On Thursday evening, April 15, crushing storm winds blew through the property of our Bible Institute in Las Crucitas. The 23 staff and students watched in horror as pine tree after pine tree fell across the landscape and onto buildings.
Most of the students and staff holed up in the library or the dormitories. But there were two young men in the chapel when the gale-force winds struck. Oscar Gabriel recounted how he and his fellow student where there when the lights went out; they immediately started to leave the building to join the others. Just as they approached the exit, the roof and walls crashed down where they had been standing seconds before at the other end of the building.
“While we regret the tremendous loss of property,” said  Yonis Arguijo, Bible Institute Director, “we thank God that no one was injured. This is the most terrifying weather I have ever experienced. In total darkness, we could hear the trees falling all around us, not knowing if at any minute one might fall on the building where we were.”
As news of the devastation spread, Juan Luis Lagos, president of the BMDMI association of churches in Honduras, called to offer his condolences and pledge the support of all the churches in clearing the debris and helping with the inevitable demolition of the chapel that was damaged beyond repair.
As of yet, we have no estimates of the actual cost to rebuild the chapel and repair the three other buildings that were damaged; we hope to have that information available shortly. However, we believe the cost will exceed $100,000. We only know to look to God and our faithful supporters to provide the resources as they feel led.