Patagonia

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-25T10:13:00.002-03:00


Thanksgiving feast!

The turkeys were really small this year :-] Actually turkeys were selling for around $50-$75 each. The chicken was bad enough at almost $10. It was a VERY good meal!


We shared our day with missionary Matt Kling


Rhonda's famous pumpkin pie :-]

Funeral in Cisnes

2011-10-20T10:39:00.000-03:00

We made it back last night after the funeral in Cisnes. We left the house around 10 and got to Cisnes around 3 hours later. Funeral service actually started around 2:30. There was standing room only with many visitors from out of the area and many from Cisnes as well. Christians as well as non-Christians as well.

Service went pretty good considering the situation. I preached a simple salvation message and led everyone in the sinners prayer. Eternity will tell if anyone took it to heart. There were some very positive comments at least.

It rained very hard the whole day, one of our Patagonian storms that just don't let up. Made the graveside time even more miserable. We all went to the cemetery in vehicles. First time we've done that in Chile.

We want you to know how much we appreciate your prayers for this situation! We could see the Lord did intervene in this!

Update on Cisnes

2011-10-18T09:39:00.000-03:00

Mari came to Aysen with Enove, Ximena, and their 2 sons to pick up Mari's husband's body. They then had to get a casket and arrange transport for the 112 mile trip back to Cisnes.

Quite a few people are coming in for the funeral and some rented a bus and will drive in from Temuco. It will be a long and very rough trip for them.

Tomorrow Rhonda and I will head to Cisnes for the funeral. They have asked me to prepare a message. This will be a tough one as the deceased never wanted anything to do with God or church.

So, I need wisdom and anointing to share comfort, truth, and encourage people to prepare for eternity.

Update on Cisnes

2011-10-17T16:00:00.000-03:00

Mari arrived here in town with our church leaders a few hours ago. She's doing ok, I believe she really feels your prayers. I took them to the morgue and we hope to get his body out in an hour or so.

Family and friends are coming in from all over but it will take a couple days for them to make the long journey. So the funeral will probably we Wednesday. I'll try to keep you posted.

Tough situation in Cisnes

2011-10-17T10:32:00.000-03:00

We’re dealing with a tough situation today and we’d appreciate your prayers.

Yesterday we were in Cisnes, I preached on the fact that we are all going to be entering eternity sooner or later. I had finished up with the fact that we dare not put off preparing for eternity because we had no idea on when we would die. Just as we were finishing up in prayer 2 guys knocked on the church door and told us the husband of one of the ladies (Mari) in attendance had just died.

He fell in the river (had on a good life jacket) and apparently died of hypothermia. He was not a Christian and wanted nothing to do with God. We are all trying to help as we can but this is where we really need the Holy Spirit to help our sister deal with this tragedy.

They transferred the body to here in Puerto Aysén (112 miles from Cisnes) for the autopsy. Several members of the church are bringing Mari to town and we’ll arrange for a casket and transportation of the body back to Cisnes.

Thank you for praying for this situation today!

Guniea pig: It's what's for lunch!

2011-10-03T10:37:00.000-03:00

Yum

It really was quite good.

the 18th (Independence day) in Puerto Cisnes

2011-09-21T11:39:00.000-03:00

There was no shortage of food :-]

We enjoyed some the best weather we've ever had on the 18th!

Our crew patiently waiting.

Driving to church

2011-09-05T10:51:00.000-03:00

The Austral Highway on the way to Cisnes yesterday. The round trip is a little over 200 miles.

Summer 2011 Newsletter

2011-08-29T11:48:00.004-03:00

Right click and select: Fullscreen

Summer 2011 Newsletter

Mouse huntin

2011-08-14T11:27:00.000-04:00

In the last week we (me and the cat) have killed over 30 mice here at the house. I've lost traps 4 times. They keep dragging them off. I've found all but one so far. Usually with a large live mouse attached.
Good thing I have a BB gun.

Welcome home gift

2011-08-05T12:46:00.000-04:00

We arrived home from a long trip Wed night. As I walked up to the porch in the dark I noticed a cat zoom off. At the door I stepped on something kind soft. When I turned the light on I saw the cat had left 4 1/2 mice on the welcome mat. This morning there was another. Not even our cat :-\

Plague

2011-07-04T11:24:00.000-04:00

Last week we counted 863 mice on the highway on the way home. Yesterday we counted 1134! Made the icy trip home more, um, interesting.

They were everywhere, seems most weren't afraid of the car and I ran over lots. Looks like they are beginning to starve and many were eating the dead mice on the road.

Here is a rather gruesome photo of one of the zombie mice: (enlarge at your own risk)

Brainssss

Plague

2011-06-28T17:44:00.000-04:00

Every 10 years or so the quila blooms. Quila is our local version of bamboo. And it blooms, all of it. At the same time in the whole region. No idea how it coordinates.

After the bloom comes seeds. In the fall there is a huge supply of rich, tasty seeds and the mice go crazy feeding and reproducing.

In the winter we have the plague. It's officially called a plague.

3 weeks ago we counted mice crossing the highway on the way home from Cisnes. We counted 40. Usually we don't see any. Sunday night, same trip, we counted 863.

There were a few sections where you could barely see the road for all the squished mice. There were dozens running around and many mice eating the dead ones. We thought it would be a great spot to not break down in.

No, I don't have any pictures. You wouldn't want to see them anyway.

Magallanes

2011-03-27T11:50:00.001-03:00

Mar 17th drove to airport (2 hours), got there just before 10 with, we thought, an hour to spare. They were boarding the plane. I have no idea what happened. Just made it.
Flew North to Puerto Montt, waited an hour and boarded another plane South. Arrived in Punta Arenas in the afternoon and pastor Pedro picked us up. Spend the night and in the morning boarded the 20 passenger plane to Williams. Great flight with almost no turbulence.
Preached Sat and Sun, met with lots of folks. The church is doing good and pastor Felipe and family are well.
Headed back to Punta Arenas the 22nd and spoke Wed night at Pedro's church. They had a surprise snack time laid out and we had a great time sharing after the service.
Pastor Claudio is continuing to build the church in front of his house. Looks good although progress is slow. He is doing almost all the work alone.
Met Henry and Claudia, leaders of our newest work. They came down from Temuco and are starting a work in a rented community center. We had a great time with them and encouraged them in the work and to work towards credentials.
Got home Fri and today we head to Cisnes. Hope to return this evening.

