh and especially for her people and those who will come to be His People:

We know how the terrible tsunami wiped to the ground the city of Meulaboh in Aceh Province. However, there is an extraordinary testimony.

In the city of Meulaboh, there are approximately 400 Christians. On the 25th of December 2004, they wanted to celebrate Christmas but the population of Meulaboh refused that Christmas be celebrated in that city. Denying them this, they said that if the Christians wanted to celebrate Christmas, they would do so on the mountain. Since they really did want to have a Christmas service, on December 25th, the 400 Christians left the city and went to the mountain to celebrate Christmas, and there they spent the night.

As we know, on the next day, on the morning of December 26th, the earthquake and terrible tsunami came, which destroyed Meulaboh, resulting in many deaths.

The city of Meulaboh was leveled and thousands of people died, while all God’s people who spent Christmas on the mountain were saved.

The population of Meulaboh that survived are saying, “The God of the Christians is punishing us. This can be said because many of our people died, while none of the Christians died.”

If the 400 Christians in Meulaboh had insisted on celebrating Christmas in their own city, they too would have died. But because of their humility, even having been rejected and ordered to celebrate Christmas on the mountain, they were saved and everyone saw that it was an extraordinary work of God.

Let us help our brothers and sisters in Aceh, and continue to pray for them because God’s hand is at work there.

Margaretha N. Adiwardana
AME