Trinity Presbyterian Church, Montgomery
Thursday, September 09, 2010

Letters from our Missionaries in Chile

02-28-10

  Dear Friends and Family,

 
This is a quick note to say we are all well, including our sons-in-law. So are the Senters, Marshalls, Mateers and Dávilas. I can also confirm that Meredith Denton and Brad Wallace and family are well.
In the midst of much tragedy, I can report that we experienced the 8.8 quake in the relative safety of our sixth floor apartment. Stuff fell all around, but nobody was hit by any of it. And fall it did—from the closets, refrigerator, kitchen cabinets, book shelves—TV’s, mixer computer, etc. A shelf fell into a window, but since that was open, it broke no glass. The kitchen was knee deep in trash. The fridge walked as did the freezer, our bed and who knows what else? The aftershocks leave us wondering if any one of them is the beginning of a second quake. After all, the quake we had started as a tremor.
It is amazing to think that so many things we imagine to be stable are only as stationary as the earth beneath them. Only God, His Scriptures  and His wonderful work of salvation is trustworthy. Praise Him for who He is! Thank you for your prayers and concern for us! May our gracious Lord richly bless you in the days ahead!
 In Christ’s love,

John and Cathy Rug

Viña del Mar, Chile     South America
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  03-01-10

Wow!  What a way to wake up at 3:30 in the morning to the whole house shaking! We live in a 2 story house and running up the stairs while they were moving is a very strange sensation!  It sounded like a train rumbling by.  It was a long long minute or so.  But, praise the Lord, the house held with no damage and we were all safe and tucked back in our beds by 4:15!  Of course, no electricity nor internet/cable which left us with just cell phones with no way to recharge them.  However, we stayed home on Saturday and got bits and pieces of news although I am sure you knew more about it at that point than we did!  Rodney would go in the car and listen to the radio to get some kind of update.  Even though we live a good 5-6 hour ride by car away from the epicenter, it was felt by practically all of Chile as well as parts of Argentina.
 
Our power finally came back on this afternoon, a few hours ago and it is  very comforting all the emails and phone messages that we received!  I will go through each one and answer any questions you may have that this general email is missing. Thank you for all your prayers and concerns!  We have not lost water nor gas so we have been able to eat and so forth without difficulty.  By the time I remember the ice cream in the freezer it was a bit slushy but still tasted good.  Grocery stores are open around us but you have to pay cash, at least that is how it was today.  We are concerned about gas availability as well as food shortages in the future but for now we are managing fine.  
 
Of course what we went through is nothing compared to what those in the areas closest to the epicenter experienced!  Thank you for your continued prayers for them.  Some of our Chilean friends that have family in the south of chile have not heard from them and are not sure what is going on.  To add to all of this, this weekend was the last weekend of the summer and MANY many people were planning on returning to Santiago yesterday and today.  What a mess for all of them.
 
Much love to you all and know that we so appreciate you reaching out to us.  We will be emailing more and sorry if you end up getting repeat information.
 
Rodney and Jana Davila...just think of us as the "shakers and the movers"!