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

Pictures from Southern Chile

John Huegel entry #3

On Monday, March 17, we traveled on the Pan-American Highway 500 miles south to Puerto Octay.  This is as far south of the Equator as Seattle is north, so it was much colder there.  We stayed in a cabin on the edge of beautiful Lake Llanquihue.  Across the lake, we could see the imposing Osorno Volcano, which looked just like Mount Fujiyama.  We were able to see the different faces of the volcano as the sun and the clouds changed positions.  We especially enjoyed seeing the snow on the volcano change in color from white to pink at sunset.  I attach photos that Elena took. 

The hotel next to our cabin was built in the early 1900's and once was visited by the Prince of Wales, who later became King Edward VIII of England.

We discovered that the town of Puerto Octay had early German settlers and even located a Lutheran church. 

On the way back to Talca, we traveled through extensive plantations of pine and eucalyptus trees planted by forestry companies to promote the lumber industry.  We visited a national park where we saw the amazing araucaria trees, some over 1,400 years old.  They look like prehistoric trees whose pictures we see in scenes with dinosaurs.  We spent the night in a cabin on Lake Lanalhue.  The next day, we had lunch in a restaurant overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

                                                                                                                             Pastor John

Second entry from Trip to Chile

For The Helper;  Good news, bad news:  I have some good news for you.  Saturday my hands got warm.  Let me tell you  how that happened.  John Charles,  the President of the Board of the Shalom Center, and his wife Susana, invited us all to Panimavida.  This is one of the many spas scattered throughout the country with warm springs fed by volcanic heat. The spa is a large complex, with hotel, restaurant, and swimming pools.  When I visited this place some years ago it was run down and dilapidated  and had seen its better days.  But it has now been restored and is beautiful with well kept gardens and flowers all over.  We spent the day in a large heated pool.  I even got a chance to sit in a hot jacuzzi, and lo and behold, slowly my hands got warm. We had a wonderful buffet lunch and in the afternoon soaked some more and even got a taste of a turkish bath.  After that I really had warm hands.

Now for the bad  news:  Yesterday, I was invited to preach at the local church.  Everything went well but when I greeted people at the close of the service, one lady said, Oh,what cold hands you have.  So I guess I am back to normal. 

We leave in a few moments to travel 500 miles south to the lake district.  Pastor John

Visit from my parents

Dear Friends:

My parents arrived in Chile for a three week visit.  My father is currently doing a "pulpit supply turned interim" at St. John's UCC in Rosenburg, Texas.  Since he will be writing messages to this congregation about his visit in Chile, I thought I might share his perspectives with you.  Enjoy!
Shalom
E

Report No. 1  To our  dear friends at St. John’s -I am not going to send you a report each day, but I must tell you about our first day in Santiago,  Chile.   After breakfast at the hotel, Elena took us to the subway station where we caught the train going downtown.  The subway car was full and when Yvonne and I stepped in the car two people immediately stood up to give their seats.  The exact same thing happened on the way back to the hotel.  Elena explained to us that it is customary for people to get up and give their seats to elderly people.  Can you  imagine this  happening in New York City? 

At the main station down town we got off and Elena pointed out that on the walls were large paintings of the most beautiful scenes in Chile, snow capped peaks in the Andes, beach scenes, volcanoes and lakes.  These extraordinary paintings look almost like photographs.  A Chilean artist was commissioned to paint these and they are a wonderful exhibit in a subway station for all of the  people to enjoy.  

We walked around downtown and went to the National Palace, the equivalent of our Capitol, and since it was the day after the  inauguration of the new president of the country, a woman, there were guards still at the doors of the palace and the red carpet where she  and other dignitaries entered still in place.

We caught a three  o’clock bus to ride four hours south on the Pan American highway to Talca, where Elena lives.  The bus was a two story luxury affair with very comfortable seats and an attendant who served us light refreshments.  The bus and the service were far superior to that offered by Greyhound.  Sort  of amazing!

The weather is delightful.  I am thawing out.   Pastor John