Earthquake in Chile

Okay, first of all thank you for all the prayers and concern, I love you all so much!

Second thing. .... the earthquake.... I don`t really know where to start or what to tell you because all the details in these last couple days would be enough to be here all day, buuuut I`ll just give you the run down starting with about 3:34 am Saturday morning.

I woke up with my companion saying ¨Sister, it`s shaking!¨ And sure enough it was, so I threw myself on the ground and Hermana Motta too (she sleeps on the bunk bed above me) We huddled down and all I had in my mind were those emails that mom and dad have sent me weeks and months ago about earthquake saftey so we ducked down by the bed ready for the worst. My companion started to freak out and started to take off so I got up to pull her back down on the ground but fell down doing it because it was shaking so much so there we sat huddled up against the bed and we prayed until the earthquake stopped. I am not going to lie, I was just waiting for the building to come toppeling down on top of us because we`re on the first floor, though it`s only a 4 story building. I kept thinking that it wasn`t real, it was so weird. So we got up, and of course there isn`t any electricity but we couldn`t find our cell phone or keys and that got me more panicy than anything but we found them and went out side.

There were people walking around in their underwear or bedsheets just dumb stricken for what had happened. The building looked okay, and it didn`t seem that bad. It looked like the people were okay too, just a little shaken up (literally!). We sat outside for a good while, not really sure what to do. And we were tired so finally we went back in and were going to go back to bed (I Know, that`s probably the dumbest idea ever but we obviously weren`t thinking. Just tired) But we only were inside for like 10 minutes when we hear at our door ¨!Hermanas!!¨ It was a member and his son that came looking for us. He told us we definitely should NOT be in the apartment but to come with them and sit with their family at a pavilion that was close by. I brought my blanket and pillow because I just wanted to sleep. So we went there and passed time with his family. It felt really nice to be taken care of. Though I felt just SICK because in the apartment in front of the office lives the elderly couple missionaries on the 5th floor, the 4 other sisters on the 9th floor and the assistants and the office elders on the 13th floor. I thought if it was bad for us, it was a nightmare for the others missionaries. And even more so I felt sick for Concepcion. I know a couple elders from my distrct in the MTC were there and all the other people that are there. It hit us I think about a 7, but as you all know it hit Concepcion at about 8.8.

So we were there for about an hour when the Elders came looking for us. These elders are the assistants to the president, but don`t live in our area because they live in the center in front of the mission office. But they have a car, so they came looking for us and we took off to another chapel and stayed there with a handful of other missionaries and members. It was nice to be with the other sisters in the mission. So there we sat in the dark of the chapel talking and waiting and talking and waiting... every once in a while we would feel a little tremble of the afterquakes. So it got light and from there they took us to the apartment in front of the office. The 5th floor there had a been a little damaged, glasses broken, on the 9th floor there had been a good deal of damage, and on the 13th floor it was a MESS. The book shelves were dumped, the washing machine was tipped over and everything else was pretty bad. Though no one got hurt. The elders said ¨it was pretty rockin on the 13th floor.¨ But the word from Presidente was that we all had to just hunker down in the aparment. Everyone came in the apartment of the Wengreens (the older couple) And there we were pretty much all day. He didn`t want any one going out. The assistants were with us the whole time, so we too heard their cell phones ringing and they were calling every 2 minutes to report that they were okay.

At this point I didn`t know how bad it was and for a long time they couldn`t get ahold of some missionaries and that was scary. The thing is here in Chile all the houses are build kind of crappy. and there are a LOT of older mud brick houses. Those are the ones that had the worst damage. There were a couple elders who lived in houses like that and their house is completely broken in half. They are staying with members and being taken care of, but that`s the worst of them. I am so grateful that everyone is okay. We finally went back to our house to grab a few things because President didn`t want us staying in our apartment just yet so we grabbed the essencial over nighters and took off again. I have to tell you, we are the MOST lucky/blessed hermanas in the mission I think because we were able to have contact with the office and the elders. We went to the office and finally they had internet and so that`s when I wrote you.

We also checked out the news on the internet and I felt just sicker and sicker. I don`t know the news today but as of yesterday they haven`t hardly had any communication in or out of concepcion. It looks like it got flattened. And the Tsunami that hit it is worse. You all see the news so you know how it is. The biggest concern for the office elders at this moment was trying to contact the families of a few missionaries that live in concepcion. It broke my heart because the elders from there kept calling in looking for word from their families. So we need to pray a lot for of course EVERYONE but for them in especial.

SO the next day we went to church not knowing what kind of meeting they were going to have, but we got there to find that there are about 10 families that are camped out on the lawn at the church. The thing is the apartments where we live are the worst built and everyone was ordered to evacuate them. Turns out that the foundation is totally screwed up and now it`s not safe to live. They are going to demolish the apartments. It was quite the sight to see our apartment in day light. Our apartment is built with brick but all along the brick there are huge cracks and I can even see the light of outside through one of them. Our window broke and our stuff got dumped, but that was all that happened. But I feel bad because for us, that is not a huge deal, we`ll just hang out with the Wengreens until they get something figured out. That wasn't our home, they are not our families, but for the people that live in that neighborhood it was everything. All along side the apartments are people camped out in their tents. What are they going to do? I have no idea. I feel so bad for them, for the members, for the people. The neighborhood from what I can tell has about 40 or 50 apartments buildings, so that`s a LOT of people suddenly without homes. Though I am so grateful that everyone is okay.

It really wasn`t that bad in Rancagua. It started in Concepcion, and I feel like the real damage just jumped Rancagua and hit Santiago bad. I know the big question is what in the world are we doing to help. I would like to know the same thing! Though the wards and branchs are in contact with the missionaries if they need help with their members, but it looks like our branch has everything under control but there are a lot of other people that don`t. So we`re just waiting for the word from President. He hasn`t wanted us to go out and work yet for various reasons, but we`re just seeing what we can do. Though having such close contact with the assistants we`ve been able to help a little in the office and we`ve bummed around with them a little bit dropping off food for missionaries that didn`t have their food storage. It`s crazy, about a month ago the pres and his wife ordered us to get a water and food supply. Right now our building doesn`t have water, but the office does so we`re just going to the bathroom and filling our water there. I think it`s like the only building here that doesn't have water, so the conditions aren`t bad. Life is going on as normal. Though we`ve driven around town a bit and we`ve seen quite a lot of those brick buildings where parts of the walls have crumbled down. I have pictures of everything, but on one of the elders camera ( I didn`t have mine with me). So I`ll get pictures out later. And a WHOLE lot of other details, but that`s the gist of it. We went and packed everything up and we`re staying in the apartment of the Wengreens right now so we`re okay. But I hope we can get some good service out there right now. But for now I hope that everyone prays like crazy for the people in Concepcion. My time is waaay up. But I love you all so much and don`t worry, just pray a lot for the other people.

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!