Highs ad Lows

Well, it has been an interesting week. We got home from Tarma Thursday night. Friday morning I went to Interpol to finish the process of getting a temporary residency here in Peru. That all went smoothly and more quickly than I anticipated which allowed for me to get home and get started on my To-Do list a little bit sooner. About 4:00ish, as I was working on my computer in my bedroom, I heard a loud "pop" and the lights flickered. But then everything went back to normal and I didn't think twice about it. About 5 min. later I hear Meredith shout from upstairs, "Bethany! The house is on fire, there's smoke everywhere!". So I run upstairs and see that smoke is pouring out of the hall closet and quickly filling up the second floor. We rushed to open some windows and I shouted at Meredith that we needed to get downstairs, now! There was just too much smoke. We think that there was a short circut in the electical system that sparked in the closet and set the fire. That closed was full of suitcases and plastic tubs full of books and paper. The burning plastic was what was causing all the smoke.
Once we were on the first floor Meredith called the building security to try and find a fire extinguisher - no luck. Apparantly these buildings don't have fire extinguishers and the security guys don't know where to get one. So Meredith followed up with a phone call to the fire department and about 10min. later the Bomberos (firemen) or I should say the "volunteer" firemen showed up. I guess Lima doesn't have an organized or official fire department. It took them awhile to get up to the 10th floor with enough hose to drape over the side of the balcony in order to attach it tot the truck and get the water pumping. 15min. later the fire was out and the windows were letting out the black smoke. By this point we had a decent crowd watching from the street, and Meredith and I are just standing there watching the firemen go in and out. Once they started packing up their stuff, the firemen let us go upstairs to see the damage. See the above damage.
We are very thankful, the fire could have been a lot worse. Meredith was in the shower when the circut busrt, and the closet wiring is connected to the widowmaker that heats our water for the shower. She could have easily been electricuted. But God is good, and we are all safe and sound. So today, we continue the process of cleaning and repairing. The firemen left by 5:30 and by this point both Elsa and Raquel were home. We had a lot of water upstairs from the fire-hoses, and it was starting to seep down into the first floor. So we grabbed towels and buckets and started the process of wringing the water from the floor into the bucket and then pouring it down the shower drain. We cleaned from 5:30-9:30 in the dark with flashlights and candles because at this point there was no way we were going to turn on the electricity.

But here's the cool thing. About 20 people from the Adiel churches showed up with flashlights and buckets and plastic bags to help us in the cleaning process. And they were people from several of the churches. ReachGlobal missionaries Jim and Kay Panaggio showed up as well, and with all of their help we were able to get the water cleaned up and all of the debri thrown away. Many of the windows were broken, and with all of the people that witnessed the fire, we decided it probably wouldn't be the safest to stay in the apartment last night. So we loaded up the more valuable items we own (laptops, camara's etc) and went to sleepover at various people's houses. Meredith and I ended up at the Panaggio's, whose kids graciously gave up their beds for us. We have seen God's faithful provision throughout this event, and we are thankful for all he did to bless us through it.
I'll keep you updated on the cleaning process and such as we make decisions about what to do in the next couple of days.

God Bless.