OUR EARTHQUAKE EXPERIENCE

March 2, 2010

David and I both woke abruptly at around 3:30 in the morning with an immediate understanding that something was terribly wrong. It only took seconds for us to both realize it was an earthquake. As I jumped out of bed to go to the kids, Caleb came running into our bedroom. I told him to get in bed with David and I ran on to the girl’s room. The noise was loud and the movement in our two story house was amazing. Upon reaching the girls room, I found them getting up to head to our room. I quickly “walked” them to our room and then ran back to get Samuel. At this point, things had intensified. I picked up Samuel to bring him to our bedroom and had difficulty keeping my balance. I plopped Samuel in our bed with the other four and then laid down myself. The movement just kept getting bigger and the noise was terrifying. We all held each other and prayed and let the earthquake run its course. It lasted 90 seconds…it seemed like a lifetime. As I sit here writing, not only am I shaking from remembering, but the windows beside me are rattling because of another aftershock. As the movement subsided, I believe we all laid there in a bit of shock as to what just happened. The first words out of Anna Marie’s mouth were, “Mom, I am not sure which is worse, being broken in to or an earthquake!”

We remained on our bed for several minutes shaking uncontrollably from fear as we began to process what had just happened. We were very grateful to be alive and for our house to still be standing. Once again we prayed together and had a big group hug! The electricity was off and phones were out so there wasn’t much to be done. The sound of car alarms set off by the earthquake filled our neighborhood.

After a while we decided to bring two mattresses into our bedroom so we could all sleep in the same room. David and Caleb were in our bed and the rest of us were on the floor on the two mattresses. Our hearts racing, we tried to lie down and rest only to be startled each time an aftershock came. Hearing the noise of sirens going, wondering who was hurt and how many. Millions of thoughts running through our minds. How long is this one going to last? Will they ever stop? Should we go out in to the road? Is our mission family safe? How has this affected the friends we have made here? What are we going to do? How do we get in contact with our family?

Around 6am, I hear the doorbell ringing…who could that be? I get up and tell David there is someone at the gate. We hurriedly get dressed and go downstairs only to hear our names being called from the gate…someone asking if we are ok. Finally at the gate we find our Logistics Coordinator and her husband there to see if we are ok…once again we thank God for His provision of safety. We all swap stories and they head on their way. I tell the kids we need to try and get some rest if we can. We went to bed and rested for a bit.

Pancakes for breakfast…thankfully we have gas…no leaks …and we have water. Then it was a morning of evaluating what had just happened. Looking the house and wall over for damage. Looking at our neighbors houses…one of which lost part of his wall. Speaking a bit to fellow missionaries who came over to our house. Our neighbor’s son coming to check on us and see if we had been scared during the earthquake. Going out in the afternoon to look around and try and get a few groceries since we had no electricity. Trying to send text messages to family in the States. We kept thinking our electricity might come on so we just stayed put. By 7pm we called our friends to see if we can come to their house to use their internet phone to call family and to use their internet to send a message out. We were able to call our parents and to send a brief message to each of you indicating that we were ok.

Sunday we tried to go to church and failed to remember where the church was located. We drove around trying to find it and then finally gave up. We decided to try and go to a mall to eat lunch only to find the only thing open to be a grocery store. Not having electricity I needed to get a few more things so we could eat. We went to the grocery store and were there 3 ½ hours…the lines were so long, people panicked that things might get bad. Upon arriving home we received a call indicating there would be a prayer meeting at the office that night…we weren’t going to go, but we are all so grateful that we did. It was a time of being thankful for His faithfulness, a time of remembering what had happened, a time of reflecting on our emotions and understanding their legitimacy, a time of praying for our Chilean friends and brothers and sisters in Christ, a time for investigating ways that we can minister to those around and a time to pray for those in great need.

Forty-seven hours after the earthquake we finally got power back and thankfully our internet. I would have sent a message out yesterday, but the kids and I spent the whole day at their school helping them to get it organized and cleaned. At this point, the kids school would like to start tomorrow if all of the families have electricity…many still do not. The Chilean government may suspend all schools from opening until Monday the 8th. We have yet to find out when school will begin.

The area of town where we live does not have large amounts of visible damage on the outside, but as I drove to the kid’s school yesterday, there were lots of things sitting on the road for trash pickup that people had lost inside their homes. While there is not visible damage on many of the houses, we know there is “damage” on the inside of all of us.

Many of you have asked how you can get involved or help. Here are some ways that would be most helpful:

1.Pray…pray for wisdom for all believers in Chile to know where and how we can be involved in meeting the needs of those around us. Pray that we can be bold in our witness and bring many to a saving faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

2.A HUGE blessing and answer to prayer in all of this is something that is happening in the apartment buildings where our people live. Apartment living lends itself to creating distance in relationships to those who are in close proximity every day. For this reason it has been very difficult for our people to meet their neighbors in their apartment buildings. The earthquake has changed everything and there is a moment in time for building relationships. Pray that our people would take every opportunity to build those relationships in this time of need and insecurity. Pray that they would be His love to those around them.

3.Probably the most efficient and most helpful way for you to offer assistance is by donating to Baptist Global Response (BGR). A team is coming from the States to evaluate and assess so they can know what ways are best to use the monies given. BGR is the IMB’s human needs arm and does an excellent job to meet the needs of those that are hurting. For more information on how BGR will be involved here in Chile go to gobgr.org.

4.Pray for all of our hearts and minds…that we can rest in His peace and that He will heal all of our hidden places of fear, anxiety, pain, etc….

Please go to imb.org for more information and for some pictures taken in Santiago.

We cannot express enough words of appreciation for the prayers lifted up on behalf of our family, our mission family and for our new family of Chileans. We know He is faithful and we will rest in that knowledge.

Our love to all of you,

Robin for the Stow family