One month ago today, we experienced on of the 5 largest earthquakes in the history of earthquake recordings. As I read Proverbs 27 (ESV), this morning I was struck by many of the sayings that are evident in our life here in Chile.
Verse one says, "Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring."
That has held true for many here in Chile following the earthquake! How interesting that it comes in chapter 27 and the earthquake fell on the 27th of the month. (For those of you Bible scholars - Yes, I know that when God wrote the Bible, there were no chapters or verses!)
Verse 6 "Faithful are the wounds of a friend;" I have been so blessed to have my close friend, convict me of my need to continually rely on Christ and not on this earth that only shakes below us, like sinking sand. This friend I mention is in the US, and we talk on a regular basis. However, God has brought a new family with another mission to Chile, and she has been a real encouragement to me and I hope I to her.
Verse 10 "Do not forsake your friend and your father's friend." The friend that I mentioned in the US, has AMAZING parents. They actually went to WalMart and purchased various things that we needed. This verse is a reminder that my "friends" may not always be within the direct circle I think they are.
Verse 10b "Better is a neighbor who is near than a brother who is far away." Although I miss my siblings, they couldn't have helped me during the earthquake. My neighbors have been such a blessing, even though none of them have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. We hope to be the kind of neighbors to them that are "better...near, than a brother"/relative.
Verse 14 "Whoever blesses his neighbor with a loud voice, rising early in the morning will be counted as cursing." Living so close to our neighbors this is something we are teaching our children. Living in a city of almost 7 million, certainly changes one's perspective.
Verse 17 "Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another." This verse reminds me to continually seek out Christian friendships to encourage me and so that I can encourage others.
None of these applications are necessarily biblical, but they are things that struck me this morning and I just thought I would share and hopefully "sharpen" some of you!
God bless!
Heather
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Trip to Talca
This is a short letter sent out to our team by Mark Rubin, after he, Doug, Jon Spink, Alejandro Armijo, (All ABWE) and John Niemeyer (BMM), finished up the weekend distributing Shelter Boxes donated to our national mission agency to distribute.
For pictures, because I can't post over 200 of them here, go to our ministry photo website through Shutterfly at http://amundsonanthem.shutterfly.com/ . The password is the country that we live and serve in and it IS case sensitive!
To sum up the trip, we left Saturday morning, stopped by the Talagante
church to pick up things to take down, then made a convoy down to
Talca. Got there and went to our place of base operations, then went
to a storage shed on a vineyard to unload the Shelter Boxes. We had
225 to unload that had come in. Then that night they instructed us on
the distribution of the things in the boxes: 2 tents, 3 sleeping bags,
2 collapsable water jugs, water purifcation tablets, kitchen utensils/place
settings, a small wood cookstove, and a few other items. In addition,
we were able to pass out tracts and verbally share the gospel with the
people that we would distribute the boxes to.On Sunday we went to Pencahue, just west of Talca. There the team
Doug Amundson, Jon Niemeyer and I were on delivered all 12 boxes with the
rest of our team. Then on Monday we went to the small town of Villa
Pratt, just northwest of Talca. There due to several other
complicating factors, our team only delivered 8 boxes. Mind you the
delivery also includes the pitching the 2 tents and explaining the necessary
items, and sometimes clearing a good site for the tents.
For pictures, because I can't post over 200 of them here, go to our ministry photo website through Shutterfly at http://amundsonanthem.shutterfly.com/ . The password is the country that we live and serve in and it IS case sensitive!
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Doug's HOME
PRAISE GOD!!! Doug and Caleb drove onto our street about 30 minutes after the 7.2 hit just South of here. They didn't even really feel it, probably because the car bounces right along.
Another one...
Come on. Just when life was returning to "normal," just moments ago we had another earthquake. Some may want to call it an aftershock, but feeling the ground move that much below my feet, was NO aftershock. Living through all of these "aftershocks" makes one pretty confident at guessing what number the last one was on the richter scale. What we just had, was no aftershock!!! I'm still waiting to see what it measured, but please pray. Hannah and I are home alone and Doug and Caleb are out. I can't get a hold of Doug due to cell phone issues, so please pray that they are safe and make it home!!
Just as I was about to hit "publish post" we had a second STRONG one. PLEASE PRAY!!!
Just as I was about to hit "publish post" we had a second STRONG one. PLEASE PRAY!!!
