Read this powerful testimony of Hamdullah and Elmaz - a testimony of God's preservation, of absolute devotion and of deep gratitude for your help!
It is simply unbelievable. More than 50,000 people have lost their lives in the earthquake region in southeastern Turkey and Syria. The earth shook again yesterday. Since February 6, thousands of aftershocks were recorded. And yet somehow the survivors have to find their way back into life.
In the almost completely destroyed city of Antakya, it is Christians like Pastor Hamdullah and his wife Elmaz who are there to help the survivors. After 22 days of non-stop helping and serving, they too are exhausted. But where men can do no more, God can!
We do not stop praising God. God is good - always! He kept us alive in that terrible quake. While houses were collapsing around us, our one hundred year old house remained standing! Not only in Antakya and Hatay province, but all over southeastern Turkey, hundreds of thousands of houses have been destroyed. We know that God has preserved us, and we understand that He still has a lot to do for us.Of course, our house is badly damaged. Nevertheless, we started the first relief operations here. After the first quake, people simply came to us. We were their only point of contact. For 30 hours - it felt like three days - no one came to our neighborhood to help. It wasn't until the third day that recovery teams began searching for survivors in the collapsed apartment buildings. Before that, our neighbors did what they could to pull people out of the rubble. They also rescued those who had not survived the quake. Survivors from the neighborhood all told us the same thing: "No help has come from the government yet. They didn't care about us, but the Christians helped us! Without the Christians, we would have perished!""At first, the Christians accommodated us in their vehicles. They gave us warm clothes and something to eat. They just took care of us!" - a survivor told a TV station camera.We are so grateful. Christians came from all over Turkey to embrace us and support us.
We were sitting having dinner in front of our house, with many volunteers, when a third big quake on February 20 spread new terror. It was worse than the first quake - not as strong, but much closer. It was terrible. Hamdullah was in our house. "Get out, Hamdullah, get out," I shouted, running to the front entrance and stopping, stunned. A brother who came after me pushed me out into the street. I suffered an injury to my hand from clinging so tightly to the wall. I was crying, thinking I had lost Hamdullah. Then he came out, and we all ran to him....Because our house is in danger of collapsing, we moved our relief center to the new church center (still under construction). There we feed people in a soup kitchen and distribute relief goods.Since the first quake, we have spent the night in our minivan. There are hardly any habitable buildings left in Antakya. Hundreds of thousands still have no shelter.
Twice we have experienced moments of great fear and great preservation. Of course, we are in fear every time we go into our old house to use the bathroom or to get things. Again and again the earth shakes, and then we run for our lives. But God takes away the fear so that we can continue to serve.
Hamdullah and Elmaz from Antakya
Thank you, dear friends, for your generous help!
A total of 73 hope tents and 100 stoves have been set up so far.
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Thank you for your prayers and for your support! Your help allows us to equip our local church contacts on the ground to help people who are traumatised, injured - people who have lost everything. We can also share the love of God who sees the need of the people and sends help through His children.
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