View of the plane to Williams. The same guy checks your ticket, takes your ticket at the gate, and loads your luggage. Yes they have a metal detector, no they don't use it.

Nice view of the activity in the cockpit. Captain came back before the flight and assigned 2 passengers to help someone off that was on crutches if we had an accident.

We fly over a number of glaciers on the way.

The church in Puerto Williams sends greetings!

Rhonda eating a Snow crab sandwich.

Puerto Williams is the Chilean capitol of Antarctica. This could explain the cool temperatures.

Rhonda, Pedro, and Claudio in Claudio's church.

Chileans love you with food :-]

Puerto Gala

2011-03-15T13:50:00.000-03:00

Well, we made it to Gala and back, thought I'd give everyone and idea of what the trip was like:
Drove the 3 hours to Cisnes, ferry was supposed to arrive 11PM.
Ferry arrived at 5AM.
Trip was very slow, the old ferry just makes 8 knots. We arrived at Gala around 11AM
We went to Leos's family's house. They were very welcoming and showed us to our room. We didn't rest although we very all pretty tired. You can't really sleep on that ferry.

We walked (half mile or so) to town on the new boardwalk system. Pretty steep in places but you don't have to take a boat everywhere now. While in town we invited several people to an service that evening.

There ended up being some 10 people in attendance and most of them accepted the Lord as savior!

Next day I went out with Abraham to check his fishing lines. Catch was poor and even more frustrating was the sea lions took more than half of what he did catch.

Ferry was supposed to arrive 10Pm, it arrived at 9Pm. We jumped on and arrived back in Cisnes 2:30AM. Took Leo and family home and got on the road around 3AM. Arrived home 6AM.

Miscellaneous photos:

Door mat at the house

small skull hanging in the living room

'thank you for coming' gift from Abraham

Video greeting and newsletter

2011-02-21T10:25:00.000-03:00

Puerto Gala

2011-02-21T10:21:00.000-03:00

Yesterday we were asked to visit Puerto Gala this coming weekend.
Right now the schedule looks like this:
Friday afternoon head to Cisnes, stop along the way and pick up 2 sheep fleeces for a lady in the church in Aysen.
Leave on the coastal ferry around 11pm, looks like we may bring in some food supplies for the locals.
Arrive Gala around 5am. It's about a 50 mile trip.
Leave Gala sometime Sunday evening
Arrive Cisnes 4am or so. Head straight home.

We'd appreciate your prayers!

El Lapiz, The Pencil

2011-02-19T11:34:00.000-03:00

Ilustración para Domingo:

El maestro tomó el lápiz antes de ponerlo en la caja. Y le dijo al lápiz: hay 5 cosas que tienes que entender antes que te mando al mundo. Si recuerdas estas 5 cosas llegará de ser el mejor lápiz posible.

1. Puedes lograr muchas cosas grandes, pero solo si te permites ser manejado por el maestro.

2. De vez en cuando será necesario sacar un punto. Será doloroso pero te hará un mejor instrumento.

3. Puedo corregir los errores que haces.

4. El parte más importante de ti es lo que esta adentro.

En cada superficie donde estas usado tienes que dejar su huella

Sermon illustration for Sunday:

The maker took the pencil before putting it in the box. And he said to the pencil: there are 5 things that you have that to understand before I send you into the world.
If you remember these 5 things you will become the best possible pencil.
    1. You can achieve great things, but only if you allow yourself to
         be handled by the master.
    2. Sometimes it will be necessary to sharpen you.
        It will be painful but it will make you a better instrument.
    3. I can to correct any mistakes you make.
    4. The most important part of you is what is inside.
    5. On every surface where you are used you must leave your mark.

Boat launch

2011-02-16T16:37:00.000-03:00

Well, we finally got the boat in the water. THAT was a chore. Took 2 days but we finally got it in and to the house. Engines seemed to run pretty good but we could only get around 7mph from it all the way home instead of the 20-25 expected. The real bad news is that it sits very low in the stern. It is so low that we cannot use it. You can imagine how we feel after so much time and money invested in this project to find this out now. We and several others tried to get the builder to put it in the water before shipping it down but it never happened.

We could sure use your prayers right about now. We need to know what to. About the only hope I can see is to add flotation in the rear. Something I'm not even sure is possible.

This comes just as we get word that more people are getting saved in Gala and they really want Rhonda and I to visit them and help them on their new journey. They said "we need someone to guide us!" And the only way to get there is by boat. We need a boat!

Anyway, thanks for praying for us as we face this very discouraging situation.

Minga

2011-01-31T17:30:00.001-03:00

What is a Minga? I'm glad you asked, a Minga is a house-moving; Patagonian style.
The need:
A women in Puerto Cisnes had 2 kids, when the oldest was 14 she informed her husband she had fooled him and the eldest wasn't really his. He went out into the woods and hanged himself. 6 months later she was married to another guy and had another kid. The first 2 were apparently living in deplorable conditions so the community decided to give the 2 teens (17 & 15) their own house.
The challenge:
The city built a small house for them. The problem is that it's on the other side of the bay. Looks like over a mile across. The house needs to be moved from it's current location, across the bay, and through town to get to it's site.
The solution: A Minga.
How it's done:
Get a few boats, tie the house to them and float it across the bay.

Then, get a couple strong ropes.

Add a few willing helpers,

Then pull like crazy!