Monday, March 8, 2010
Earthquake - March Praise Letter by Doug
Other information regarding activities here in Chile:
Since the original 8.8 earthquake on Saturday morning, it seems that we have felt the ground moving quite frequently. As of right now (Wednesday evening), we have had roughly 143 various earthquakes or aftershocks that have been over 5.0, 11 of those being over 6.0. We haven’t felt every single one of those here in Santiago, but we have definitely felt many more than what we wanted to. The damage here in Santiago is not as great as down south, but it is still significant, and the garbage is beginning to pile up outside the various houses who lost furniture or had various walls collapse. I read today that the earthquake has affected 70% of the Chilean economy. Often you see the pictures of cracks in the ground from earthquakes, well I came across those this morning when I was running where, for a good distance, cracks ran up and down the running path I take in the morning, with a whole section sliding down into a local canal for the water to run through. It was an eerie reminder of the power that rippled through the ground here in Santiago.
As Heather mentioned our pastor, Christian Contreras, took a trip today down south to deliver some food and supplies. They still have not returned yet, but hopefully should be back within the next 5 hours or so. Mark Rubin, one of our teammates, has talked with another pastor who went earlier this week, and he said the situation is definitely hostile right now due to lack of basic services, but we are really proud of the reaction of the national churches who are stepping up to the plate in this crisis. (***Update—they did arrive back safely after nearly 26 hours round-trip). Another team is planning to leave this Saturday to the town of Constitucion, which was the town destroyed by the tsunami.
Please continue to pray for these pastors and other believers taking relief supplies down to the churches, and pray that we as ABWE would find ways to effectively work with our national churches in this incredible situation.
If you feel God prompting you to contribute to the many needs here in Chile, you may send a check to ABWE Donor Services, PO Box 8585, Harrisburg, PA 17105-8585, with a note clarifying that it is for the Chile Earthquake, and the account number 0717151-002 (CQ10013257). You may also give online at www.abwe.org/give. This is an account that ABWE as a mission has set up to meet the many current and future needs for Chile relief efforts. Please continue to pray for the health of the ABWE team, the national churches, and that the gospel of Jesus Christ would shine strongly during this very dark time here in Chile.
God Bless,
Doug
Since the original 8.8 earthquake on Saturday morning, it seems that we have felt the ground moving quite frequently. As of right now (Wednesday evening), we have had roughly 143 various earthquakes or aftershocks that have been over 5.0, 11 of those being over 6.0. We haven’t felt every single one of those here in Santiago, but we have definitely felt many more than what we wanted to. The damage here in Santiago is not as great as down south, but it is still significant, and the garbage is beginning to pile up outside the various houses who lost furniture or had various walls collapse. I read today that the earthquake has affected 70% of the Chilean economy. Often you see the pictures of cracks in the ground from earthquakes, well I came across those this morning when I was running where, for a good distance, cracks ran up and down the running path I take in the morning, with a whole section sliding down into a local canal for the water to run through. It was an eerie reminder of the power that rippled through the ground here in Santiago.
As Heather mentioned our pastor, Christian Contreras, took a trip today down south to deliver some food and supplies. They still have not returned yet, but hopefully should be back within the next 5 hours or so. Mark Rubin, one of our teammates, has talked with another pastor who went earlier this week, and he said the situation is definitely hostile right now due to lack of basic services, but we are really proud of the reaction of the national churches who are stepping up to the plate in this crisis. (***Update—they did arrive back safely after nearly 26 hours round-trip). Another team is planning to leave this Saturday to the town of Constitucion, which was the town destroyed by the tsunami.
Please continue to pray for these pastors and other believers taking relief supplies down to the churches, and pray that we as ABWE would find ways to effectively work with our national churches in this incredible situation.
If you feel God prompting you to contribute to the many needs here in Chile, you may send a check to ABWE Donor Services, PO Box 8585, Harrisburg, PA 17105-8585, with a note clarifying that it is for the Chile Earthquake, and the account number 0717151-002 (CQ10013257). You may also give online at www.abwe.org/give. This is an account that ABWE as a mission has set up to meet the many current and future needs for Chile relief efforts. Please continue to pray for the health of the ABWE team, the national churches, and that the gospel of Jesus Christ would shine strongly during this very dark time here in Chile.
God Bless,
Doug
Earthquake - March Praise Letter by Heather
The Earthquake from Heather’s point of view:
Saturday February 27th at 3:34am (Chilean time or 1:34am EST), I was shaken awake by this amazing movement of my bed. I rushed into the hallway outside the kids two bedrooms, flinging open Caleb's door and telling both kids to get down beside their beds to make the ¨triangle.¨ Just then I heard Doug's voice say, ¨No, Heather. We need to get outside.¨ I have no idea how we all got down the stairs, especially without falling. I don't know how we got to the corner of our yard near our neighbor's house wall and our front driveway gate. I don't remember my feet hurting on the sidewalk since we weren't wearing shoes.
I do remember, huddling, holding Caleb close while Kiwi, our dog, tried to snuggle in too. Then I remember praying. Praying for safety. Praying for our neighbors. Praying for our ABWE team members. Praying for our national brethren.
