This place. This beautiful place.

The LORD God loves this place. They told me the story of the flood this evening. Last year, April 2nd, 2013, there was a flood in La Plata, Argentina. This I knew, but God's loving, caring, merciful hand in it, I did not. 2 meters of rain fell in 4 hours, flooding the city. This apparent catastrophe happened simultaneously, rather, just after a major oil factory in the city caught fire. They lamented that firefighters, police, city rescue, everyone, was at the factory trying to put out the fire, and that no one was available to help the people trapped in the flood. They said, "It's a miracle the factory didn't explode;  we wouldn't be here." They continued, "If it had exploded, it would have been nuclear, obliterating a 60 kilometer radius around the factory." (Included in that radius, would have been part of the massive city of Buenos Aires - pop. 14 million). I asked them which happened first, the fire or the flood of rain? They said the fire, and just after that, the rain. I said, "Could it be that God sent the rain to put out the fire?" They said, "Puede ser...puede ser. La verdad es que nunca hemos pensado en eso." ("It could be... it could be.  The truth is that we never thought of that.") What an amazing God, whose hands, protection and care were all over this situation!

Further evidence: Pastor Fabian, with whose family we are staying, nearly drown, trying to get to his sister's house to help them in their dangerous situation on their roof. Something happened, he got swept away perhaps, and he said that he reached out his hand, and someone grabbed ahold of it. He believes it to be an angel, because he couldn't see a face. The rescuer told him to go back and not to come out again. I'm not sure how he got back, but Patricia, his wife, said that when he did, he was completely blue from lack of oxygen. She said that he almost died.

Further evidence: It was a national holiday. For this reason, thousands of children and teachers were not killed when the school buildings flooded. Not to mention everyone else who had the day off. The holiday was the 32nd anniversary of the day Argentina had gone to war to acquire some islands somewhere. Back in Rosario, Karen informed us that we might not talk to Argentines about that war, because it's kind of a touchy subject. Because it seems that many people died in vain. However, upon hearing that it was that holiday which saved the lives of thousands, I could not help but wonder if 33 years ago, God allowed the war, knowing that it's anniversary save thousands from the flood, which was sent to save millions.