Yes, we helped pull :-]

Check out the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jj12OH7QbSM

Boat work

2011-01-18T18:47:00.000-03:00

Got engine 2 (starboard) working. Got the ignition switches figured out and corrected. Seems some wires were crossed.
Got the radar installed and working. Pretty cool to see the mountains and bridge on it :-]
Water pump is not working, trying to figure that one out. Also the fuel pump for the heater won't work.
We need to get fuel now. Figured it up and the main tanks will hold around 350 gallons. That will be around $1400 dollars. gulp

Boat work

2011-01-18T08:22:00.000-03:00

Been working every day (except Sunday) on the boat. Yesterday we got one engine running, today we hope to get the other. Found lots of problems to overcome, wiring done wrong among them. Got the spotlight installed and working and the radar installed. I have to wire the radar and that looks to be kinda involved. I have the windlass installed and now need to wire it as well.

Lets all go down to the river...

2011-01-16T20:59:00.000-03:00

Today the church in Puerto Aysen had an all day baptism and cook out. We loaded up in a bus and cars and headed up the canyon some 40 minutes. Later we had a short service by the river and buried this group of new believers in a water grave!
Here's a few pictures from it:

8 new believers added to our Fathers kingdom!

Local version of a BBQ.

Puerto Gala

2011-01-07T09:20:00.001-03:00

Our church leader called from Cisnes to tell me about something neat. One of the members there in Cisnes is actually from Puerto Gala and has family there. The only way to reach Gala is by boat and is one of our target islands for the boat ministry. Well, seems this guy (Leo) hasn't been idle sharing his faith with his family and now it looks like we have an entire family of new believers waiting for us in Gala! They have offered us their home to hold meetings in!

Please pray we get the boat fixed up and running asap!

The 13th of Jan a friend (Dennis Gross) and his wife are supposed to arrive and work on getting the boat ready for launching. Please pray for this couple!

Rainfall

2011-01-06T11:50:00.000-03:00

Well, emptied the rain gauge for the last time for 2010.

Total was 119.3 inches for the year.

Heat wave and drought

2011-01-06T11:49:00.000-03:00

Driest spell we've ever seen here. The drought is in it's 10th day. Ok, so maybe it's not a drought to you but to us that's DRY! Got clear up to 82 degrees, too.

Christmas eve

2011-01-06T11:46:00.000-03:00

We celebrated Christmas in the traditional way here. We got together with pastor Hector and family and did a BBQ!

This is summer now and the weather was nice. I put the food on the grill 10 pm, no problem as it was still light out. Gets dark around 11 pm. We sat down to eat around 11 and opened presents on Christmas morning. Got to bed after 1.

Take a tour of our new dock!

2010-12-20T12:35:00.000-03:00

In back yard looking toward river.

Looking down fixed ramp at landing.

On landing looking at movable ramp.

On dock looking up river.


On dock looking down river.

Now we have to paint all this. Wanna help? :-]

Christmas 2010 newsletter

2010-12-17T13:36:00.000-03:00

Special request

2010-12-14T10:07:00.003-03:00

Would you help us get our boat in the water?

Our mechanic from Texas needs to come down and finish some installations before we can launch the boat. He needs some parts and airfare to be able to do it. He is retired but has been working to raise funds but still lacks around $2000 for both airfare and parts.

Would you consider helping us out by donating a few dollars? You could send money to either my checking account or work account at AGWM. Also please let me know if you do and the amount so I can be sure it makes it to the right fund!

Thank you!!!!

My e-mail: aysensteve(@)gmail(.)com
Note: I put parenthesis around the dot to foil e-mail bots from finding it. Just ignore them.

e-donation: (also at bottom right of page click link called donations.

https://secure1.ag.org/contributions/detail.cfm?LedgerID=2649640D-AB9A-4707-B5A1-0A3FAE7B9D36

Work Account:

AGWM
1445 S Boonville Av
Springfield, MO 65802
Steve Wilson
Chile
224192

More pics!

2010-12-12T08:48:00.001-03:00


We went on a paseo Sunday and showed the team our area.

Pastor Bob Weis and us at the end of the fijord.


A fine group of supervisors :-]

2010-12-10T17:07:00.003-03:00

Before.
Our old dock was rotting and actually dangerous to go out on.

After.
Now this is NICE! What is even more amazing is
that this was accomplished in 3 days of work!

Never fails. There is always someone who needs to be kept on a leash.

2010-12-10T17:04:00.002-03:00

We were able to purchase some old salmon pen parts.

A design was decided on and the welders went to work.

View from across the river.

2010-12-10T16:59:00.000-03:00

The new dock in place!

The ramp up

Our expert dock team!

2010-12-10T16:56:00.001-03:00

The completed dock was placed in the river by 2 cranes

Then floated downriver Huck Finn style

Once arrived it was tied up

And we now have a dock in place!

STL boat arrives!

2010-12-01T10:11:00.000-03:00

Here's a pic of our new boat sitting in front of the yard. Now we get to finish fixing it up and get it ready to launch. Be a couple months till wel launch probably. We still need a name for it so be sure to vote!

Boat arrives at Chacabuco!

2010-11-18T10:52:00.000-03:00

Our boat has made it closer to home! It arrived at our port here and now we have to do some paperwork to get it out. Hopefully we'll have it here at the house in a few more days!

We still have to name it so be sure to vote!

At the baptizm in Puerto Cisnes

2010-11-15T13:57:00.000-03:00

Baptism Cisnes 11/14

2010-11-15T13:56:00.000-03:00

Uh oh

2010-11-15T11:07:00.000-03:00

So there I was in Santiago, I had just bought a pen drive and I whipped out my trusty pocket knife (Kersaw assisted opening drop point),sliced open the package and it occurred to me...Why do I have my pocket knife on me? Seems I forgot to take it out of my pocket and took it on a 3 hour flight through 2 airports. I'm not sure to be happy I didn't lose my favorite knife or be concerned about airport security. Yes, they use metal detectors.

Vote!

2010-10-29T15:59:00.000-03:00

Seems our new STL boat will head down soon. Hopefully we'll be able to get it fixed up and headed out to sea in a couple months.

One of the things we have yet to do is name it!
For this I'd like your help.
To the right of the page is a survey with a few choices, please select your favorite (please just vote once).
Also, feel free to suggest a name yourself by sending it to:
chilestlboat@gmail.com

Thanks!

