Chile Ministry Helps Trapped Miners
By Christian Maureira, National Director of Chile
Updated: 18.Oct.2010
¡Gracias Señior! Thank You Lord!
This may be the quote of the year. This is the quote that, according to sources, has been recorded in the minds of at least a billion people around the world. It is a statement of gratefulness which has emerged from the depths of the heart of humanity throughout history. And it is the statement that on October 12, emerged from the depths of the earth through miners that were returning from death and darkness. They reminded us that life is the most precious gift that God has given us and that it should be a constant poem of thanks to Him who "has the depths of the earth and the heights of the mountains in his hands" (paraphrase of Psalm 95:4 quoted on the back of the t-shirts).
The rescue of the miners is an historical event without precedent, which brings to mind Jesus Christ's sacrifice on the cross. He gave His life as a ransom to rescue humanity, and has demonstrated that He is an expert at freeing souls that are trapped in the depths of the abyss. This is corroborated by the testimony of Jonah at the bottom of the sea; by Daniel in the lions' den; by the transformation of millions of people throughout history; or by the statement of Mario Sepulveda, "I was with God and I was with the devil. They fought over me and God won. I held onto the best hand and I was never afraid that God wouldn't get me out of this."
"Thank you Lord!" is even more notable when we think that these men lost at 700 meters underground (over 2,000 feet), in the middle of the Atacama desert, have made us look up to the sky and have reminded us that, as our national anthem says, "Our fields embroidered with flowers and the majestic mountain, a happy resemblance of Eden, are a bulwark and a gift from God." Chile, then, is a grateful country that has reminded the world to set its eyes on the things of God, who sustains the universe.
Likewise, it was humble men who had no public or media relevance before the collapse of the mine, who installed the quote of the event onto the front pages of newspapers, on live television, in the internet, Facebook, Twitter, and all the different media platforms all over the world. I suspect that "Thank you Lord!" was the general feeling of the entire Chilean population. It was a muffled scream since the day we found out that they were alive. We were all tuned to the same frequency -- presidents, artists, actors, scientists, religious leaders, singers and so many others. They all expressed basically the same thing in different parts of the planet.
Let's be fair and grateful. It's true; the rescue has put Chile, and its government, engineers, private companies and society, as a sophisticated model to the world. But all of us together couldn't have avoided the loss of lives if the mine would have fallen on them. It's a miracle; the miracle of Copiapó.
¡Gracias Señior! Thank you Lord!
Christian Maureira
National Director of Campus Crusade for Christ, Chile
Update: 15.Oct.2010
The story of the 33 rescued miners has gripped the attention of the world, and Campus Crusade for Christ Chile has played an integral role.
By now, most of you have probably seen the t-shirts the miners were wearing as they arose out of the mine that said "¡Gracias Señior!" (Thank You Lord!) and had the JESUS film logo on the sleeve. They were created by our Chile ministry and given to the miners to wear.
We also wanted to confirm that the miner mentioned by Christian in his letter is miner #24, Jose Samuel Henriquez. Some services list him as Jose Henriquez Gonzalez. By all accounts, he was the spiritual leader of the group and our contact in the mine.
Would you join us in continuing to praise God for their rescue and the part our fellow staff members played in caring for and serving their needs while trapped.
Editor's Note: We received this update from Christian Maureira, the National Director in Chile, about the Chile ministry's efforts to help the trapped miners. This was translated by Doug Barron.
News From the Miners
By Christian Maureira, Chile National Director
Hello team and friends! I want to share with you about the last 2 very intense weeks as we have worked on the project to take the Word of God and the JESUS audio version to the mine, but it has really be worth the effort as it is food for the soul. This long history of the miners that is now passing 2 months has been without doubt the longest survival experience for people trapped underground.
This all started on the August 5, when the San Jose mine collapsed because of the exploration in the mine. The news was not good as it was only 6 months after we had experience the very large earthquake and tsunami. With a population less than other countries in the world, problems like this seem much closer to you and much more like it is part of your own family.
After 2 weeks without news from the miners we could only think the worst. The government had made every effort, but it was reasonable to think that the miners were lost, above all considering the distance where they were located, some 700 meters (2,000 feet) deep with a difficult future to be rescued. But God had other plans and 2 days later (the 17th day), contact with them was made. Obviously we were all very happy and we celebrated the miracle that all were alive.
As Campus Crusade, God guided us to think about how we could help these men and this was how we took the initiative to contact some churches in the north, leaders and authorities about sending the JESUS audio into the mine. It wasn't easy in the beginning because of some apathy in the Christian leadership and a lack of a sense of urgency, together with the restrictive control of the rescue team but, God in His sovereignty provided that we were able to gain contact with the daughter and the brother of 1 of the 3 Christians that were trapped there.
During several weeks, I was in contact with them and I explored the possibility of sending them audio material. Finally, I traveled to the mine with 33 MP3's containing theJESUS audio version and an ample portion of the Bible. I was there for 2 days and we sent the MP3's through each family members that were there.
Jose Samuel, my contact in the mine (father of Hettiz and brother of Gaston) is an extraordinary man who has really surprised me. The psychologists that are giving help from the surface have recognized that he has been a tremendous emotional and spiritual support for the rest of his co-workers.
He sent me a letter that grabbed my attention for his incredible clarity of thought. For example, some parts of the letter are:
- "I want to express my appreciation for this great blessing for me and my co-workers, it will be very good our edification" (He is talking about the MP3's)
- "I am well because Christ lives in me"
- "We have prayer services at 12 a.m. and 6 p.m."
- "I ask all of you for pray not only for us here, but for all the lost people in the world"
- At the end of the letter he signed off with Psalm 95:4, "In his hand are the depths of the earth, and mountain peaks belong to him."
This is a very motivating story, let's continue to pray for the salvation of these souls. Thanks for being part of this.
