{"id":8401,"date":"2004-12-30T18:51:12","date_gmt":"2004-12-30T23:51:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/?p=8401"},"modified":"2011-07-06T08:28:58","modified_gmt":"2011-07-06T13:28:58","slug":"4030","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2004\/12\/30\/4030\/","title":{"rendered":"‘We Realized Something Was Very Different’"},"content":{"rendered":"

BANGKOK, THAILAND (December 30, 2004)\u00a0 – The following is a first-person\u00a0 account from Don and Lillian Dwight, Evangelical Covenant Missionaries\u00a0 who were vacationing with their children on Phi Phi Island, off the\u00a0 coast of Thailand, when the tsumani struck the island Sunday morning.<\/p>\n

By Don and Lillian Dwight<\/p>\n
So much has transpired in the last few days and so many Christians all\u00a0 over the world\u00a0 have been praying for us that we wanted to take this\u00a0 opportunity to thank all of those who were praying. We are home safe and\u00a0 feeling relieved and thankful to God for preserving our lives during the\u00a0 tsunamis that hit the Indian Ocean on Sunday morning.<\/p>\n
Most of you know by now that we took a family vacation to Thailand in\u00a0 celebration of our 25th wedding anniversary. We brought all of our kids\u00a0 with us. On Saturday we took a ferry to Phi Phi Island off the coast of\u00a0 Thailand. This is a beautiful tropical island no more then a mile long.\u00a0 We enjoyed the beauty that afternoon and evening with not a thought at\u00a0 all that the next morning it would be devastated. There is a small\u00a0 village with many shops and hotels a few feet from the beach.<\/p>\n
I believe that the Lord was guiding our steps even months before our\u00a0 trip. When we had tried to make reservations for a beach bungalow almost\u00a0 three months ago, they where full. The proprietor recommended a hotel\u00a0 with bungalows on the side of the hill and we were able to make\u00a0 reservations there. Sunday morning we went down to the hotel restaurant\u00a0 for breakfast. The day was beautiful and bright with the clear blue\u00a0 water shimmering a few feet from where we were eating.<\/p>\n
At 10 a.m. we finished eating and returned to our rooms up the hill. We\u00a0 rested for a bit and at 10:15 we heard some yelling.\u00a0 We opened our\u00a0 bungalow door and saw some smoke on the top of the hill, so we figured\u00a0 it was a brush fire that the staff was yelling about. There didn’t seem\u00a0 to be any immediate danger. In a few minutes we decided to go swimming and put on our swim suits. As we walked down the path to the\u00a0 shore we realized something was very different. The water level reached\u00a0 up into the hotel restaurant and the bay was full of debris, including\u00a0 large pieces of furniture. At first I thought that there must have been\u00a0 some weird high tide that had washed into the beach side shops. I had no idea of the devastation that had already hit this\u00a0 island, much less the destruction that would hit other areas.<\/p>\n
All we knew was that we couldn’t go swimming, so we just stood there and\u00a0 watched. In a few minutes several people carried a lady up the sidewalk\u00a0 and laid her down right where we were standing. She wasn’t breathing.\u00a0 Her husband was crying for help. After yelling once or twice that\u00a0 somebody should start CPR, nobody did, so Lillian and I decided that we\u00a0 needed to do it. We started the process, then a couple of men joined us.\u00a0\u00a0 Peter, our son, took a couple of rotations to give us a rest, also.\u00a0 Unfortunately, after working for an hour we were not able to revive her.\u00a0 As Lillian and I put our arms around her husband and son . . . Lillian\u00a0 prayed for them. I knew that it was hard enough to lose your wife and\u00a0 mother to a tragedy like this, but being thousands of miles from home\u00a0 and all alone, without any family or friends, would make it even worse.\u00a0 So I felt the nudge of the Holy Spirit to stay with them and help them\u00a0 any way I could. They were from London. One other British couple who had met them the day before were also very\u00a0 helpful and stayed with them for many hours.<\/p>\n
By this time, of course, we were getting an idea of the local\u00a0 devastation. When we asked for a doctor’s help, the locals told us that\u00a0 was impossible because everything was wiped out. Furthermore, a half\u00a0 mile walk along the beach to get to the clinic – which was already wiped\u00a0 out – was considered too dangerous because of the possibilities of\u00a0 further tsunamis. All communications and power had been wiped out. A\u00a0 walk along the beach later that afternoon did confirm the massive\u00a0 destruction.\u00a0 Meanwhile, we heard possibilities of evacuation and,\u00a0 indeed, helicopters started to fly over the island. All that afternoon and night we waited. The locals graciously made rice and\u00a0 sausages over an open fire for dinner.<\/p>\n
