Letter from Santiago East Mission Pesident's Wife

Here's another amazingly spiritual experience to do with the Chilean Earthquake.  This one is from the Santiago East Mission President's wife. Again, it's been passed through the mission network.

Date: Mon, 1 Mar 2010 23:48:27 -0700
From: *****@ourldsfamily.com
To: *****@msn.com
Subject: Santiago East Mission President's message

"Dear Everyone,

"I am writing to let you all know how very grateful we are for your
prayers, concern, and love. Please keep praying! We need the Lord's help
and guidance in order to do all He would have us do to learn what He
would have us learn from this earth quake tragedy, and to minister in
the way He would have us minister. During the past few days, we have
witnessed many events which serve to remind us that the Lord is in
charge and that as missionaries and members of His church, The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we are performing His work, and as
President Monson teaches, "When we are on the Lord's errand, we are
entitled to His help." I want to share with you a few miracles that will
help you to understand our profound feelings of gratitude.

"When we were set apart for this calling, Elder Scott of the counsel of
the twelve apostles taught us many important lessons. He spoke from
personal experience when he was a Mission President in Argentina. One
message that he shared with us is this: "At times, during your mission,
you will be awakened in the middle of the night or the early morning
hours with thoughts of specific things you should do for certain
missionaries. Do not ignore these thoughts. They are promptings from the
Holy Ghost who will communicate with you in the stillness of the night
or the peace of the early morning hours. He will speak to you then
because that is when you are still enough to hear." Elder Scott further
instructed us to keep a notebook beside our bed so that we could record
these precious promptings. He said that by the next morning, we would be
likely to forget the promptings if we didn't write them down.

"We have been astonished at the fulfillment of Elder Scott's prophetic
words. We have received many promptings in the exact manner that Elder
Scott described. We are so thankful that Elder Scott taught us how to
recognize and act upon these precious promptings. Had he not taught us,
we may not have given these promptings the attention they require.

"Nearly two and one half weeks ago, I was awakened at around 4:00 AM by
just such a prompting. I did not hear a voice, but the thought was as
clear as if it had been in the form of spoken words: "There is going to
be an earthquake. Prepare your missionaries." I sat up in bed and
immediately remembered Elder Scott's counsel. That morning I told Larry
what had happened. He immediately set to work organizing our
missionaries to prepare for an earthquake.

"In talking with our office missionaries to arrange for them to put
together a list of everything we would need to prepare...in both Spanish
and English...we discovered that the Lord had also let two of our office
missionaries know of the possibility of an earthquake (in the form of
dreams) and the need to prepare our mission. We set a goal and arranged
our schedule so that we could visit every apartment in the mission to
check for safety and to review with our missionaries what to do in case
of an earth quake. What a wonderful experience we have had as we have
met with them and shared scriptures with them about being spiritually
and physically prepared. "...if ye are prepared, ye shall not fear" (D&C
38:30). We instructed every missionary to have a "go-bag" (36 hour kit).
We reviewed our emergency action plan with them of where to go and what
to do if they had phone service and in case they did not. We gave
everyone a paper with all instructions in English and Spanish, and we
reminded them that "this life is the time to prepare to meet God" (Alma
34:32-34). We shared with them our thoughts and feelings about the need
for spiritual and physical safety. Some of them became frightened and
asked us if we knew something they didn't know. We smiled and repeated
"...if ye are prepared, ye shall not fear." We didn't want to unduly
alarm them, but we did want to impress upon them the need to be
prepared. We tearfully reminded them of our recent transfer conference
where we had shared our feelings about our dear Elder McKay Burrows who
was unexpectedly called home in January while serving his mission in
Romania...how he was prepared in every way to meet God. We reissued our
challenge to "be prepared" in every way. Then we knelt with them in
their apartment and dedicated each apartment, asking for a blessing of
safety and security to be upon every apartment.

"When the earthquake came, we were prepared. We did not experience the
panic that many felt. We knew we were prepared. Because of the words of
the Lord's chosen Apostle, Elder Scott, we had listened and heeded the
quiet, but clear promptings of the Holy Ghost. We were blessed with
peace in the midst of chaos. We learned an important lesson: our
preparation helped us to avoid panic and fear, but the Lord, in His
wisdom, allowed us to experience enough discomfort to know that He has
all power. He is in charge. We are nothing without Him. We are dependent
upon Him for every breath we take. Only He can save us from death and
destruction. He is the way, the truth, and the life. He is our perfect
example. If we follow Him, we will be saved through obedience to the
laws and ordinances of His Gospel.
As the earthquake became more violent, the mission home groaned and
wailed. The power died, so the whole city was black. The windows made a
hideous screeching sound, and flying objects banged against swaying
walls. The printer/fax machine, books, book ends, and fifty-pound
television burst from the entertainment center and crashed to the floor,
cabinets emptied, drawers flew open, the refrigerator moved, water
sloshed out of the toilets, the floor jolted up and down as we ran
across it trying to hold onto the walls to keep from falling down, and
the piano toppled over like a small toy. As we made our way to the back
yard, I remember thinking, "God is all-powerful. He is our only refuge
from this horrible mess." I prayed and prayed for Him to still the
earth. When we reached the back yard, we watched in terror. By the light
of the moon we could see the swimming pool water form giant waves and
crash out onto the rocks. House and car alarms screamed into the
night...some from being crushed by falling debris and others I guess
from the bizarre movement of the earth. I am not sure if the intense
rumbling sounds came from the earth itself or from everything else that
was shaking so violently. Finally, it stopped. When the calm came, we
had to sit down because our legs were weak and unstable. My legs stayed
wobbly all day and night yesterday. Today the muscles in my legs hurt
like I ran a marathon. The aftershocks have been extremely unsettling.
Each one begins like the one last night started. We just close our eyes
and wait to see if it escalates or dies down. I have never experienced
anything like this!

