Recycled Blessing

After the earthquake and tsunami of Feb. 27th, 2010, the members of the Pentecostal Church of Chile built “Blessing Cabins” to provide dry, warm, temporary, emergency housing for people whose homes were destroyed.  One Blessing Cabin remained on the grounds of the central church in Curicó after all the others were shipped out;  it provided emergency office space for the national church whose recently renovated building had to be torn down and then remained as a reminder of God’s provision in the midst of the devastation.

Some of the Blessing Cabins morphed into permanent homes rebuilt in the years following the earthquake.  Others were moved, after a couple of years, to church properties and used as temporary places of worship.  Nearly six years after the disaster, we have lost track of many of the Blessing Cabins.  Last week I spoke to a widow who received a Blessing Cabin when her house fell down on top of her; she escaped uninjured by crawling under the her bed.  The government has built her a permanent home, but her Blessing Cabin is now a little shop where she takes in mending and sewing.  This month, as the national church finally prepares to build a new office, the last intact Blessing Cabin has been taken down panel by panel and trucked out of Curicó to make room for the construction.

Tucked beneath two oak trees and under the watch of the Sentinel Mountain, this Blessing Cabin will continue to bless people with dry, warm, temporary housing!  Thanks to the offerings the Shalom Center has received through Global Ministries, this Blessing Cabin has been refurbished into a cabin to be used by the staff and participants during its peace building, environmental education, and spiritual development programs.   God’s blessing shared by those who cared about Chile in a moment of great need has been recycled into a blessing that will shelter many others in the years to come.

Photo:  Patricia Gómez, the director of the Shalom Center, with her husband, Rodrigo Martínez, a facilitator at the Shalom Center, and their daughter, Rayen.

Elena Huegel serves with the Pentecostal Church of Chile (IPC).  Her appointment is made possible by your gifts to Disciples Mission Fund, Our Churches Wider Mission, and your special gifts.