I remember listening to things crash, glass breaking, and other things falling. It's all a blur to me right now.
Once it stopped we went back inside to get shoes, sweatshirts, and flashlights. Then it was out into the street to talk to our neighbors. Everyone was fine. Once everything had calmed down we went inside. I went to Hannah's room to lay down with her for the night. Upon entering the room, Hannah cries, ¨Mommy, the earthquake knocked everything down in my room!!¨ Then she proceeded to cry.
Keep in mind that I had been in her room to get her shoes and robe just a little while before and hadn't noticed anything different. Hannah's room is almost ALWAYS a mess, so I didn't notice what she did. However, after further probing of Hannah, she told me that it was just her little ¨dresser¨ (8 inches by 8 inches with little box drawers) that held her hair pretties, that had fallen. Indeed they were all over the floor. I proceeded to pick them up and put them back.
The next day, the kids were playing in Hannah's room, and as play, she had dumped all her hair pretties on the floor to use the little cupboard for other things. NO WONDER I hadn't noticed that the earthquake had ¨destroyed¨ her room!!
After getting into bed just after the earthquake, Hannah was sobbing. I suggested to Doug that he pray and he did. Hannah was still sobbing, so I began to sing various kids songs. When I began singing, ¨Halelu-halelu-halelu-halelujah,¨ I poked Hannah to sing ¨Praise Ye the Lord.¨ She joined in and we finished the round. Hannah had stopped crying and I was SOOO thankful!!! about a minute later, we hear from Caleb's room, ¨Halelu-halelu-halelu-halelujah¨ and we answered back with ¨Praise Ye the Lord.¨
On Saturday morning we got up to see all the damage first hand with light. We lost close to 24 feet of the dividing wall between our house and the neighbor’s. We lost a bookshelf in our office and a few sentimental vases. We were emotionally strong probably because of simple adrenaline. We headed down to the ABWE academy where I teach and Doug takes care of all of the ABWE Chile Finances. Praise God that all of the services were working. The school had electricity, internet, water, and local phone! That was truly an act of God!!
Determining everyone on the team was safe and unharmed was a bit of a difficulty due to cell phone service not functioning well and many were without power, internet, and phone. We were able to reach all active missionaries both short term and career by Saturday 10:30 am EST. It took us until Tuesday to reach one of our retired missionaries who lives near Viña del Mar near the coast. Once we contacted our regional administrator with the word that all were ok, we contacted our parents.
We then contacted our pastor to determine that everyone in the church was ok. We learned that all were “shaken” but that only one was missing. Diego, one of our young high school men, was spending the summer in Concepcion (the epicenter) when the earthquake hit. I tried via cell phone to get a hold of him, but of course could not. I contacted his father, here in Santiago and he told me that he couldn’t get a hold of his son either. That’s when I posted on our blog and facebook.
Sunday we headed to church as usual, only this time in jeans because we didn’t know what we’d encounter, plus we still had no electricity to even think about using an iron. At church, we sang praises to God that we were all safe, received word that Diego was fine only without food or water, and then it all hit me. I couldn’t stay in service for the sermon. I had to talk and process. I went to the kids classroom where the littler kids were drawing and talked to fellow missionary wife Jenn (Christian) Rubin. Jenn grew up here and had experienced first hand the earthquake in 1985. Jenn gave me some counsel and I relaxed a bit.
Sunday during the day, we realized that the guard for Santiago Christian Academy was stuck in the south and wouldn’t make it back to work the night shift. Therefore, Doug as current property manager, would have to guard in his place. This meant Doug being gone to guard from 11:00pm to 7:00am. We still had no electricity and I didn’t want to sleep here at home alone with 2 kids and no electric. So, we packed up the essentials and headed to SCA to sleep in one of the apartments.
Monday our team cleaned up SCA. I have to say, that I didn’t do much in the way of cleaning up. After getting up and moving, I had to come home to feed our dog and I had to stop by another missionary’s home to feed their dog. (They’ve been on furlough and so every morning and night we stop there to feed their dog and check on their house.) Because we still didn’t have electric and our missionary friends did, I also took all of our freezer items to their freezer.
Upon returning to the school, I did laundry at the school and made cookies and iced tea for the workers who were cleaning. Meanwhile, Doug, running on NO sleep, was in the office making decisions about what to purchase now for fixing and what could wait. He was also trying to coordinate with the states about relief donations and setting up a donation account at ABWE.
We spent Monday night here with no lights, and returned to spend Tuesday with electric and e-mail at SCA. Doug worked to try to get accounts running again with errands to the bank and a money exchange place. That afternoon was when we learned that our pastor was planning a trip down south to take food and water to one of our national churches and pastor’s family. Doug was planning to go, but right now he is needed in the office and we didn’t know what kind of conditions there would be. Plus, with Doug’s red hair he is an immediate “gringo” target and could endanger the lives of himself and those he would have been with.
