Firefighting and Earthquake

A lot of excitement has happened in the last couple days. We did feel the earth quake that I´m sure you all heard about, but it was nothing where we were. Pretty cool to feel it, though. It happened while we were all sitting around the dinner table getting ready to eat supper. We started praying and all of a sudden it felt like the house was moving. By the time the prayer was said it was gone, but everyone was like, did you feel that? And then as we were still trying to figure out what it was, another one came, and we could see the walls and doors moving. Weird. Then it was gone. Manuel had a little radio that he listened to and started telling us how bad it was and where it hit. Crazy. We wanted to go do relief work, but it would be too much right now, and we don´t really have the skills to do search and rescue.
The same day the quake hit we did a little firefighting. The Peruvians had used their burn method to clear the land, only it was really windy, so the fire spread quickly, and was headed toward one of the buildings. We didn´t have water at the time either, so we used boards to beat out the flames in the grass. Thankfully no one was burnt. The Dr just thought it was hilarious to watch me fight fires becauseI would beat the grass in front of me that wasn´t burnt on my way to the fire to scare away any snakes that might be escaping from the flames. :) So after we saved the building and a lemon tree we thought our day was done. Until after supper Kaitlin noticed flames way on the edge of our land. So, we all loaded into the truck with a few shovels and headed in the direction of the fire. We got there just in time. The flames were only about 6 meters away from a house that a little old man was house sitting for. The roof was thatch and the entire building was wood, which would have gone up like kindling. We woke him up, and he seemed totally unconcerned. He told us Jesus was coming soon, and he wasn´t worried about it. He said it wasn’t going to keep coming toward the house! Needless to say, both Jenni and Manuel tried convincing him that he needed to be more aware, but he didn´t care. We threw dirt on the flames and got them out.
I have been running since midnight last night, and I am so tired, hungry, and thirsty. Kristin and I went into Pucallpa last night with Jenni and stayed in a hostel so she could show us where to buy all the meds we need for clinic. It took us until almost 1am to make the list and all. I was so tired because my body is used to going to bed at 9! Then we got up early this morning and went to 5 pharmacies to get prices, then returned to four to get meds. Plus we had to take out and change money. Thankfully all the pharmacies are on the same strip, but it still made for a ton of running around. I am looking forward to Sabbath - the last restful one for awhile I´m afraid, because on Sunday we start our clinic and 6 weeks of health/kids programs. Every Sabbath I think we´ll be helping the bible workers. And today isn´t over yet. We still have to go pick up all the meds with the truck and pack for clinic back at km 38. Where are the peaceful days?? It’s nice though, because I feel like now we´re finally doing what we came here to do.