8.8

Hi everyone!

I am alive! Thanks for your prayers, I am safe and sound in the YWAM base still in Pichilemu... God definitely protected us and had His hand over our base the whole time because we didnt suffer any injuries, deaths or even damage, only a few broken glasses that fell off the shelves, but it was pretty scary and intense... Ok wanna hear what happened?

So here is my story...

We were obviously all sleeping at 3:34 am when it happened, and it started off slowly like rumbling underground, then picked up in intensity.. the 10-year daughter of a DTS student who sleeps below me started screaming for her mom, and I hung down over my bed and told her to give me her hand, I told her it would pass (thinking, "I am from California, I know earthquakes"), but it DIDNT PASS it got worse and worse! So I was hanging off my bed, yelling, "Give me your hand! It will end soon!" but I was falling off my bed so I changed to, "LET GO OF MY HAND!" I had to pull myself back on the bed and hold on for dear life, things were falling and breaking in the kitchen and chairs and tables were falling upstairs in the classroom, which made it sound like the roof was caving in. It lasts 2 or 3 minutes (I actually just read on Google News that scientists are saying it was so strong the earth's axis was shifted 3 inches and the day was shortened by like a milisecond! what??) But we were fine, we all went outside, and the earth was cracked outside the house, everyone on the base gathered in front of our house, we checked to see if everyone was ok... then the panic started...

All of a sudden hundreds of people started running up into the base, past us, and into the hills, dragging crying kids behind them, yelling, "RUN! TSUNAMI!", which freaked some people out, but we were already at one of the higher points of Pichilemu, so we stayed put, sang praise songs and prayed as everyone ran past us. That night no one slept, we stayed outside and prayed, and people filled the hills behind us and had bonfires all over the hills in the following days, which was crazy and also caused a lot of worry for robbery and violence... but nothing happened, it was fine. We heard crazy rumors ("Hawaii is underwater from a tsunami! Los Angeles suffered an even bigger earthquake than here! Japan and China and the whole Ring of Fire suffered earthwquakes and volcanic activity!"), but we had no news or any way to contact the outside world, and all roads had closed by the morning, so we just prayed and hoped it wasnt the end of the world as it sounded like.

We were without water, electricity, internet and phone service until today... we never ran out of food because God KNEW we would need it and we happened to have food stored (which we NEVER have because we run on a day-by-day payment basis and basically buy our food three times a day before every meal since we never have extra money sitting around to stock up, plus there arent really Costco's around town if you know what I mean).. so it was honestly a miracle we had 25 kilos of flour sitting around to make bread by hand for the whole base (150+ people for 3 days), since the supermarket was flooded and shut down and the roads and bridges were out (the bridges were literally out, almost all the bridges in Chile fell down), so God provided for us which was amazing... we also were told the water would run out since the whole town uses a tank system, so we filled every bucket pot and pan on the base, but apparently so many people fled town the first hour or two when the roads were open, so there was enough water for everyone who stayed in town. Apparently a lot of people were hurt and missing and unaccounted for who left town, so it was much better to stay put.

The town of Pichilemu didnt suffer much damage from the earthquake, but a tsunami did reach the town center, which is about 150 meters inland, and destroyed all the little beach houses and shops and restaraunts along the beach, they are all flattened and filled with sand and dead fish and totally destroyed. I heard one fisherman who was drunk sleeping in his boat did die, but we havent heard of other deaths. Really Pichilemu was spared most of the damage, I'm sure you have all heard news and seen pictures of all the destruction throughout Chile. There are lots of big cities without light, food, water, internet, phone service, with lots of robbery and violence and skyscrapers that are going to fall soon so they are clearing out the neighborhoods, the supermarkets are ransacked and empty and the Chilean special forces are bringing in flour and emergency kits to the towns...

We are still having lots of aftershocks (some up to 6.3 on the Richter scale) which last for about 2-3 second, and we all stop whatever we're doing, hold our breaths, look around and wait to see if it lasts longer than 4 seconds before we run outside... it keeps us on edge a little bit, some girls couldnt sleep at all and wouldnt go in the house the first two nights, some people (including me) are still dizzy and off balance and feel almost seasick because it's like the earth is constantly moving under our feet as it all readjusts and settles in after the earthquake, it's a weird sensation and I feel like I'm in a boat, but hopefully it will end soon and the earth will be solid ground again! We started classes again, which is great to have something relatively normal, and when I am interpreting and an aftershock comes, I try not to freak out but I grab the podium and close my eyes, and wait for it to pass, its kindof funny though...

I have heard from Daniela, my friend from my DTS, and she and her family are fine and staying with family, but their house could collapse soon so it is very stressful obviously and scary. I havent heard from Teresa at all so PLEASE PRAY for her and her family, they are in Concepcion which is very close to the epicenter and Teresa lives in the area which suffered the most damage. A tsunami did reach inland and kill many people, it is still an tsunami watch... be praying! Over 800 people are said to have died, so pray for all the families and all of Chile - for comfort, for provision, for food, for strength... it's so sad, I love this country, and it's so sad to see it in such pain.

Thanks again for all your prayers, God had His hand over us and protected us and provided for us in every way (we even had hot showers the day after!), but Chile is in shambles and needs a lot of prayer. The base is helping bring truckloads of clothes and supplies and food to the next town over which is completely flattened, and we are cancelling the next DTS to bring truckloads of supplies to nearby towns to start building houses, and helping people on the beach sort through their buisinesses that are totally gone... God is working here, the day after the earthquake we had an impromptu service here and prayed for people (one person was saved! whoo hoo!).. interesting side note: a girl in the June DTS here on the base had a vision/prophecy about "pain coming from the coast to Chile" which would break people's pride and bring them back to the Lord... so be praying this comes true and brings people back to Him! Also Friday morning a girl in our DTS had a vision in her quiet time of a very very low tide on the beach and a sun that was a different color, and trees falling over, and she recieved the verse in Romans 8:22 which says all of creation is groaning in birth pains waiting for Christ to return... so God was telling us ahead of time what would happen. It's been amazing to see how everyone comes together in a crisis situation and how God provided for us and guarded us from harm.

He is good, He is faithful, He protected us 100%! Thanks for your prayers!! Love you all, I am still coming home March 18th, pray that the airport and runways are repaired by then!

Brooke

Read Psalm 46:2 - it was our theme verse for this weekend!