Last night (Tuesday) around 7:00 pm (Chilean time) we FINALLY got electricity and internet back! We were able to get a few things done last night and today Doug had to work again at the office, but took the second half of the day to help clean up here. We’ve cleaned up the broken wall and have piled the excess in front of our house for those who will come to haul it away. Our landlord DID HAVE earthquake insurance and so it will take a while for the wall to be assessed and then rebuilt. For now, our kids are enjoying the open space to play with our neighbor’s kids freely. (There is a video of them playing on our blog at http://amundsonanthem.blogspot.com .)
Also today our pastor left with 3 other men and headed down to take food to our national pastor, Esteban Maldonado, as well as to find Diego and his little sister and bring them back here. As of writing this, they are on their way back with Diego and his sister. It may take them quite a while to get back due to road conditions and everyone wanting to get back here to “sanity” and food.
As for the next few days, we wait. We normalize our life and that of our kids’ lives. We spend time with our neighbors bonding. We support and coordinate future trips down south. We want to encourage our national
brethren who are taking the lead. We want to help them financially with all of their efforts. If you would like to contribute especially to the Chilean Relief Effort through ABWE, please contact us and we will get that information to you as to how you can help.
For now, we covet your prayers!!! We need wisdom in processing the emotions that we are feeling. We need wisdom in caring for our national brethren. We need wisdom for… and for… In other words, PLEASE PRAY FOR WISDOM for us and for our whole team here in Chile!!
God bless!
Praising God for HIS provisions!
Heather (for Doug, Caleb, and Hannah too)
Saturday February 27th at 3:34am (Chilean time or 1:34am EST), I was shaken awake by this amazing movement of my bed. I rushed into the hallway outside the kids two bedrooms, flinging open Caleb's door and telling both kids to get down beside their beds to make the ¨triangle.¨ Just then I heard Doug's voice say, ¨No, Heather. We need to get outside.¨ I have no idea how we all got down the stairs, especially without falling. I don't know how we got to the corner of our yard near our neighbor's house wall and our front driveway gate. I don't remember my feet hurting on the sidewalk since we weren't wearing shoes.
I do remember, huddling, holding Caleb close while Kiwi, our dog, tried to snuggle in too. Then I remember praying. Praying for safety. Praying for our neighbors. Praying for our ABWE team members. Praying for our national brethren.
I remember listening to things crash, glass breaking, and other things falling. It's all a blur to me right now.
Once it stopped we went back inside to get shoes, sweatshirts, and flashlights. Then it was out into the street to talk to our neighbors. Everyone was fine. Once everything had calmed down we went inside. I went to Hannah's room to lay down with her for the night. Upon entering the room, Hannah cries, ¨Mommy, the earthquake knocked everything down in my room!!¨ Then she proceeded to cry.
Keep in mind that I had been in her room to get her shoes and robe just a little while before and hadn't noticed anything different. Hannah's room is almost ALWAYS a mess, so I didn't notice what she did. However, after further probing of Hannah, she told me that it was just her little ¨dresser¨ (8 inches by 8 inches with little box drawers) that held her hair pretties, that had fallen. Indeed they were all over the floor. I proceeded to pick them up and put them back.
The next day, the kids were playing in Hannah's room, and as play, she had dumped all her hair pretties on the floor to use the little cupboard for other things. NO WONDER I hadn't noticed that the earthquake had ¨destroyed¨ her room!!
After getting into bed just after the earthquake, Hannah was sobbing. I suggested to Doug that he pray and he did. Hannah was still sobbing, so I began to sing various kids songs. When I began singing, ¨Halelu-halelu-halelu-halelujah,¨ I poked Hannah to sing ¨Praise Ye the Lord.¨ She joined in and we finished the round. Hannah had stopped crying and I was SOOO thankful!!! about a minute later, we hear from Caleb's room, ¨Halelu-halelu-halelu-halelujah¨ and we answered back with ¨Praise Ye the Lord.¨
On Saturday morning we got up to see all the damage first hand with light. We lost close to 24 feet of the dividing wall between our house and the neighbor’s. We lost a bookshelf in our office and a few sentimental vases. We were emotionally strong probably because of simple adrenaline. We headed down to the ABWE academy where I teach and Doug takes care of all of the ABWE Chile Finances. Praise God that all of the services were working. The school had electricity, internet, water, and local phone! That was truly an act of God!!
Determining everyone on the team was safe and unharmed was a bit of a difficulty due to cell phone service not functioning well and many were without power, internet, and phone. We were able to reach all active missionaries both short term and career by Saturday 10:30 am EST. It took us until Tuesday to reach one of our retired missionaries who lives near Viña del Mar near the coast. Once we contacted our regional administrator with the word that all were ok, we contacted our parents.
