September 19, 1985 I was standing by myself in our living room in Mexico City when all of a sudden I realized something was wrong. I could feel the whole earth beneath me moving and I wasn’t sure what was happening. I looked up and could see our chandelier swaying very strongly back and forth. From the kitchen I heard my mom talking to my brother and sister in a panicked voice and shortly after Mom explained to us that there had been an earthquake. The bus came for us to go to school so we got on the bus and went to school as we normally did. Only a little while after we had arrived at school I knew the earthquake must have been really bad. Some of my friends parents started arriving at the school and some came in crying and shaking as they grabbed their children and held them in their arms. By mid day they closed the school and sent all of the students home.
That afternoon we realized the extent of the earthquake. The earthquake had measured 7.8 on the Richter scale and we found out that many buildings had fallen down or had been damaged. One of the buildings that fell was where my dad’s office was. He had left for work and been downtown when the earthquake had happened. Dad had a colleague visiting from the United States and dad found him roaming the streets in his pajamas because his hotel had collapsed. Dad brought that man home and I remember seeing that man sitting in front of the TV but he was in so much shock he didn’t say much to any of us. More then 10,000 people died, 30,000 were injured and an estimated 250,000 were left homeless because of this earthquake. Mom and Dad collected blankets and handed them out to people who needed them and helped feed people in shelters. Mom and Dad took my brother, sisters and I to see my dad’s office and to see the damage that had been done. It was bad! We walked around and saw people going through the rubble of buildings and looking for survivors. While we were there I saw them pulling out people who were injured and people who were dead and it scared me.
That night I started thinking about death and what that meant and I started crying. Dad heard me crying and wanted to know what was wrong so I told him I was scared of another earthquake happening and of dying. Dad then proceeded to tell me about God and how he had sent his son Jesus to this earth to die on the cross for us and that if I devoted my life to Him that I could be saved and even if I died I would go to heaven and spend eternity with God. That was the first time I remember hearing the gospel and that night I prayed with my dad and asked God to forgive me for my sin and asked Him to be a part of my life.
Though I really believe that now looking back I did not truly understand what it meant to follow God, it was the first time I remember hearing the truth of God and heard about a man who had died for me and I believe this truth stuck in my head as I grew up, as I lived a double life and as I lived my life completely away from God. It was in my twenties that God reminded me again of His truth and when He chose to completely open my eyes and my life completely changed. However, I know that God used that earthquake to make me wonder about life and specifically my life and that He used Dad to speak into my life and tell me of a Saviour. He also used my Dad to be in Mexico City a couple weeks ago just after another big earthquake hit the city and Dad once again was able to help some people during this hard time. Dad told us that they are saying there are 190,000 buildings and houses that have been damaged by two earthquakes that have hit Mexico in the past month. It hits me because I remember what the other earthquake was like but as I have prayed for Mexico I have been reminded of how God used the earthquake in 1985 in my life and my prayer and hope is that through this devastation people who feel like they have no hope will hear about the true hope. That they will hear about God and how he created everything perfectly for His glory; how because of sin man was separated from God but how God sent His son Jesus as a gift to this world to die on the cross to save us from eternal punishment. How now because Jesus lived a sinless life and died on the cross as 1 John 1:9 says “if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”. That they would see that if they do this they will be changed forever and they will no longer have to fear death but will know that no matter what happens to them that they will one day spend eternity enjoying the glory of God.