We were awakened this morning by a very strong after shock. Larry jumped
out of bed and yelled, "Welcome to another glorious day in Chile!" We
just had to laugh. We moved a mattress into the floor in our bedroom and
made Landon sleep in our room. He was in his room with the door locked
the night before and we couldn't wake him up. He never locks his door,
but he was playing a joke on Larry because every morning Larry wakes him
at 5:30 AM for seminary by tickling him unmercifully. So Landon had
decided to stop him. When we couldn't open his door, in the middle of
the quake, we thought he was trapped, so we screamed and banged. Landon
thought that everything was falling off the walls because we were
banging so hard on the door. I think we scared him more than the
earthquake did!

Today, we attended a strong ward where Larry was invited to speak. The
entire chapel and beyond was filled. People were so humble and so
teachable. Larry taught the importance of doing the small things. He
taught about Jesus Christ and the opportunity we have to love one
another and to share what we have with others. It was a great blessing
for us to be with these beautiful Chilean people. Some have lost their
homes...or at least parts of their homes. But they are strong and they
want to serve the Lord. He taught of the scripture in Luke 21:11,13
which says, "and great earthquakes shall be in divers places...and it
shall turn to you for a testimony." He also welcomed the sweet young
woman who was in the congregation with the missionaries...her first time
attending church...and then he invited her to be baptized from the
pulpit. He asked her to please invite us to her baptism, and she said,
"I will." The Lord always knows what His people need. Landon was reading
in Alma 15:17 today. He said, Mom listen to this. This is what is
happening here in Chile just like in happened in Ammonihah. The people
were humbled and "checked as to the pride of their hearts and began to
humble themselves before God, watching and praying continually that they
might be delivered from Satan, and from death, and from destruction."

Our hearts are filled to the brim with gratitude for all of the
blessings we have received in the Chile Santiago East Mission. We see
miracles every day. In the midst of great pain and suffering, we can
always find our Savior. He stands with His arms open, pleading for all
of us to humble ourselves and come unto Him. He loves us. He invites us
to accept His gift...the atonement. He invites us to repent. He wants us
to love one another and to serve one another. He wants us to bring our
families and those we love to Him. We can do it. We can do all that He
asks, no matter how difficult it may seem. "With God all things are
possible"

OK, sorry this is so long. I will end now. We are having a devotional
tomorrow for all of our missionaries to talk about the last week of
Christ's life in preparation for Easter. We want to remind our
missionaries to teach and preach with increased vigor and animo of
Christ. Last Monday in our office meeting, Larry suddenly stopped in the
middle, and said, "During the prayer, I had a very strong impression
that March 2010 is going to be our best baptizing month we have ever had
in this mission." Now we know why he received that feeling. We are going
to prepare to bring many souls to the waters of baptism in March. Please
continue to pray for us and for the people of Chile. Please pray for the
missionaries to have strength and courage to do all that is being
required of them, even in difficult times.

We are so thankful that the tsunami did not turn out badly in Hawaii.
Who would ever think that an earthquake in Chile could threaten the
shores of Hawaii? Thankfully, the Lord is in charge. He is the one to
whom we must turn for refuge from every storm. He has the power to save us.

Con mucho amor,

President Larry and Sister Lisa Laycock

Quake Update From Santiago Temple Matron

I've received the following email through various networks.  It's very encouraging news, but obviously I'm still anxious about people in the neghbourhoods I served in.

Dear Chile Santiago West Missionaries:

The news of the past 24 hours has been shocking to all of us with the 8.8 magnitude earthquake.  After many phone calls, tweets, and facebooking I have been able to finally communicate with people throughout the mission as I'm sure some of you have also.  Please keep the Chilean People in your thoughts and prayers.  We know that our Heavenly Father loves them.  As you find out of any specific needs please notify us via the website www.ChileSantiagoWestMission.com and let us know how we can help.  Arriba Juntos!