We then contacted our pastor to determine that everyone in the church was ok. We learned that all were “shaken” but that only one was missing. Diego, one of our young high school men, was spending the summer in Concepcion (the epicenter) when the earthquake hit. I tried via cell phone to get a hold of him, but of course could not. I contacted his father, here in Santiago and he told me that he couldn’t get a hold of his son either. That’s when I posted on our blog and facebook.
Sunday we headed to church as usual, only this time in jeans because we didn’t know what we’d encounter, plus we still had no electricity to even think about using an iron. At church, we sang praises to God that we were all safe, received word that Diego was fine only without food or water, and then it all hit me. I couldn’t stay in service for the sermon. I had to talk and process. I went to the kids classroom where the littler kids were drawing and talked to fellow missionary wife Jenn (Christian) Rubin. Jenn grew up here and had experienced first hand the earthquake in 1985. Jenn gave me some counsel and I relaxed a bit.
Sunday during the day, we realized that the guard for Santiago Christian Academy was stuck in the south and wouldn’t make it back to work the night shift. Therefore, Doug as current property manager, would have to guard in his place. This meant Doug being gone to guard from 11:00pm to 7:00am. We still had no electricity and I didn’t want to sleep here at home alone with 2 kids and no electric. So, we packed up the essentials and headed to SCA to sleep in one of the apartments.
Monday our team cleaned up SCA. I have to say, that I didn’t do much in the way of cleaning up. After getting up and moving, I had to come home to feed our dog and I had to stop by another missionary’s home to feed their dog. (They’ve been on furlough and so every morning and night we stop there to feed their dog and check on their house.) Because we still didn’t have electric and our missionary friends did, I also took all of our freezer items to their freezer.
Upon returning to the school, I did laundry at the school and made cookies and iced tea for the workers who were cleaning. Meanwhile, Doug, running on NO sleep, was in the office making decisions about what to purchase now for fixing and what could wait. He was also trying to coordinate with the states about relief donations and setting up a donation account at ABWE.
We spent Monday night here with no lights, and returned to spend Tuesday with electric and e-mail at SCA. Doug worked to try to get accounts running again with errands to the bank and a money exchange place. That afternoon was when we learned that our pastor was planning a trip down south to take food and water to one of our national churches and pastor’s family. Doug was planning to go, but right now he is needed in the office and we didn’t know what kind of conditions there would be. Plus, with Doug’s red hair he is an immediate “gringo” target and could endanger the lives of himself and those he would have been with.
Last night (Tuesday) around 7:00 pm (Chilean time) we FINALLY got electricity and internet back! We were able to get a few things done last night and today Doug had to work again at the office, but took the second half of the day to help clean up here. We’ve cleaned up the broken wall and have piled the excess in front of our house for those who will come to haul it away. Our landlord DID HAVE earthquake insurance and so it will take a while for the wall to be assessed and then rebuilt. For now, our kids are enjoying the open space to play with our neighbor’s kids freely. (There is a video of them playing on our blog at http://amundsonanthem.blogspot.com .)
Also today our pastor left with 3 other men and headed down to take food to our national pastor, Esteban Maldonado, as well as to find Diego and his little sister and bring them back here. As of writing this, they are on their way back with Diego and his sister. It may take them quite a while to get back due to road conditions and everyone wanting to get back here to “sanity” and food.
As for the next few days, we wait. We normalize our life and that of our kids’ lives. We spend time with our neighbors bonding. We support and coordinate future trips down south. We want to encourage our national
brethren who are taking the lead. We want to help them financially with all of their efforts. If you would like to contribute especially to the Chilean Relief Effort through ABWE, please contact us and we will get that information to you as to how you can help.
For now, we covet your prayers!!! We need wisdom in processing the emotions that we are feeling. We need wisdom in caring for our national brethren. We need wisdom for… and for… In other words, PLEASE PRAY FOR WISDOM for us and for our whole team here in Chile!!
God bless!
Praising God for HIS provisions!
Heather (for Doug, Caleb, and Hannah too)
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Praising God
With much difficulty, our pastor Christian Contreres, made it safely down to deliver supplies to a national church just outside of Concepcion (the epicenter). We also praise God that on the way back through Concepcion, they were able to get Diego and his little sister and bring them back here to ¨normalcy¨. They arrived early this morning. Tonight at church there should be much praising God and hugging on Diego.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Just one of the e-mails and logistics of communication
Here goes another intel report... squelch your radios to give me the affirmative once you've read it.
The team today got into Chiguayante eventually despite a few delays here and there and waiting to get in touch with Esteban Maldonado. They were invited to stay for lunch, but the idea is to arrive, deliver and not eat the goods. (Some of us just wouldn't qualify for that kind of a mission!)
