Brandon & Brittney Lingle
On the day of the earthquake, I was in a local coffee shop working on my sermon. I’ve never been to this one, and on my walk there, I noticed it had a lot of construction work around the area. While enjoying my Thai tea and Mark 14, I felt everything starting to sway. My first thought was, “Wow, they must have some pretty big construction trucks driving close to the shop.”
I noticed people grabbing their phones. Some started yelling, “Should we go outside?” “No, don’t!” I looked down at my little white table with my sermon prep spread across it. I was ready to get under it once I realized the cars parked in front were rocking back and forth violently.
The tremors lasted over a minute, which made everyone really nauseous and feel like we were going to pass out. After it stopped, everyone got on their phones to check on loved ones. I started my walk back, and the traffic was the worst I had ever seen. I could hear ambulances everywhere. I walked past lots of people standing outside of their condos, watching it to see if it would go down:
When I got home, I saw the horrifying video of a 30-story building collapsing — the one you have probably seen on the news. I was shocked to learn it was only a mile from our house.
Brittney and I started contacting our friends who live in condos to see if they needed a place to stay for the night. The government opened the parks for people to find shelter. I’ve never experienced an earthquake before — such a strange and helpless feeling. It made me fear God in a new way, as it was very powerful. I can’t imagine how it felt in Myanmar. We gathered our family and friends together to pray for those devastated by it. Pray with us that God’s people here would use this opportunity to share the gospel.
Siripong & Jessie Yaebeang
You have probably heard about the earthquake that began in Myanmar and also greatly affected us here in Thailand. Many of you have reached out to us and asked how we are doing. We thought we would send out a letter to give you guys a quick update. We wanted to send out a note sooner, but we were so busy and were just now able to do so. But just to let you know — our family, our church and people in our area are all doing well now.
It was definitely a very scary moment for all of us here. We had never experienced anything like it. Around 1:30 p.m., both Jessie and I felt very dizzy and thought we were about to pass out before realizing that it was, in fact, an earthquake. We grabbed the kids, ran out of the house and went into the street as quickly as we could (Meanwhile, people throughout the city were running for their lives). We all had to sit down because we felt so dizzy. I still feel dizzy here and there after Friday.
The earthquake noticeably shook our house and the surrounding area. After looking at how much everything was rocking back and forth, I thought our house might collapse, but I am thankful it didn’t.
Some places in the city suffered damage, but other places are worse, especially in Myanmar. The worst one here was a 30-story building that was under construction — it completely collapsed to the ground. It’s only about 10 miles south of where we are and is very close to a public park and children’s museum we like to take the kids to (we passed by there a week or so ago).
Sadly, it happened while close to 100 people were working in the building. Some got injured, and a few escaped, but most of them tragically were trapped there. The rescue team keeps searching and has found some bodies, but it will be a long process before finding all of them. Please pray for the search team.
Moreover, many people who live in tall buildings are scared right now. That Friday night, many people didn’t return to their apartments — either because they were not allowed to return to the building or were afraid to do so. Even at this time, may God lead them to refuge in Him.
Traffic was at a standstill throughout the city after the earthquake since the tollway and trains were closed. From our church to our home, where it usually takes 5 minutes, it took me 40 minutes to get home, and for a member of our church, a 30-40-minute trip ended up taking 7 hours!
This is a small example of how God’s providence works. We recorded a video back in February about how God reigns in all circumstances, even in tragic moments, and that He is still the God who is our safest refuge. The crazy thing is that our church already scheduled ahead of time to post the video on Saturday morning, the morning after the earthquake! We thought it was a timely message for this troubling time.
We are keeping our eyes open and seeking ways our church can be helpful to minister to those who are affected by the earthquake. Please remember those who are suffering both in Thailand and in Myanmar.