Good news!

2010-10-27T10:04:00.000-03:00

As many of you know, we've been given a boat to use in our work here in Patagonia.
The 41' (yet to be named) arrived in Chile about 3 months ago and has been stuck in the port of Valparaiso since then accumulating port storage fees.
Well, finally, it looks like the paperwork is done and the boat should be released to head down here this week! The customs broker told me that the storage fees have accumulated to around $28,000!
The broker and a lawyer friend (Elena) apparently have gone to bat for us and petitioned the port for a reduction in those fees.

Last night I got word that the port is going to charge us $0 for storage!

Can somebody say Praise the Lord?

Busy weekend

2010-10-27T09:42:00.001-03:00

Hey everyone, we had quite a busy weekend and we needed and really felt your prayers.

Some of the things that stand out now that we're back home:

Sunday morning I preached a missions service in Puerto Aysen. They really put a lot of effort into it and most of the kids and several adults dressed in national costumes. We had to leave before the end of the service to get to Puerto Cisnes in time for the evening service. (Just got word that 4 adults gave their hearts to the Lord!)

We made it to Cisnes in about 3.5 hours, Rhonda made some sandwiches Sat night and we stopped and ate on the way.

Service was packed, it's a tiny place and there were 27 present. Including those who attended Sat night and didn't come Sun AM they reached 33 this weekend. Very good for Cisnes!

2 people gave their hearts to the Lord, a neighbor lady and a young girl.

A 91 year old lady and her daughter walked nearly an hour to attend. When I took them home I had to lift her in and out of the car.

We forgot kerosene and the firewood is too wet to light in the cabin. We never did get a fire our whole stay. Temps were in low 40's in the AM inside.

Mon afternoon it got hot! Temps must have been in upper 60's and everyone is out in t-shirts and shorts. Very nice weather! Spent the day visiting and counseling.

Tue AM we headed home, good weather and made it back safe and sound if rather tired.

Thank you for praying for us and for the pastors and work in Puerto Cisnes!

70 days

2010-10-14T10:00:00.000-03:00

Raul Bustos lost his job in Talcahuano when a tsunami destroyed his place of work at the end of April. He moved to Copiapo to find work in the mining industry and August 5 entered the San Jose mine to fix a truck. Yesterday, after 70 days he, along with 32 others, ended the longest work shift in Chilean history.

It's not often that good news captures the worlds attention and even rarer that good news captures the medias attention like this story has.

Last night everyone in Chile and many around the world celebrated as 33 men were given another chance at life! At 10pm, as the last miner was hoisted to the surface, every siren and church bell in Chile sounded, horns honked, and people shouted and waved flags. It was a great moment and an event that will be engraved in Chilean history.

Many of the miners wore a t-shirt over their coverall that says it pretty good: "Thank you Lord!"

Iquique mens retreat

2010-10-14T09:39:00.000-03:00

On October 8th I went to speak at a men's retreat outside Iquique. Kind of a long trip. left the house at 9am and arrived at the hotel in Iquique 6pm. And that was travel by air with a VERY fast plane change in Santiago!

We drove another hour and a half into the desert to finally arrive at the retreat site. Very different climate than here in Aysen. Hardly any clouds, dry, dry, dry. Chilly in the morning and very hot mid-day.

There were just over 100 men there from Chile, Bolivia, and Peru. We had a great time and it was good to see many lives touched!

Sept 18

2010-09-21T10:59:00.000-04:00

One of the important parts of Chile's Sept 18th festivities (independence day) is cooking out. Sunday a bunch of us got together and pastor Hector and I put dozens of shis ka bobs on the grill. Rhonda kept pretty busy making sure we had enough raw ones to replace the quickly eaten cooked ones!

First service

2010-09-03T08:41:00.001-04:00

Last Sunday we went to Coyhaique where they had their first service in thier new building!
We have all waited and worked for this day for at least a year. Needless to say everyone was very happy and no one seemed eager to leave after.

We still have a lot of work to do and we could really use some help finishing. If you would like to help us out on this important project please contact me!

aysensteve@gmail.com

Wood Splitter

2010-09-01T13:15:00.001-04:00

When our car came day before yesterday it had a large box inside. We had a few guys help us offload it and yesterday Rhonda and I opened up our new firewood splitter! It was lots of parts, even the engine was in a separate box.
And there weren't any instructions on how to put it together.
We did the best we could, at least there weren't any parts left over and fired it up today.
That thing is nice!
Pastor Hector, our visiting evangelist Daniel, and Carlos came down just then. None of us had ever seen one before so we spend a while playing with it.
As you can see from the video it is very fast and easy to use.
We are thinking of ways we could use this thing for evangelism and helping some of the older folks in the church.
We want to really thank our friends in Alaska and Louisiana (New Iberia, First Assembly of God) for this very valuable gift.
I thank you! My back thanks you!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXHcI2oxhgk

Good news, Bad news

2010-08-26T13:06:00.000-04:00

Good news: In Punta Arenas pastor Pedro took us out to eat.
Bad news: He didn't tell us it was at a families house until we got there.
Good news: They were very nice and the soup (Patagonian mussels and abalone) was delicious. We were quite full.
Bad news: The soup was just the appetizer.
Good news: Once back in Aysen we were told our STL car was at the port! We've waited months for this!
Bad news: Everyone is on strike.

Patagonian mussel and abalone soup, very tasty.

We were able to get it out of the container but nothing else.

Thank you Speed The Light!

Punta Arenas

2010-08-16T11:01:00.000-04:00

We had a good trip to Punta Arenas. The airport in Balmaceda was COLD! Must have been under 40(f) inside. Trip was uneventful and pastor Pedro met us at the airport. We met with a lot of people there, we got to take our pastors out to eat, and we had a good time all around.

We also met with Carlos Rivera and his wife who are interested in starting a new work in the northern part of the city. We gave the go-ahead and will be working with them getting going. We're excited to see our Lords kingdom growing here!