The team was contacted by a teen (from our church in Santiago) who was in Concepcion for vacation and caught in the earthquake. Diego wanted to get out with his little sister and get back to Santiago to be with their dad. So, there was some triangulation of cell phones going on as comically, I could occasionally get through to them, but they had a hard time getting directly in touch. They missed Diego at the first rendezvous time. Later, on their way out, we were doing phone tag to coordinate the rendezvous, and finally after much tension, praying, calling, etc., the pick-up was made. Praise be to God!
The last comm I got from the team is that they made the extraction and were headed back to Santiago. If I can get some of the pictures that they've taken, I'll share them.
Around noon today I was with Sandro Valdivia getting gas receipts and he gave me a tour of the damage to their building. Pretty disconcerting to see some significan damage there that will need possibly demolished as some of it looks beyond repair.
Sandro debriefed me a bit about the trip yesterday. I think the scene in Concepcion is better with military presence, however he said the people are quite aggressive in their interactions with others. Desperation and depravity make quite a volatile reaction within human kind. Sandro said that at this point, he was a bit concerned for people who would be just passing out tracts since people are surviving while waiting for food and water. He said it could be dangerous, and I see the point that tracts aren't optimum ways of rehydration or nourishment. There probably would be a more receptive experience if water and a tract are given, or something of the nature.
Sandro and his team got back this morning at 6 a.m., a total of 26 hours on this mission. Traffic is abundant and slow due to the detours and improvised road conditions in spots.
David Luzuriaga (another national pastor) is organizing another team to go down Saturday or Sunday. They will be picking up left over stuff that La Reina couldn't fit into the car they took down. Again, water is very key to take down, more than clothes, and even more than food.
Some are saying that clothes should be saved for the towns that were wiped out by the tsunamis as they do need everything. Someone has a contact in Constitucion, a lot closer to Santiago, but that is a bit further down in the sequence of trips scheduled at this point.
That's what we know as of now. Will be in touch as intel becomes available.
Mark for the Santiago base of operations
p.s. we've had some tremors here this afternoon, and strong ones in Concepcion.
The team today got into Chiguayante eventually despite a few delays here and there and waiting to get in touch with Esteban Maldonado. They were invited to stay for lunch, but the idea is to arrive, deliver and not eat the goods. (Some of us just wouldn't qualify for that kind of a mission!)
The team was contacted by a teen (from our church in Santiago) who was in Concepcion for vacation and caught in the earthquake. Diego wanted to get out with his little sister and get back to Santiago to be with their dad. So, there was some triangulation of cell phones going on as comically, I could occasionally get through to them, but they had a hard time getting directly in touch. They missed Diego at the first rendezvous time. Later, on their way out, we were doing phone tag to coordinate the rendezvous, and finally after much tension, praying, calling, etc., the pick-up was made. Praise be to God!
The last comm I got from the team is that they made the extraction and were headed back to Santiago. If I can get some of the pictures that they've taken, I'll share them.
Around noon today I was with Sandro Valdivia getting gas receipts and he gave me a tour of the damage to their building. Pretty disconcerting to see some significan damage there that will need possibly demolished as some of it looks beyond repair.
Sandro debriefed me a bit about the trip yesterday. I think the scene in Concepcion is better with military presence, however he said the people are quite aggressive in their interactions with others. Desperation and depravity make quite a volatile reaction within human kind. Sandro said that at this point, he was a bit concerned for people who would be just passing out tracts since people are surviving while waiting for food and water. He said it could be dangerous, and I see the point that tracts aren't optimum ways of rehydration or nourishment. There probably would be a more receptive experience if water and a tract are given, or something of the nature.
Sandro and his team got back this morning at 6 a.m., a total of 26 hours on this mission. Traffic is abundant and slow due to the detours and improvised road conditions in spots.
David Luzuriaga (another national pastor) is organizing another team to go down Saturday or Sunday. They will be picking up left over stuff that La Reina couldn't fit into the car they took down. Again, water is very key to take down, more than clothes, and even more than food.
Some are saying that clothes should be saved for the towns that were wiped out by the tsunamis as they do need everything. Someone has a contact in Constitucion, a lot closer to Santiago, but that is a bit further down in the sequence of trips scheduled at this point.
That's what we know as of now. Will be in touch as intel becomes available.
Mark for the Santiago base of operations
p.s. we've had some tremors here this afternoon, and strong ones in Concepcion.
