Our quiet catch-up week in the office soon turned chaotic with the massive flooding in Spain that began on October 29. We flew to Valencia, Spain last Friday to offer support. Spain is enduring its worst flooding disaster in decades, as a year’s worth of rain fell in 24 hours. Over 200 people perished and many more are still missing. Torrential rains swept through the province of Valencia and across eastern Spain which triggered flash floods that swept away bridges and buildings and forced people to climb on roofs or cling to trees to survive. As water levels rose rapidly, people were trapped in vehicles and buildings. This weather system,known in Spain as DANA, is an acronym for ‘depression aislada en niveles altos.’ It is a phenomenon that forms in the Mediterranean which occurs when a mass of warm air collides with a stagnant mass of cold air.
Arriving in Spain and seeing the gospel of Jesus Christ in action has been so inspiring. We walked into the stake center Saturday morning to find 50+ people of all ages unloading water from a semi-truck. The delivery was supposed to be made directly to the affected zone, but large vehicles were not allowed to enter. So, plan B flew into action and the Valencia chapel became a Bishops Storehouse. The cultural hall was filled with water bottles and donated clothing.
Other rooms were filled with nonperishable food, equipment for volunteer clean up, and hygiene items that had been donated by local members and businesses.
In the kitchen, women were making sandwiches for the volunteers. A favorite image is one of a young mother, Priscilla Trinidad Eloina Carballo carrying her baby in one arm and a case of water in the other. She made repeated trips, carrying one case at a time.
Paco, the welfare and self-reliance manager for Spain came from his home in Madrid and Elder & Sister Rees, welfare and self-reliance missionaries based in Barcelona drove to meet us in Valencia. So good to meet in person after all our Zoom calls but sad that is under these circumstances.
We were asked to help local church leaders set up an emergency control center at one of our chapels and to organize an emergency response team with local people. Paco manages the logistics of the ordering and delivery of emergency supplies. Elder and Sister Rees are reaching out to connect with NGO’s to collaborate in flood relief humanitarian projects. We played tag team as Rees’ left for a speaking assignment in Barcelona. Soon backup help arrived: Christian Ottiker, our manager from Frankfurt, Matt Matthais (retired welfare & self-reliance manager, now service missionary) from France, and Elder & Sister Vester drove up from Granada. Mental health specialists flew in, to counsel with missionaries and members who live and volunteer in the affected area. What a great team.
We worked from 7am to 10pm every day at a frantic pace. We are all exhausted. We spent 80% of our time in the stake center in planning sessions working out endless details and logistical challenges. We would try to have a meeting and there would be literally dozens of interruptions. If we could ever gather the local exhausted leaders, they would be called out in person or by a phone call to minister to the needs of their flock. It was just as hard to get our group of missionaries together to try to organize; our phones were ringing, a truck was pulling up to unload, an NGO was calling for help, a driver was calling because there was no one there to accept delivery or after a few days, because of the generosity of the people, they had no room to accept the delivery. And then the miracles would happen. An organization would call to say they had an item to donate, and we would match them up to an NGO who had just asked for the item.
One morning we left at 6:30am to get into Cattaroja before the police barricades were set up that control traffic into the affected area. We donned rubber boots, gloves and masks and taped a sign on our car so it would not be towed away, being mistaken for a local damaged car. We were there six days after the flood.
Paco, Ed and I spent the day at the chapel helping to pack food bags while Christian and the Rees walked the streets of Cattaroja and into Albal to meet with members and NGO’s. The chapel has no electricity, but the work goes on. Community members come and go receiving medical attention, clothing and food for the day. Five of our sister missionaries live in Cattaroja and man the food organization and distribution along with local young adults.
Some scenes will be forever etched in our minds: Thousands of volunteers walking 1 ½ hours into the affected zone with brooms and shovels over their shoulders, our young missionaries waiting at a bus stop to get as close to the flood zone as possible before walking the rest of the way and the same young people returning to the chapel each evening covered in mud.
By Tuesday night the senior missionaries were all so exhausted we decided to sleep in and not come to the chapel until 10am the next day. We were walking to our hotel when our phone rang- Andre Hertado and his girlfriend wanted to show us the city of Valencia the next morning. They were in planning meetings with us all day on Saturday and we had made a connection with them. They wanted us to meet them at 8:00 am- perfect since we were not to meet the senior missionaries until 10:00! As we walked a few more steps a van pulled up to deliver a donation. It was President Arribia- the Mallorca district president and his wife. They had taken an 8-hour ferry ride to deliver the supplies their members had collected. We took them and a group of missionaries to get a Whopper. What delightful people! Sleep is overrated right?
As we have been consumed with the emergency the thought flickered through my mind a couple of times how sad it is to be in this beautiful city and only see the inside of the stake center. What a tender mercy for me to have a little time to do what I love most- a historical walking tour of the city. Andre was an excellent guide! So, on Wednesday morning we were tourists for two hours. We met at the old city gate and then strolled through barrio del Carmen.
We walked through beautiful plazas and the unique circular Plaza Redona. We saw the narrowest house in the world and La Lonja (The silk exchange).
We sampled local treats at Horchateria de Santa Catalina. In Spain horchata is made with soaked, ground, sweetened tiger nuts instead of rice.
We ended our tour buying delicious fruit in the Central Market.
We were also able to see the beautiful Arts and Museum district as we walked between our hotel and the chapel
Since our meals alternated between the Burger King around the corner from the chapel and the mall food court across the street, the homemade lentil soup served to us by a dear sister in the local ward was received with gratitude. It felt like a hug. Speaking of hugs. As we gave farewell abrazos to the people we worked alongside it didn’t seem possible that we had only known them for six days. They will remain forever in our hearts. Please keep them in your prayers as they recover from this tragedy.
With love, Elder & Sister Lamb (aka Ed & Debbie, Mom & Dad, Pop Pop & Tu Tu)
Lambs in Central Europe 