One thing happened you might like to hear:
Sunday Pedro asked if it would be OK not to go out to eat but instead just share a simple meal with he and a few others at an apartment someone had loaned him. Of course we said that would be fine.

After church we went to the small and simple apartment near the church. Maybe was 200 sqare feet inside. Some folks came with chicken, potatoes, lettuce, etc. Then more people came with other stuff, then more people came... there ended up being around 17 people eating lunch there! Rather snug but great fellowship.

Looking out the window at the airport

Blizzard update

2010-07-28T10:19:00.000-04:00

Ever since the blizzard our region has been in national news pretty much every day. They are now calling it "white earthquake" it has affected peoples lives so much.

Snow is still deep inland although most main roads are open. Power is back to most folks as well but other hardships remain. Firewood is in short supply for many and food is also tough to get for some. The other day they found a lady (3 kids) who was burning her furniture so they could keep warm.

The government is trying to get help to folks but there is only so much they can do about all the livestock that's in trouble. They fear up to 100,000 head could die before spring.

Hospital

2010-07-15T12:51:00.000-04:00

We took Pastor Hector and Berta to Coyhaique yesterday to check into the hospital. She has had a tumor for over a year and today was to be the day she was to be operated on. We drove an hour to get there, went to the office, and they told her the surgery was canceled. Seems they are out of supplies. She has to try again the 29th.

Blizzard

2010-07-13T10:38:00.000-04:00

They are saying this was the heaviest snow in over 30 years. In 28 hours (starting Friday night) up to 60 inches of snow fell in the region.
Here in Aysen we just got a few inches and that melted within 2 days. The next town east is Coyhaique, the GPS says it's 28 miles from here, the odometer says 40 miles and the watch says 1 hour. They still had some 20-30 inches on the ground by the time we got there yesterday. Further east a few miles they got up to 60 inches.
As you can imagine, the roads are a mess, some roofs have collapsed and the airport has been closed since the storm. I'll enclose some photos (I didn't take all of them) and a website with lots more:

http://www.fotos.emol.com/index.asp?G_ID=15101#

http://www.fotos.emol.com/index.asp?G_ID=15090

During the storm over 100 people had to be rescued on the highway. The snow just got too deep for the vehicles and fallen trees blocked the road in may places.

There are reports of a number of buildings and roofs collapsed or damaged. A new school gym and new store downtown are included.

On the way to Coyhaique we were surprised at the amount of trees down. Apparently the weight of the snow was so great that they simply fell over many times tearing out the roots and all. The road was down to one lane numerous times and it looks like more blockage is on the way as there are lots of trees just hanging over the road.

Fortunately we have a very good STL vehicle and we have good studded snow tires so we didn't have any problems driving yesterday. We did get held up for about an hour at the pass (along with lots of other folks) when some truck driver decided he could make it without chains. He couldn't.

We made it back safe and sound last night, it looks like the conditions should be even better when we go again tomorrow.

Snow day

2010-07-03T10:27:00.000-04:00

We don't get all that much snow here in town. We're real near the coast and that seems to keep the snow away. A few miles inland it's another story. So, when we get a snow day here in town it's worthy of a few pictures...

High water

2010-06-30T12:27:00.000-04:00

We've had a lot of rain the last few days, even for here. I think over 5 inches in 2 days. Makes the Months total 18 inches. River got very high, Austral Highway is cut in several places, some flooding of houses.
Here at the house we lost a large tree as the river undercut part of the bank behind the house. Our dock also suffered as one of the billets was swept out from under the dock and part of the dock looks broken. I don't dare go out on it to see closer until the water drops quite a bit more.

Video!

2010-06-26T12:32:00.000-04:00

Below is my first attempt to post a video anywhere. Looks like it might work so... any requests?

Austral Highway footage June 19 2010

2010-06-26T12:30:00.000-04:00

Cisnes

2010-06-23T17:07:00.000-04:00

Marrying and burying

Saturday I married Jorge and Viviana, Sunday I buried them.

We left Saturday morning for the 100 mile trip to Cisnes, only took 3 hours or so. It’s much better now due to more pavement. Some snow and slick spots but we didn’t have any trouble.

Saturday evening we had our first wedding in our new work in Cisnes! Jorge and Viviana got married, most of the church turned out and we had a great time.

Sunday Noon we took everyone from the church (including Jorge and Viviana) and put 8 of them in a watery grave. That’s right; we had our first water baptism in Cisnes! Yes it was cold! It was 38 outside and the water was at least that cold. After a few moments arms and legs went numb and the pain went away. After we were done and wading out it actually seemed warm! I guess it was the circulation starting back.

Sunday afternoon and evening we had a combination asado (Chilean BBQ) and service. The house was packed with over 20 present.

We came home Monday and although it snowed the road wasn’t bad. The studded snow tires do help!

Very busy and very productive weekend.

Letters

2010-06-17T10:16:00.005-04:00

All is well here, getting quite cold now but no snow yet here in town. Road to the airport is quite icy it looks like.

Once in a while we get some letters from the States. Here's the latest: (I'll answer in another color)

Hi my name is Annie I am almost 10 years old. What kind of house do you live in, and what kind of food do you eat. I am from India and I eat spicy food do you like spicy foods? We saw your pictures that you gave to Mr. Rich & Miss Paula and it looks really cold. How cold does it get where you are at? What do you do with the mice that you catch? You don’t eat them do you? Do you keep the penguins as pets?

Hi Annie! We live in a wood house that Rhonda and I built ourselves. We couldn't find anything to rent so we had to make one. We like Cajun food which is spicy but a different spicy from Indian. It gets pretty cold here! We get lots of snow inland and way below freezing quite a bit. As I write this it is below freezing outside. I toss the dead mice in the trash, I'm not hungry enough to eat them. We don't keep penguins as pets, they would make a lousy pet. They're kind mean.

Hi my name is Abigail I am 8 years old and in the 4^th grade. I already have so many pets do you have any pets? Do you have any flowers? I have colorful flowers there are more tiny flowers growing now. What other kinds of animals do you have do you have birds?

