Blessed

Well this past Saturday as most of you know there was a major earthquake in Chile. Of course many of you also know that Jon is currently serving his mission in the city of Santiago. The earthquake was centered approx. 150 miles to the south west of Santiago and being that close it did a lot of damage. Nothing near what happened in the city of Concepcion but major none the less. Communication was down for a couple of days but we heard back from him via email on Monday and he said that he as well as all of the missionaries in his mission had survived intact. In his email he said that he had experienced tremors before but this one kept it up and became worse. Being a boy from the land of hurricanes rather than earthquakes he woke up and headed for the bathroom. As he reached the doorway the sink had been torn from the wall and was blocking the doorway so he turned back and grabbed his companion and they knelt to pray and continued doing so until the quaking stopped. They then arose grabbed their wallets and headed down stairs and outside. (they live on the 5th floor.) He didn't say how long they stayed outside and they eventually went back inside. Well a casualty of the broken sink is that when the water came back on they weren't inside and the water sprayed out of the broken pipe and flooded their apartment! This then required them to try and clean up the mess, poor guys. Anyway both they, us and many other friends are glad that he is alright. Friends have sent links to some stories of others who went through this major event and it is interesting to read their accounts. An odd casualty of the quake is that the trumpet of the angel Moroni on top of the Santiago temple fell out of his mouth/hands. Other than that the building was untouched. Jon said that he wished that they had a 72 hour kit like we have been encouraged to keep down here. So there's some good advice as you never know when or where you might need what you have stored. I'm sure that they will be involved with a lot of service in and around their area with any who are in need. I'll pass on more info. as he gives it to us. Just glad that he is alright. If any of you are interested here is a link to his Mission's blog.