Volunteers witness miraculous provision
amid rubble of El Salvador earthquake
___By Ken Camp
___Texas Baptist Communications
___Texas Baptist Men who provided disaster relief in the wake of an earthquake in El Salvador said they saw firsthand the destructive power of nature, but they also saw the power of God to answer prayers and meet needs.
___"We had a complete sense that the Lord was with us. It was so clear that he was there
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HARRY CAMPBELL of Killeen befriends a child in Lourdes, El Salvador.__
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and we were doing what he wanted us to do," said Gary Smith of Midway Road Baptist Church in Dallas. "We would pray, and the answer would always come. It was like we had a hotline."
___Smith directed one of two six-member volunteer crews in El Salvador. His team served meals in Lourdes, a mountainous area about 30 kilometers from San Salvador. When he returned to Texas, he was diagnosed with a case of "walking pneumonia" that he contracted from breathing volcanic ash and dust in the desolate area.
___Smith arrived in El Salvador a few days before the rest of his crew to secure equipment and make arrangements for the emergency food service, including having a water line run to the field kitchen.
___"When we set up the field kitchen on a Monday, we turned on three taps--all dry," he recalled.
___Local authorities assured Smith they would try to get the water turned on, but there was no guarantee. And it appeared doubtful that it could be done in time for the evening meal. The Texas Baptists gathered in prayer, asking God to provide.
___"He provided, just in the knick of time. A truck and bladder of water arrived just in time for us to get the meal ready," Smith said.
___On another occasion, the Texas Baptists ran out of fruit and vegetables to serve. The crew prayed, and a truckload of produce arrived, delivered by several Guatemalan pastors.
___"The Lord told us to come here," a spokesman for the group told Smith.
___That same pattern was repeated several times, as truckloads of bananas, cabbage and other produce arrived unexpectedly, said Eddie Fonseca of First Baptist Church of Canyon Lake.
___On another occasion, Fonseca said, God "multiplied" the one large pot of water that was available, enabling the Texans to serve thousands.
___"One day when we were at our peak--serving 16,000 meals--we boiled 8,000 eggs, turned around and used the same water to boil 8,000 potatoes, then used that same water to cook rice," he said. "It was like the loaves and the fishes, except it was 16,000 instead of 5,000."
___Fonseca worked under the supervision of Jered Sellers from First Baptist Church of Plains. They served in a field kitchen at Café Talon, where displaced residents lived in a tent city near Santa Tecla.
___Sellers recalled a time when the crew ran out of money to buy food, and they asked God to supply their needs. Initially, they thought a Catholic priest who offered money was the answer to their prayers, but he never fulfilled his pledge.
___Instead, God provided through a man from California who showed up at the Texans' campsite offering to help. Initially, Sellers admitted, he viewed the man with some suspicion.
___"I was keeping an eye on him. But I saw him wiping noses and doing things a lot of people wouldn't do. He said he was a child of God, and it looked like the love was in him," Sellers said.
___When the Californian learned about the funding shortage, he made two gifts over a three-day period totaling $4,000.
___"It changed my opinion of him," Sellers said. "God taught me a lesson about judging people."
___In 12 days, the two Texas Baptist volunteer crews prepared more than 100,000 meals, and they led at least a couple of hundred people to faith in Jesus Christ.
___"There were times when there would be 35 or 40 people in the serving line who prayed to accept Christ," Fonseca said. "We trained local women to open up a regular tortilla factory, and there were 15 to 20 women there who accepted Christ."
___A captain in the Mexican Army and his chief aide, along with a volunteer from Panama who worked alongside the Texans, also made professions of faith in Jesus.
___"Only the Lord will know the final tally," Fonseca said.
___Over the next six to eight months, Texas Baptists will be part of a multi-state rebuilding program to help earthquake victims in El Salvador.
___Construction volunteers are needed to fulfill one-week assignments. The cost is $750 per volunteer. The Southern Baptist Convention International Mission Board will provide all necessary equipment.
___Volunteers wishing to participate in the rebuilding project should contact Texas Baptist Men at (214) 828-5356. Anyone wishing to contribute to the ongoing disaster response may send designated checks, made payable to "Baptist Executive Board," to the BGCT Treasurer's Office, 333 N. Washington, Dallas 75246-1798.
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The Baptist Standard
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