What a faith challenge we have had over the last few days.  We have been staying out at San Geronimo this week, and as we were finishing dinner Tuesday night, we decided to open the windows to let the cooler air in. It had been nearly 100 degrees for four days in a row, and the heat was unbearable. No cool breeze from the ocean whatsoever. The only wind blowing was from the north, and hot.

As I opened the windows, I saw black smoke rising above the southern wood, and I saw a crest of orange light over the tops of the trees. I felt very nervous inside, and felt that I should drive down to the highway for a better look. It was obvious the forest was on fire, but HOW FAR SOUTH? was the question. 

 

I told Toni to throw the kids in the car and then we would drive around and look. But when I looked out the window, the light was brighter, higher, and the smoke was thicker. The fire was upon us. 

 

Our daughter Allie broke into tears. “This is my worst nightmare, that all my stuff would be burned up in a fire.” She then hurried to pack almost EVERYTHING she had brought out here and packed it all in the back of the car. I nervously gathered a few costly items: laptop computers, videocameras, my Bible, and some flip flops, and then hurried around finding shorts and shoes for the babies. By the time we got outside, the air was thick with smoke, our adrenaline had kicked in, and we were preparing our flight. My heart sank as I thought of this whole place consumed with fire. 

 

I looked for Toni, and finally found her out in the sports field with her hands outstretched toward the fire, praying to God to hold back the flames and to protect San Geronimo. I yelled at her to come on while we still could. The neighbors were all calling each other as well, making sure all knew and that all had time to get out. 

 

We drove down to the highway in the direction of Montevideo and when we turned out on the highway, I honestly just wanted to vomit. The flames were 60 feet high in the air and the fire was going all the way up the hillside. We did not know what to do. 

 

We watched, prayed, sang praise songs, updated Facebook, and wondered "What do we do now?”

 

We decided to take Toni and the children back home to Montevideo, as it was now 9:45 pm, and they were exhausted. I returned to San Geronimio by 11:00 pm and the fire was just as bad as ever. The Highway was blocked off, and the fire was mostly contained, except on the south side of San Geronimo. The fire had not yet entered our property, even after four hours of burning. I stood at the property line and continued to pray as the firemen wove their hose into the brush below San Geronimo. One neighbor with a bulldozer had made a firebreak and a pathway into the woods so the firemen could get in. 

 

The blaze started to lessen with their efforts, but then, they ran out of water. 

 

I went up to the house to prepare the pump to empty the cisterns into their truck if needed. Two neighbors came through and asked if they could drive their tractors and water tanks down through the prayer walks in order to fight the fire from above, from up inside the forest. Some twenty of us or so got buckets and garden sprayers and fought back the blaze all along the south side of the property, some 100 feet inside the property line. The stand of Eucalyptus trees on the south side was not consumed, but all the underbrush around it was burned. 

 

At 2:30 am, the blaze was all put out, and only embers remained. Everyone went home. We congratulated one another. I mentioned my wife’s prayer at the tree line, but their response was a dead awkward silence. No one wants to believe! Or they were all just too tired.

 

After all left, I went down once more, just in time to see fire break out again on San Geronimo. Flames shot up some 10 feet in some pine trees and I yelled out to a few remaining stragglers. There were a couple firemen up inside with backpacks on in the wood as well, and we all worked over the next hour to put the fire out. 

 

At 4:30 am, I collapsed on my bed, and slept until 9 am when I got up to go get Toni and the children.

 

Upon arrival, we were walking with Toni to survey the damage when the fire broke out again just east of the property. We ran to help with that. Then it broke out again under the transformer on the SW corner of San Geronimo. 

 

Finally, last night, all night, a steady rain came and fell and cooled the earth around us. 

 

Incidentally, we had just been getting ready to pursue cleaning the property line to put up the new fence, but when we obtained prices to clean, we decided against it.  Barry and Betty Carter, friends of ours, and of San Geronimo, are arriving here from the US on Sunday, and Barry is coming just to help put up the fence. I told him we could not afford to both clean AND fence. We both agreed that we would do whatever God worked out. As we looked the next day, of the 150 meter length of the south side, some 135 had been completely cleaned by the fire. Two weeks prior, I had walked the line almost in despair about the work required to clean it up. Now, I just smiled at God´s efficiency and economy. 

 

Well, we leave you with praises to our God that we are all all right and that the fire never really reached San Geronimo with any significance. Praise the Lord!

 

Blessings,

 

Matt