By Nina Schaafsma, JMI Missionary in Italy
Michael and Nina Schaafsma, JMI missionaries based in Italy, have been in Switzerland walking alongside those affected by the New Year’s fire in Crans-Montana. They met with friends of the victims and people of all ages who are grieving and shaken by the tragedy. Below, Nina writes about their experience.
We woke early Friday morning, January 2, to head to the small, beautiful Swiss town of Crans-Montana. Forty people had just been killed in a fire, and many more were injured. Driving across the plains and over the Italian Alps into the Swiss Alps, we talked and prayed. As the advance team, we were tasked with evaluating the situation and finding ways to help. Upon arriving, we somberly walked up the hill where people gathered, laying flowers, lighting candles, crying, hugging…We watched and waited. We began to walk and pray:
Lord, please give us words of hope. Help us be sensitive and present. Use us to minister to the hearts of desperate people. Help them to find Charlotte, a student that a mutual friend was looking for. Help us communicate.
We felt inadequate. How does one find a way to show kindness to strangers who are facing such a private and personal grief? We stepped in to try to demonstrate love and compassion.
When the city workers needed to move flowers, we helped. As we did, we talked of Jesus and our hope in Him. We told them we were praying that they would experience Him personally. Then I shared the flowers with a group of girls who were standing there watching and crying. I told them how I am praying, and how I depend on a personal relationship with Jesus to give me hope. I told them He is there for them, too. They cried, hugged me, and said, “Merci beaucoup madame.” We arranged flowers together, and I gathered the girls to hug and encourage them again, and they went on their way.
Michael stood with a weeping man who was laden with anguish. His daughter had changed plans and did not go to Le Constellation (the bar where the fire occurred). She lived. He could hardly bear the grief of “what-if” combined with his pain for his friends who were not so fortunate. Families knelt with little children to explain how to show solidarity. I heard a little girl say, “What is this daddy?” The reply: “It was an accident, my girl.”
We walked the streets and prayed; we offered hot chocolate to freezing people, hugging and crying. We asked the Lord to lead us. One sweet conversation started with a few young women who had come up from a town down the valley to pray that the people in grief would meet Jesus. They were thankful that across the world, believers were praying for their country. Together we prayed that people would meet Jesus and grasp His gift of salvation.
As the days went on, we gathered for community moments. Michael was invited to speak in a local church down the hill. People in that church were present during the incident and lost friends and neighbors. They asked whether the Billy Graham Evangelical Association Chaplain ministry would return to help train them to respond in crisis, so Michael was thankful to go back with the BGEA trainer.
On our way out of town, we prayed with people again. As we drove, we reflected on the time in Crans-Montana. It was not a moment of great street evangelism, as we often do, but a moment to pray and speak of Jesus. Our love for this place, for people without hope, our love to serve when a need arises – was all increased.
This week, funerals are taking place across Italy, France, and Switzerland. Bells ring as cathedrals announce mourning. As people continue in heartache, please continue to pray that we will have wisdom and opportunity to speak of Jesus, life, hope, and comfort.
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