We don't have any pets because we travel so much, it wouldn't be fair to them since we're gone so much. We have lots of flowers in the summer, we like them, too. There are lots of animals here but no snakes of any kind! We have lots of birds as well including the Condor.

Hi my name is Annika I am turning 7 years old this year. Do you really have penguins? And are you really going to make a mink coat for Miss Rhonda? What do you do with the mink do you eat it? What is your favorite shape? I like squares.

When is the next time that you are coming here? We would love to see you. Thank you for telling people about Jesus.

We really do have penguins here, they are slow on land but very fast in the water. No, I was just kidding about the mink coat. I'd have to catch a LOT of mink to have enough. I just tanned the 2 I got and we'll just feel the soft fur. I'm not hungry enough to eat a mink. It smells pretty strong so I bet it wouldn't taste good. I don't really have a favorite shape but squares are nice. We hope to come to Tampa in a few years, we'd like to see you all too! We are very happy that we get to tell people about Jesus here!

Thanks for writing girls! Keep up the good work!

Steve & Rhonda Wilson

Propane and mink

2010-06-05T15:16:00.002-04:00

Tried to BBQ yesterday, propane froze up after about an hour. Maybe I should put it on the fire? ;-] Also, just saw another mink in the shop. Just re-set the trap. This keeps up I'll be able to make Rhonda a full-sized coat.

Gumbo

2010-06-03T13:45:00.000-04:00

It's been raining for many days now. It's cold, temps in the 40's. It's dark, dawn about 8:30, dusk around 5:00.
Only one thing to do...Make Gumbo!

Note: All Cajuns please don't read below.

Rhonda made us a chicken & sausage gumbo but we can't get sausage here. So we used, um, salami. You know, if you cook it enough you don't notice the taste so much.

Home

2010-06-03T13:41:00.000-04:00

Felipe wrote me today to let me know that he made it back home to Puerto Williams ok. He was kinda worried when the National Convention ended and a strong blizzard hit down in Williams. I guess he was stuck for a few days but looks like it all worked out.

National convention

2010-05-31T16:12:00.000-04:00

Rhonda and I just got back from national convention in Santiago. We had our missionary fellowship meeting as well and we did enjoy getting together and seeing so many friends.
Weather was real good there and it was nice to get warm! Especially when we got back to the airport here and they told me it had gotten down to -14 there!

Heh heh heh

2010-05-20T11:41:00.000-04:00

Went out to the shop this morning to check my trap line.
No mice (since SOMETHING) ate all the bait.
One mink.
Years ago I got a live trap at a garage sale and it's been sitting in a shed ever since. I got it out, strung some of my secret, sure-fire, mouse bait (pepperoni) and set it real light.
Mink ain't too timid, he zeros in on my finger and would bite it off if he could. (He's looking at my finger in the photo)
No, I'm not going to release it. Mink are not native to Chile and have reached official "plague" status. They are doing all kinds of damage to the native wildlife.
Maybe I'll make Rhonda a real tiny mink coat.

War

2010-05-19T15:30:00.000-04:00

I went out to the shop to check the mousetrap. The mink had returned in the night and tore it up getting the fresh bait. I hope he realizes that this means war.

Podcast

2010-05-19T14:50:00.000-04:00

Pastor Gene Roncone called this morning and we taped a 20 minute poscast for them to put on their website. I think it's pretty neat that we can do something like that even though we're separated by over 6000 miles!

http://www.aurorafirst.org/media_player.asp?messageID=61551

Now what

2010-05-18T19:56:00.000-04:00

So, I was in the shop (where I have the repeating bucket mousetrap set up) and noticed the bait was missing. I had set it up so mice couldn't get to the bait.

Out of the corner of my eye I spotted something moving. Rather large. My first thought was a rat, then I saw it had a furry tail. I finally got a good look at it a moment later. It was a mink.

Now I have to figure out how to trap a mink, in the shop...

Mouse trap

2010-05-13T15:01:00.000-04:00

Well, it seems it happens every year. When the weather gets cold the mice move in. I keep rat poison set out and monitor it, when it starts to disappear I know they are back. Some disappeared a few days ago and I set more out. It went too so I set more out. After about 5 packets going away I set about 3 packets at a time out. They ate that as well. So I set about 5 packs out, that took them a few days but they ate that up. By now I was kinda ticked, I mean I spent probably $8 or $10 on poison and it looked like they just thought I was putting snacks out for them.
So I made a mouse trap. They do sell them here but they are expensive, made of all metal, and the bar has sharp teeth on it and it looks like it would literally cut a mouse in two. Yuk. So I made a trap that would tip the mouse into a 5 gal bucket and baited it with a piece of pepperoni. I’ve caught 3 so far.

Puerto Cisnes

2010-05-13T14:57:00.000-04:00

We arrived after only 2 hours 40 minutes of driving. We can’t believe how fast it is now. After so many years of driving between 4 and 5 hours to get there now driving the 112 miles in a little over 2.5 hours is great. Pavement really does help! I think there is only 20 miles left unpaved on the trip.

Sunday I shared a message to a very full house! There were 22 in attendance which is great for Puerto Cisnes! There were just no chairs left and one guy sat on the steps to upstairs and seemed to tape much of the service with a camcorder. We had a good service and a number of people dedicated themselves more fully to the Lord.

Enové came by the house today while he was town and told me that the guy who taped the service broadcast the whole thing on the local TV channel. I think it’s funny that they even have a TV channel and teased Enové that probably no one saw it anyway. He said that actually many people watch it and someone contacted Enové’s wife (Ximena) after watching the sermon and she led them to the Lord and they plan on coming to church Sunday! Someone else wants to get the tape to the island of Chiloe and show it there.

I guess it goes to show that we never know who will be touched by what we share! Even long after we’ve shared it.

Moving cities

2010-05-03T17:09:00.002-04:00

Just read that Chile has to re-do a bunch of it's maps. Seems the city of Concepcion is moving. They expect this year that it will have moved almost 40 feet west.

