In Chichicastenango, it’s finally nearing the end of a tough rainy season that has cost lives and destroyed infrastructure that is vital to the everyday life of the people here.
After getting off to a slow start, the rainy season came on strong in September with torrential rains that swept away more than the lingering dust. As rain-soaked canyon walls gave way they took lives and roadways with them.
Early in September four of the Nix family were out scavenging for anything of value in a local trash heap that people had tossed into a deep canyon near the side of a major regional highway. The family was about 600 feet down in the canyon when the rain-soaked wall collapsed at about 4:30 in the afternoon. Candelaria Mateo Morales, 39; Bartolo Saquic Nix, 23, and Julio Tomás Tun Mateo, 5, were killed by the falling debris. A 13-year-old sister escaped the mudslide and made her way up to call for help.
The search for the family was called off due to the instability of the area and risk for more mudslides.
As the local ministry we work with reported, there is hope in this tragedy…
“The 13-year-old girl who survived the landslide but lost her parents and a brother was part of a family that ASELSI has visited and shared the gospel in their home.When the ASELSI Project coordinator, Angel, was talking to the girl, her uncle came over to talk to him and said, “You already know the family, you have been in their home before in the village where they live. You guys (ASELSI) have helped them before and have visited this family because they lived in such poor conditions!”In the middle of the sorrow, that brings us hope that the day when a team from the United States went together with Angel and visited this family, they were able to hear the message of Salvation through Jesus Christ and it is our hope and prayer that now the three of them are with our Father in Heaven!”
The ASELSI maintenance crews and other neighbors have started a repair project to make the road usable again but we need prayer for stable ground and safety for the work crews.
Leave a Reply