25 years ago TODAY
Summary of the March 3, 1985 Chile Earthquake
On Sunday, March 3, 1985, at approximately 7:45 p.m., local time, a destructive earthquake with a Richter magnitude of 7.8 (M7.8) struck 20 miles offshore of central Chile. The earthquake affected approximately 20,000 square miles of the mainland. This area has a population of over 6 million people and includes the capital city of Santiago. Over the next 18 days, more than 2,000 aftershocks, many of which caused further damage, were recorded. On April 9, an M7.2 aftershock struck the same region. It was predicted that aftershocks will continue for more than four years. Preliminary estimates of the effects of the intial earthquake and its aftershocks listed the number of dead at 180, serious injuries at over 2,500, and dwellings destroyed at 45,000. The total economic loss is estimated at $1.8 billion.
On Sunday, March 3, 1985, at approximately 7:45 p.m., local time, a destructive earthquake with a Richter magnitude of 7.8 (M7.8) struck 20 miles offshore of central Chile. The earthquake affected approximately 20,000 square miles of the mainland. This area has a population of over 6 million people and includes the capital city of Santiago. Over the next 18 days, more than 2,000 aftershocks, many of which caused further damage, were recorded. On April 9, an M7.2 aftershock struck the same region. It was predicted that aftershocks will continue for more than four years. Preliminary estimates of the effects of the intial earthquake and its aftershocks listed the number of dead at 180, serious injuries at over 2,500, and dwellings destroyed at 45,000. The total economic loss is estimated at $1.8 billion.
A fellow missionaries blog
A blog from some fellow missionaries I found interesting. We discovered on of these coins ourselves before the earthquake. Just a neat little story to distract one from the severity of the current situation down south.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Electricity
Remember that School House Rock Song?? Electricity, Electricity...
Well we have it!!! YAHOO!!
Well we have it!!! YAHOO!!
Update/Remembering
Still no lights at our house. We hear rumors upon rumors, but still we wait.
Sharing again/documenting our experience...
After the earthquake had calmed down and we went inside, I went to Hannah´s room to lay down with her for the night. Upon entering the room, Hannah cries, ¨Mommy, the earthquake knocked everything down in my room!!¨ Then she proceeded to cry.
Keep in mind that I had been in her room to get her shoes and robe just a little while before and hadn´t noticed anything different. Hannah´s room is almost ALWAYS a mess, so I didn´t notice what she did. However, after further probing of Hannah, she told me that it was just her little ¨dresser¨ (8 inches by 8 inches with little box drawers) that held her hair pretties, that had fallen. Indeed they were all over the floor. I proceeded to pick them up and put them back.
The next day, the kids were playing in Hannah´s room, and as play, she had dumped all her hair pretties on the floor to use the little cupboard for other things. NO WONDER I hadn´t noticed that the earthquake had ¨destroyed¨ her room!!
After getting into bed just after the earthquake, Hannah was sobbing. I suggested to Doug that he pray and he did. Hannah was still sobbing, so I began to sing various kids songs. When I began singing, ¨Halelu-halelu-halelu-halelujah,¨ I poked Hannah to sing ¨Praise Ye the Lord.¨ She joined in and we finished the round. Hannah had stopped crying and I was SOOO thankful!!! about a minute later, we hear from Caleb´s room, ¨Halelu-halelu-halelu-halelujah¨ and we answered back with ¨Praise Ye the Lord.¨
I am indeed thankful the to the Lord and pray that HIS will will be done through all of this!!!
Sharing again/documenting our experience...
After the earthquake had calmed down and we went inside, I went to Hannah´s room to lay down with her for the night. Upon entering the room, Hannah cries, ¨Mommy, the earthquake knocked everything down in my room!!¨ Then she proceeded to cry.
Keep in mind that I had been in her room to get her shoes and robe just a little while before and hadn´t noticed anything different. Hannah´s room is almost ALWAYS a mess, so I didn´t notice what she did. However, after further probing of Hannah, she told me that it was just her little ¨dresser¨ (8 inches by 8 inches with little box drawers) that held her hair pretties, that had fallen. Indeed they were all over the floor. I proceeded to pick them up and put them back.
The next day, the kids were playing in Hannah´s room, and as play, she had dumped all her hair pretties on the floor to use the little cupboard for other things. NO WONDER I hadn´t noticed that the earthquake had ¨destroyed¨ her room!!
After getting into bed just after the earthquake, Hannah was sobbing. I suggested to Doug that he pray and he did. Hannah was still sobbing, so I began to sing various kids songs. When I began singing, ¨Halelu-halelu-halelu-halelujah,¨ I poked Hannah to sing ¨Praise Ye the Lord.¨ She joined in and we finished the round. Hannah had stopped crying and I was SOOO thankful!!! about a minute later, we hear from Caleb´s room, ¨Halelu-halelu-halelu-halelujah¨ and we answered back with ¨Praise Ye the Lord.¨
I am indeed thankful the to the Lord and pray that HIS will will be done through all of this!!!
Last Night...