Newsletter!

2010-04-23T11:44:00.001-04:00

Hi folks! I've finished our latest newsletter, here's the link to view it on-line:

Spring '10 newsletter

Otherwise, all is well here. Winter is coming on and we're all busy laying in firewood.

New STL car!

2010-04-14T12:55:00.000-04:00

Our new Speed The Light car arrived in Springfield. We ended up buying it in Denver and Rhonda's parents (Rev John & Evelyn Goss) flew out there and drove it back!

Now we wait for the grill guard, winch, and lights to arrive and we'll try to get all that installed. After installation we will try to get it shipped to Chile.

2010 Toyota 4Runner Trail edition.

Barricades

2010-04-01T12:05:00.000-03:00

One of the things that impacted us when we first arrived on scene in Concepcion were the barricades.
It seemed every neighborhood had a barricade of some kind at it's entrance with people armed with whatever they could find (sticks, knives, shotguns) guarding it. They weren't messing around either, you either had a good excuse for being there or else. It didn't take long to find out what was going on.

The earthquake happened Saturday morning, by Sunday morning the looting had started in earnest. I suppose it started with people justifying their actions by getting stuff needed for babies, basic food, etc. But it quickly degraded into a frenzy of looting. Mobs of people entered any store they could find and carried off everything, food, clothes, TV's, appliances, even sofas. After not too long they started destroying what they couldn't carry and finally a few burned what they couldn't destroy. After the stores they turned to houses. Hence the barricades. It wasn't Chile's proudest moment.

Day 26

2010-03-26T11:57:00.000-03:00

We are finally home!
We arrived at the boat dock in Puerto Montt at 4pm as instructed. Actually loaded the car at 7 and went up to our room. Boat left at 10pm only one hour late.
Let's get this straight, this ain't the Love Boat. The RO RO Puerto Eden is an aging truck ferry that also carries passengers. But for us the $500 to carry us and our car was worth it as the only alternative is to drive 2 days through Argentina.
The good: VERY calm seas. Even the Gulf of Corcovado had only 2 foot long swells. This area is known for it's common 20-30 foot seas. We must have seen over 20 whales in the Gulf. Either Fin or Blue, I'm not sure which. And, of course, we saw lots of penguins.
The bad: Old, shaky, and noisy boat. Lots of steep stairs to get anywhere, not a great place to carry your luggage.
The ugly: Mouse droppings everywhere. We didn't pay the $6 for lunch and ate an MRE instead.
We arrived at Chacabuco 6:30 pm and got off the boat around 8. Made it home a half-hour later.
House is in fine shape, just like we left it but with taller grass and a full rain gauge.
Boy, it's good to be back.

Day 24

2010-03-24T09:35:00.000-03:00

We are now in Puerto Montt. The ferry leaves this evening at 9 or so but we have to be there with the car at 4.

We made it up to see our Mapuche friends, that was cool.
It had rained heavily during the night and when we arrived at the lower church no one was there. We headed up the road (used to just be a horse trail) and met some folks we know on the way. Rosamel about fell off his bike when he saw us. We all decided to head to the upper church together so we continued up the road with 5 people in the back seat and one on the back bumper.

We made it to the base of the steep trail that leads to the upper church. Too slick to continue so we climb the Very steep trail to church. Talk about aerobic workouts!
Of course I had to preach and after we headed back down to the lower church where I had to preach again. Didn't matter that Cristobal had just finished preaching.
Then we all went to the kitchen and sat around drinking Mate. They fixed some food and did the Mapuche Guest of Honor* thing with us. Later we drove Cristobal and Rosamel to Regoilil to do a little business. Got back and went to Cristobals house where they did the MGH* thing again.

We left that evening and we made it to Puerto Montt and have been finally able to rest a little.
We hope to make it home tomorrow evening sometime after 9.

*Mapuche Guest of Honor
Where they sit you at a special spot (usually the only table) give you a huge portion or all of the food and sit and watch you eat. No, you never get used to it.

Day 20

2010-03-20T09:20:00.000-03:00

Yesterday Rhonda and I went to Linares where we presented a report to the executive presbytery.
We all discussed what needs to be done now and how best to accomplish it. There remains much to do but it looks like the urgent need for our presence is over.

Today we will start the long journey home!

We do have one stop along the way though. Our Mapuche friends have continued to call us when they come down out of the mountains. Most calls include the question as to when we'll come see them again. I usually say when we're in the area. Well, this is about as close to "in the area" as we're likely to get so we plan to make a 2 day detour to go see them. We hope to arrive there Sunday morning just about time church starts, as there is no communication up there they have no idea we're coming. Should be interesting.

I'll let you know what happens when I can.

2010-03-18T11:24:00.000-03:00

Yesterday morning pastor David prayed with total sincerity thanking the Lord for allowing all of us to survive another night.

Day 18

2010-03-18T10:18:00.000-03:00

We are back in Concepcion for a couple days. I have been asked to give a report of what we've seen and learned in the Cauquenes area to the Executive Presbytery tomorrow. We're at Pastor Pedro Contreras' house and are able to get online today. I have no idea when we'll be able to connect again as we may be on the road. It is possible that after the meeting we will be able to head back to Aysen.

The last couple days we visited small towns North of Cauquenes and then went to Constitucion. Again, the small towns of mostly adobe construction were devastated. In one town of 70 houses only 4 survived. We then visited some houses out of town and were told that we were the first people to check on them. This was 18 days after the earthquake.

The town of Constutucion (pop 55-60k) is in real bad shape. The whole downtown area is like being in one of those WWII films of Europe. The ones where everything is trashed and they just bulldoze a path through the rubble. After the huge quake there was a huge tsunami. They talk of hundreds dead in this town alone.

This is how many houses in the country ended up

We gave out what food we had

Entire streets in Constitucion were wiped out

This man (a Christian) opened his business in his destroyed home

There were some caskets in the street. We don't know where they came from.

We saw large fishing boats 3 miles upriver.