On Monday morning we decided that nobody was going to come to our side\u00a0 of the island to evacuate us, so we needed to get to the pier, which was\u00a0 about half a mile away. A hotel staff person arranged for a motor boat\u00a0 to take Mike and Adam (the father and son) and Trish’s (the wife’s) body\u00a0 to the other side of the island where a makeshift helipad had been set\u00a0 up. As we put them into the boat and sent them off, that is the last I\u00a0 saw of them. I assume that a helicopter took them to the Thai mainland\u00a0 to receive the help that they needed. Please pray for Mike and Adam. I\u00a0 gave Mike my email address. I would like more of a chance to share the\u00a0 love of Jesus with him and Adam some day.<\/p>\n
Then it was our turn to leave. Fortunately, we had everything in\u00a0 backpacks, so the walk to the pier climbing over the rubble was easier\u00a0 than if we were dragging suitcases. You have seen the pictures – we saw\u00a0 the destruction with our own eyes. We finally made it to the pier and\u00a0 began the wait. I was quite nervous about getting on the pier because\u00a0 there appeared to be about a thousand people on it and I was afraid it\u00a0 would collapse. Every 30 minutes or so a boat would come in and take\u00a0 about 50 people. More people kept coming to the pier. If we didn’t get\u00a0 on the pier, we wouldn’t get evacuated, at least not anytime soon.<\/p>\n
After a prayer for wisdom, we decided to go ahead and get on the pier.\u00a0 In about 30 minutes, a very large ferry came and several hundred people\u00a0 were able to get on. Our family was one of the last to get on. There was\u00a0 quite a bit of shoving and pushing to get on, so it was a bit wild, but\u00a0 the Lord kept us together and we made the hour and a half boat ride to\u00a0 Phuket. From the dock we were taken to a processing center at city hall.\u00a0 It was here that I was able to finally call my family and let everybody\u00a0 know that we were safe. This was over a day’s wait for many of our\u00a0 friends to hear this news. We are so appreciative of hearing about all\u00a0 of the people who were praying for us.<\/p>\n
I believe that God’s hand was truly protecting us – being in our first\u00a0 choice of hotels or staying for breakfast a few minutes longer or going\u00a0 swimming a few minutes sooner and this letter would be very different.\u00a0 It was at the processing center that these thoughts overwhelmed me and\u00a0 the tears started to come. I don’t mean to imply that my family or I are\u00a0 any better than any of those who lost their lives, but God has chosen to\u00a0 give us the gift of life and it is a gift we accept thankfully. I, also, feel\u00a0 strongly that God has said that we – my family – have more work to do\u00a0 here\u00a0 and we will continue to serve Him the rest of our days.<\/p>\n
From the processing center we were taken to the Phuket airport and\u00a0 amazingly we got on a flight to Bangkok that afternoon. The airport was\u00a0 packed with thousands trying to get home and I thought that there was no\u00a0 chance we would get out that day, but God surprised us with another\u00a0 blessing. When we got to the hotel in Bangkok, some missionary friends\u00a0 were there to greet us and we felt God’s love and\u00a0 the love of brothers\u00a0 and sisters in Christ pouring over us.<\/p>\n
As we began to see the news reports, we have become aware that many,\u00a0 many people have had a much harder time than us. Please pray for the\u00a0 rescue and relief efforts that are ongoing and, if possible, please give\u00a0 a monetary gift to an organization (Covenant World Relief) that is doing\u00a0 relief work in the affected areas (see related story for details on how\u00a0 to donate to Covenant World Relief’s efforts). Pray that Christians in\u00a0 those areas will take a leading role in caring for the millions in need.<\/p>\n
In Christ, Don, Lillian, Peter, Matthew, Andy, Olivia and Megan Dwight<\/div>\n
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Copyright \u00a9 2011 The Evangelical Covenant Church.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Report This Post<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BANGKOK, THAILAND (December 30, 2004)\u00a0 – The following is a first-person\u00a0 account from Don and Lillian Dwight, Evangelical Covenant Missionaries\u00a0 who were vacationing with their children on Phi Phi Island, off the\u00a0 coast of Thailand, when the tsumani struck the island Sunday morning. By Don and Lillian Dwight Report This Post<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n'We Realized Something Was Very Different' - Covenant Newswire Archives<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2004\/12\/30\/4030\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"'We Realized Something Was Very Different' - Covenant Newswire Archives\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"BANGKOK, THAILAND (December 30, 2004)\u00a0 – The following is a first-person\u00a0 account from Don and Lillian Dwight, Evangelical Covenant Missionaries\u00a0 who were vacationing with their children on Phi Phi Island, off the\u00a0 coast of Thailand, when the tsumani struck the island Sunday morning. 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