Was NOT a good night. I don´t know if I drank some unboiled water or what, but my stomach and digestive system was NOT HAPPY last night. To top a night of fitfull sleep, at around 6 am we were awoken by someone´s house alarm. It lasted for OVER 3 hours! By the time we got out of our showers, Doug was saying, ¨I don´t know who´s alarm that is, but blasting 1 billion whatts of powerful noise into my ears, is NOT ENDEARING!!!
Since Kiwi, the dog, was outside through this whole time, Doug had decided to give her sensitive dog ears a rest by allowing her just inside the door of the house. When I went to let her out, I heard someone knocking on our front gate. It was one of our neighbors who asked, ¨Are you guys ok? I responded by saying, ¨Of course! Why?¨ He replied, ¨Because your alarm has been sounding all night.¨
The alarm hadn´t been set or even used for over 4 or 5 years! It was from the owner of the house before our landlords bought the house. Once we took out the battery, it FINALLY stopped!!!
Now there´s a chuckle for you!!
Since Kiwi, the dog, was outside through this whole time, Doug had decided to give her sensitive dog ears a rest by allowing her just inside the door of the house. When I went to let her out, I heard someone knocking on our front gate. It was one of our neighbors who asked, ¨Are you guys ok? I responded by saying, ¨Of course! Why?¨ He replied, ¨Because your alarm has been sounding all night.¨
The alarm hadn´t been set or even used for over 4 or 5 years! It was from the owner of the house before our landlords bought the house. Once we took out the battery, it FINALLY stopped!!!
Now there´s a chuckle for you!!
Monday, March 1, 2010
Confussion
Ok, so here I am just going to express some thoughts, feelings, etc...
Saturday 3:34am, I was shaken awake by this amazing movement of my bed. I rushed into the hallway outside the kids two bedrooms, flinging open Caleb´s door and telling both kids to get down beside their beds to make the ¨triangle.¨ Just then I heard Doug´s voice say, ¨No, Heather. We need to get outside.¨ I have no idea how we all got down the stairs, especially without falling. I don´t know how we got to the corner of our yard near our neighbor´s house wall and our front driveway gate. I don´t remember my feet hurting on the sidewalk since we weren´t wearing shoes.
I do remember, huddling, holding Caleb close while Kiwi, our dog, tried to snuggle in too. Then I remember praying. Praying for safety. Praying for our neighbors. Praying for our ABWE team members. Praying for our national brethren.
I remember listening to things crash, glass breaking, and other things falling. It´s all a blur to me right now.
Once it stopped we went back inside to get shoes, sweatshirts, and flashlights. Then it was out into the street to talk to our neighbors. Everyone was fine. As you´ve seen from the pictures that I posted the other day, we lost a wall between our neighbor´s house and ours. The kids have enjoyed not having to go onto the street to play with their closest friends here in Chile, who live right next door.
Video of kids playing.
Now, I´m just feeling lost in the moments as they come. My life isn´t normal, because we´re going on day 3 with no electricity. We stayed in the Santiago Christian Academy apartments last night, but only because Doug had to guard all night long and I certainly didn´t want to be at home with two kids alone and no electricity.
Please continue to pray for us! It is hard to reach out and think beyond oneself when life at home isn´t ¨normal.¨
Saturday 3:34am, I was shaken awake by this amazing movement of my bed. I rushed into the hallway outside the kids two bedrooms, flinging open Caleb´s door and telling both kids to get down beside their beds to make the ¨triangle.¨ Just then I heard Doug´s voice say, ¨No, Heather. We need to get outside.¨ I have no idea how we all got down the stairs, especially without falling. I don´t know how we got to the corner of our yard near our neighbor´s house wall and our front driveway gate. I don´t remember my feet hurting on the sidewalk since we weren´t wearing shoes.
I do remember, huddling, holding Caleb close while Kiwi, our dog, tried to snuggle in too. Then I remember praying. Praying for safety. Praying for our neighbors. Praying for our ABWE team members. Praying for our national brethren.
I remember listening to things crash, glass breaking, and other things falling. It´s all a blur to me right now.
Once it stopped we went back inside to get shoes, sweatshirts, and flashlights. Then it was out into the street to talk to our neighbors. Everyone was fine. As you´ve seen from the pictures that I posted the other day, we lost a wall between our neighbor´s house and ours. The kids have enjoyed not having to go onto the street to play with their closest friends here in Chile, who live right next door.
Video of kids playing.
Now, I´m just feeling lost in the moments as they come. My life isn´t normal, because we´re going on day 3 with no electricity. We stayed in the Santiago Christian Academy apartments last night, but only because Doug had to guard all night long and I certainly didn´t want to be at home with two kids alone and no electricity.
Please continue to pray for us! It is hard to reach out and think beyond oneself when life at home isn´t ¨normal.¨
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