Fires and Other Burning News

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It’s been a little busy around here the last few days. On Sunday, I did a presentation about my upcoming trip (one week, 3 days), in my church. It was really great to get the chance to talk about what I am going to do, as well as present some of the voices of the people of Mampujan. It is still surreal for me to think that soon I will actually be meeting these people, as we share our lives together.

My plan for the afternoon was to sort through a few more of my things and begin the packing process. I don’t enjoy packing, so it usually takes me forever to get done, mainly because I can’t concentrate hard enough to actually get anything done. So then I like it even less, and the cycle continues.  Such is life, at least my life, I suppose. 🙂

Anyways, my plans did not turn out quite the way I had envisioned. Driving home, we were rounding the corner near our home, when we spotted a plume of dark grey smoke rising from the area of where our house is. As we got closer, just before our driveway, we noticed fire trucks lined up along the highway, and planes circling in the sky. Pulling into our yard, we realized that the fire was fortunately across the river behind our house. Apparently, there had been a thunder storm just before we got home, and lightening had struck the hill 1/2 km from our house, starting a small forest fire.

So, after frantically placing my passport in the car (nothing is going to stop me from going to Colombia), I spent the rest of the afternoon on the roof, watching the water-bombers and helicopters battle the flames. I’m very thankful for the wonderful response of the fire crew– they managed to get everything under control, even if it meant flying all that night. By Monday evening, there was no more smoke rising from the hill.  It was a good reminder, however, that the unexpected can happen anytime, anyplace!