With the wings of the soul

I dedicate this song to those who are struggling to fly on the wings of their souls in northern Chile and Valparaíso.  I have roughly translated this tango into English further down.  Shalom, EH

Con las alas del alma

Tango

Música: Daniel García

Letra: Eladia Blázquez

Con las alas del alma desplegadas al viento, desentraño la esencia de mi propia existencia sin desfallecimiento, y me digo que puedo como en una constante y me muero de miedo, pero sigo adelante. Con las alas del alma desplegadas al viento, porque aprecio la vida en su justa medida al amor lo reinvento, y al vivir cada instante y al gozar cada intento, sé que alcanzo lo grande, con las alas del alma desplegadas al viento. Con las alas del alma desplegadas al viento, más allá del asombro me levanto entre escombros sin perder el aliento y me voy de las sombras con algún filamento y me subo a la alfombra con la magia de un cuento. Con las alas del alma desplegadas al viento, atesoro lo humano cuando tiendo las manos a favor del encuentro por la cosa más pura, con la cual me alimento por mi pan de ternura, con las alas del alma desplegadas al viento. Con las alas del alma desplegadas al viento, ante cada noticia de estupor, de injusticia, me desangro por dentro y me duele la gente, su dolor, sus heridas, porque así solamente interpreto la vida. Con las alas del alma desplegadas al viento, más allá de la historia, de las vidas sin gloria, sin honor ni sustento guardaré del que escribe su mejor pensamiento quiero amar a quien vive con las alas del alma desplegadas al viento, al viento, al viento...

With the wings of the soul

Tango

Music by Daniel García

Words by Eladia Blázquez

With the wings of the soul spread to the wind I unravel the essence of my own existence without fainting, and I tell myself I can, though I am dying of fear, but I continue onward. With the wings of the soul spread to the wind, Because I appreciate life, in just the right amount, And I reinvent love when I live every instant Enjoying each attempt. I know I will reach greatness With wings of the soul spread to the wind. With the wings of the soul spread to the wind Beyond amazement, I rise from the rubble Without losing my breath.  And I leave the shadows on a filament And climb aboard a rug with the magic of a story. With the wings of the soul extended to the wind I treasure humanity when I open my hands in favor of coming together for something more pure. I feed on the bread of tenderness, With the wings of the soul spread to the wind. With the wings of the soul spread to the wind, With every news of injustice I bleed within I feel with the people, their pain, their hurts Because only that way can I understand life. With the wings of the soul spread to the wind Beyond history, of lives without glory or honor, simply I will treasure  good thoughts written. And I will love those who beside me live, our wings of the soul spread to the wind…

Ashes and Rubble

Dear Friends and Family:

I am sure that by now you have heard of tragedy heaped upon tragedy in Chile.  As Bishop Ulises of the Pentecostal Church of Chile prepares to fly to northern Chile to assess the damage from the recent earthquake, a devastating fire in the historic port of Valparaíso has consumed now over 1000 homes with at least 8000 people homeless.  The weather conditions with hot, dry and shifting winds, along with the coastal mountain terrain has made it very difficult to control the blaze.

Valparaíso is a world heritage site, also known for having been one of the ports mentioned in Moby Dick by Herman Melville. It is the third largest city in Chile, with homes built on the tops of the coastal hills down to where the skirts of these slip into the sea.  These coastal  hills have been built up in the past years with wooden houses teetering on stilts that cling to the sides of ravines and have spectacular views of the bay.   On the opposite side of the hills, away from the coast, the rough terrain is  covered with highly  flammable pine plantations - where every year there are forest and shrub fires.  Sunday night, one of these fires got out of hand and began to burn towards the city.

There are about 7 churches of the Pentecostal Church of Chile spread out on the different hills in Valparaíso, but so far, according to the reports that Bishop Ulises has received, none have been affected by the fires.  We still do not know if any church members have been affected.  For those of you who know the Aguirre family and Pastor Mario Torres and his family, as far as we know they are all ok.

I have been preparing materials on emotional and spiritual first aid from the information we collected after the 2010 earthquake to send to the pastors in northern Chile.  This same information will be shared with the pastors in Valparaíso.  Sometime later this year, brothers and sisters from the Pentecostal Church of Chile who have been trained by the Shalom Center's "Roots in the ruins: hope in trauma" program will be training Pastors and Sunday School teachers to further facilitate trauma healing and resilience development in the churches and communities affected by both the fire and the earthquake.

I thank each of you for your prayers; we certainly need them  as the  sense  of loss this Easter Week will be palpable in the lives of many people.  May we bring the hope of  Christ's victory over death and destruction to those who suffer in the midst of the ashes and the rubble.

Shalom,

Elena

News on the earthquake in northern Chile

Dear Friends and Family,

Once again I would like to thank all of you who have written expressing your concern and/or been praying for everyone in northern Chile.  This evening I was able to talk to Bishop Ulises to get an update on what is happening and the Pentecostal Church of Chile's response.

All of the pastors in the northern region have reported in, and so far, there is news of one church building suffering major damage.  This is the church in Huara, a daughter church of the church in Pozo Almonte.  Huara is a town of about 1000 people  in the Atacama desert and most of the houses were built out of adobes.  Another area that has been deeply affected is Alto Hospicio, the outskirts of Iquique.  Pastor David Ramirez reports that even though the church and the parsonage did not suffer severe damage, many homes in the community are beyond repair.

Bishop Ulises informed me that they still do not have a clear picture of how many people from the churches in Iquique, Alto Hospicio, Pozo Almonte, and Arica lost their homes, but he is planning a trip north immediately after Easter Week to assess the damage.  After this trip, he hope to have a clearer picture of the needs and what the church can do to help.  It is possible that the church will once again build Blessing Cabins as the preliminary estimate is that about 9000 homes have been damaged and 1000 of those beyond repair.  When he returns, we will also be putting together a strategy for a program in trauma healing and resilience development, similar to what was done in 2010.

The Pentecostal Church of Chile in Curicó has joined together with the municipal government to send a first shipment of aid to Iquique and Alto Hospicio.  This is particularly significant because it was these two cities that were the first to respond to the earthquake in the Maule Region in 2010.

That is the news I have for now.  I will try to keep you up to date with new developments.  May God bless each of you and thank you for your prayers.

Shalom

E

Earthquake in Chile

Dear Friends and Family:

Greetings from Chile in the name of our Creator and Sustainer!  I am writing to you this morning to thank all of those who have emailed me and called me asking about the situation in Chile after the earthquake last night in the northern part of the country.  Thank you for your concern and your prayers.

I would like to let you know that the earthquake was in the northern part of Chile, in the same area where there have been several severe tremors in the past few weeks, between the cities of Arica and Iquique.  We here in the central part of the country, have not felt the effects of these quakes.  Even though there were tsunami warnings and massive evacuations, ¡Gloria a Dios! that there wasn`t severe damage and the warnings have been lifted.  We can all see that there has been much work to prepare the population for such emergencies - quite different from the 2010 earthquake and tsunami that caught everyone by surprise. 

This morning I spoke with Richard, the Bishop's son, to ask him about our brothers and sisters in northern Chile.  He has told me that they had been able to communicate with the pastors, and up to this point, there is no report of damage to people's homes or to the churches.

As an additional note, I would like to let you all know that during the past weekend we had an all staff gathering at the Shalom Center along with several members of the new Board.  It was a wonderful opportunity for us to affirm our commitment to Shalom!  I am sending you a picture of the staff so that you might remember us in your prayers.

Once again, thanks to everyone for your prayers and concern for us here "at the ends of the earth."

Shalom