I thought you all might enjoy reading a note one of our missionaries received from the Chile Santiago Temple Matron:

Hi Everyone,

We heard from our Santiago Temple President, Ted
& Cheryl Lyon, written by his wife, Cheryl:

Thanks to all of you who have emailed your concern for us. We can state
unequivocally that we're fine. We can also state with the same emphasis that
riding through that quake in our rocking fourth-floor apartment was for me
the scariest experience I've ever been through!
I was sure we were about to die - that either the ceiling would fall on us
or that we'd collapse through the floor. It truly was an emotion I'd never
experienced before. My whole body shook for the next two hours, and after
that I couldn't stop crying.

We didn't even have the presence of mind to get out of bed during the quake.
I felt paralyzed, staring at the ceiling and wondering when the earth would
stop rolling. It was the longest two minutes of our lives! We could hear
things falling out of cupboards, and pictures falling off the walls. But the
sound and the movement was the worst.

Our sturdy building held up fine. Just lots of dust and a few broken dishes.
But elsewhere, as I'm sure you've seen on the news, people didn't fare as
well. Lots of damage. Virtually no stores open. Most parts of Santiago still
have no electricity. Collapsed overpasses have closed major highways. The
airport is closed because of damage, and planes have been rerouted to
northern Chile or to Argentina. Our new missionary doctor was to arrive this
morning, so I don't know where he and his wife have ended up.
What a joy to walk into the temple and find it in perfect condition. We
just had to close a few drawers and straighten a few crooked pictures. It
felt so good to be there in that peaceful refuge and find normality. Moroni
did lose his trumpet, however! That was the only noticeable damage.

How grateful we are for how well the Church takes care of us. We've often
thought the 24-hour emergency lights in our building were excessive, but we
were surely thankful for them at 3:30 this morning as everyone was
evacuating the building - including the missionaries downstairs in the MTC.
It was so disconcerting to get out of bed in the dark and stumble over
fallen items in the bathroom. We got just a taste of what the Haitians have
suffered, though their damage and deaths have been so much more devastating,
even though their quake a weaker one. So far here they're reporting 123
deaths, but we assume the toll will climb.

We had to decide what to do about the temple. We had every session booked
for the day, and wondered if people would arrive. We met with one of Ted's
counselors - who had arrived at 5:00 for the early shift, as faithful as
ever - and our registrar. We knew it would be difficult for the employees
and workers to get to the temple and there was not electricity at the time.
One faithful laundry sister came a great distance to help, but there was no
gas for the dryers, so she had baptismal clothes from last night lying out
all over the laundry.

The temple has an emergency generator which roars into action the second the
power goes out. But we learned that it runs on petroleum which lasts only
four hours. By 8 a.m. we knew we were about to go dark again, so we made the
decision to simply close the temple for the day.

Then, just in the second that the lights began to dim, the power came back
on! (We've learned since that we're the only section of Santiago that has
power yet.) So then we decided to hold just one session, since we had three
out-of-town couples staying in the hospedaje who were expecting to receive
their endowments and be sealed today. We mustered all the missionary
couples, along with a group of faithful sisters who work the late shift on
Fridays and then stay over for the Sat morning shift. We had a most moving
morning. The quake had brought such a sense of unity to workers and patrons,
and the Spirit was amazing. I've seldom had such a moving experience at the
veil - with three consecutive young sisters who were receiving their
endowments.

Right now we're sleep-deprived, and Ted has already gone back to bed. The
stress has left us exhausted - but we're alive and well! We're still feeling
aftershocks - called "replicas" in Spanish. They're reported about 25 of
them. One just rolled by as I was writing this.

So, that's the report. After some rest we may venture out and about to see
what we can see.

Thanks for your love and concern.
Ted and Cheryl
President of the Santiago Temple

Visit Chile Santiago West Mission at: http://chilesantiagowestmission.ning.com/?xg_source=msg_mes_network

Chilean Earthquake

As many of you know, I was a Missionary in Chile for 18 months.  I lived in and around Santiago (the capital).  So you can imagin how my heart jumped into my throat when I heard about the disasterous 8.8 magnatude earthquake which hit Concepcion early this morning.  And, there were many many many secondary quakes.  The last count that I heard was 70!  I've got some very dear friends down there, people who are as dear to me as family, and I'm terribly worried about them.  Fortunately, they're mostly in Santiago, not Concepcion, which was the worst hit.  But, that doesn't mean they're out of danger!

Here's a link to the MSNBC's photo slides of the state of Chile today, and the Hawaian preparations for the Tsunami.  Seeing these photos was almost harder for me than imagining, because they just say 'Central Santiago' and 'Outskirts of Santiago'.  Things like that.  I'm despearate to know what parts of the city it is!

So, if you're reading this, please spare a thought and prayer for the Chilean people, and all those in the path of the Tsunami.