Thank you all for your concern and prayers for me this weekend! As most of you have probably heard by now, I and the people from the church family here are all safe. I came out without a scrape, although quite a few of my dishes broke and some food spoiled, but thankfully that was the worst of the damage for me. A few people in the church came out with varying degrees of cuts, scrapes, and bruises, but thankfully nothing serious!
I had just gone to bed when the earthquake hit. Obviously it woke me up, and I could hear glass and other items crashing and people outside screaming and crying, but thanks to the fact that our houses are newer and earthquake repellent (they have anti-seismic walls or something like that), none of the buildings around me were damaged, and all of the neighbors were ok. It’s been a huge blessing for me that the earthquake also tore down some of the invisible walls that keep people from interacting with each other here, and the neighbors have invited me over for meals, invited me to spend the night at their house, checked in with me to make sure I’m alright, etc.
I was blessed to see the love of the church family here right after the earthquake hit, as Titus, one of the church elders, got into his car as soon as the quake was over and started driving around to all the church family’s houses to make sure that we were all fine. The thing is, during the earthquake a TV fell on Titus’ right leg, so it was swollen and he was limping, but he still went out to make sure that everyone was ok and to see if there was anything he could do to help anyone! He’s quite an admirable man, Titus! 🙂
I spent the few hours between the earthquake and dawn at the house of Mary and Mark’s, a couple from the church. Their daughter, Gabby, was terrified of every tremor, but thankfully there weren’t any bad ones. The aftershocks have been unsettling, but nothing like the original earthquake (so far). I’ve been told that most of the downtown area was destroyed because the buildings were old, but I haven’t been down to see for myself yet. Mary has family that lived there, and their house was completely destroyed, but the last I heard was that they weren’t injured. Cynthia, another lady in the church family, has a son who lives near me, but his house was made out of adobe, and all of the adobe houses collapsed. Thankfully he and his family are safe as well.
Our church family got together this evening for a time of prayer, and thankfully we all have water now and some of us have electricity, so things are settling down a bit. Last night as I ate dinner with one of my neighbors, she told me that a friend of hers was coming by to pick up some clothes to take to people in Ialoca. Ialoca is the town where the church had their summer camp/retreat a few weeks ago, and apparently it was hit by a tsunami. Thankfully since it’s a fishing village, the fishermen recognized the tsunami coming and were able to warn the people there, so they were able to run to a mountain in the village. It sounds like most people were able to escape, but their houses and belongings were destroyed. So this gentleman was taking clothes there and hopefully will be able to make some more runs later in the week.
Thank you all so much for your prayers and concern!
Here are a few quick ideas for things you all can be praying for the church family here in Curicó:
– PTL for no major injuries in the church family
– PTL that our houses withstood the quake
– pray for Mary’s extended family who aren’t Christians and whose house was downtown & was destroyed
– pray for Silvia’s son’s family, also unsaved, as their house was adobe & was destroyed
– pray for those who are losing work or lost businesses because of the quake
– PTL for the open doors with neighbors
– pray for the church family to grab hold of opportunities to share God’s love with the community & others through this
– pray for those who lost homes or haven’t heard from family members yet
– pray for safety from aftershocks
– pray that this will prompt revival in people’s hearts