Day 15

2010-03-15T22:42:00.000-03:00

I am able to connect to the internet for a little bit. We are in Cauquenes staying at the church. Pastors family, 2 other families, and us are sleeping in the sanctuary. Yesterday, today, and tomorrow we are surveying the region and seeing to the urgent needs of the people. The destruction here is very bad and we will give a report in a few days to the A/G executive Presbetry. Electric is still unstable with an almost nation wide outage yesterday and local one today. I'll try to upload a few pictures:

Store next door to the church

Down the street from the church

As people have no where to go many are making shelters out of what is available.

What the tsunami touched it destroyed

Two weeks ago this was a thriving coastal town

Day 13

2010-03-13T19:58:00.000-03:00

Today we traveled to Chillan and got some supplies. Tomorrow we plan to head back to Cauquenes, drop off supplies, and head to the coast to do survey. Communication is still spotty over there so we may be out of touch a few days. I'll update if I am able.

Day 11

2010-03-11T22:02:00.000-03:00

Today we traveled north to Cauquenes to see how the church fared. There were three 6 plus earthquakes during the last hour of driving. It was a surprise to us because we were driving on a bumpy road and never felt a thing.

The destruction we saw today was immense: ceramic roof tiles in piles of rubble, adobe bricks that became dirt and straw again, crooked, cracked, and crumpled walls everywhere. Pastor took us to the house where of one of the members lived. It is a miracle he escaped. All that is left is a pile of rubble.

We visited a family that lives out in the country a few miles from town. Their house looked like it survived from the outside. But inside it was obvious that it was about to fall apart. The whole family is living in a pole barn with a dirt floor where they store their truck. It is open so they were closing it in to use as a house. A tour of their home was especially unnerving after the three quakes a few hours earlier. Their case was very typical; houses that look fine from the outside are cracked and weakened inside. A small tremor could bring them down.

We looked at 3 towns in all, the first is about 40% destroyed, Cauquenes (60k population) is 50%-70% uninhabitable, and the small town of Coronel (2500 pop) is 98% uninhabitable. Many buildings that are still standing will have to be torn down.

We are going to try to raise some funds to buy tarps or plastic so people will have something to put over them. Winter is coming on quickly and cold and rain is on the way. We are very concerned for the conditions that many thousands of people find themselves in.

Day 10

2010-03-10T10:11:00.000-03:00

It's been 10 days since Rhonda and I left Aysen to come to Concepcion. We have no idea as to when we'll return, we'll just see how things develop. We have to weigh the need and what resources we have to work with.

Yesterday the team we picked up in Bariloche left to return to the US. Sunday I went to the airport here (now able to receive a few flights) and picked up missionary Rick Ellis. He was home for deputation and returned for a few weeks to help with this disaster.

Folks have been asking about our living conditions, I guess I ought to add a little about that. When we arrived a lady in Rick's church let us stay in an apartment building she has. We were able to use a nice apartment on the 6th floor and it did have electric and even internet! We didn't have an elevator, water, or gas but since we came prepared to camp if needed it wasn't all that bad. Yesterday we moved into Rick's house where we have lights and maybe gas. We have been able to eat. Lots of starch and little protein but have been making it ok. We needed to lose a little weight anyway!

The food situation continues to be difficult for many many people. Pastor Reuben told us yesterday that many families in his area are down to one meal a day. It is good to be able to help by giving them some food and supplies!

One story that stands out about food was on Friday. We came into town and drove up to Chiguyante to visit pastor Victor (age 72). We were surprised to see him standing at his gate and he looked very surprised to see a 4runner and pickup loaded with supplies pull up as well. A little later he told us what was going on. That day they had completely run out of food and his wife had sent him out to look for something to eat. With tears in his eyes he told us he had looked and had been unable to find anything and had just returned home empty handed when we pulled up. More than once we've visited a pastor and been told that they had just ran out of food.

Today we are supposed to get another truck in and we'll deliver it. I don't know where we'll get supplies after today.

Update

2010-03-09T20:37:00.000-03:00

More long days. Seems we're lucky to get to bed before midnight.
Traffic has become horrible. Gas is now easier to get and it seems everyone is out and trying to get things done before curfew. Add some bad bottlenecks on the roads, no traffic police, and a bunch of non-functioning traffic signals and you have a recipe for traffic chaos.
We've seen a lot of destruction these last 5 days but nothing has compared to what we witnessed yesterday in the town of Dichato. The town is closer to the epicenter than Concepcion and the quake was followed by a large tsunami. Locals told us it reached 20 meters high. I'll enclose some photos but they just don't do justice to the smell, desperation, silence, and shock that we witnessed there.

On the beach. All that is left of this house is part of the roof with an antenna still attached.

Houses without a good foundation were simply swept away.

A view down what was a street.

Looking down another street.

There are literally houses sitting on houses.

Many of the fishing boats were sunk or ruined.

This large fishing boat ended up close to 2 miles from the sea.

Concepcion moved 10 feet

2010-03-09T20:04:00.000-03:00

Got this from CNN today:
The magnitude-8.8 earthquake that rocked the west coast of Chile last month was violent enough to move the city of Concepcion at least 10 feet to the west and the capital, Santiago, about 11 inches to the west-southwest...

I well believe this after seeing the damage in the area. Above is a photo I took today of a railroad track we crossed on the way to deliver food to a church in Hualqui.

Sunday

2010-03-07T22:48:00.000-03:00

I didn't get to make a post yesterday, we left early and got in late exhausted. We drove down the the town of Arauco to visit the churches there. Both churches have damage and one may have to have a whole wall replaced. We then drove to Lota and returned to visit 3 more churches in Concepcion. We left food and supplies in all 5 places. We are constantly touched by the gratefulness of the people we are able to help. I'll enclose some pictures to help give you an idea of what we saw.

Driving can be quite a challenge, we had to carefully navigate our way through this broken area.

This section of road had fallen in near Lota. Note the car at the bottom.

Many people are staying where they can. We were at one place where 40 people were sharing one house, in this photo 10 families are staying at the church. They made a small oven (on left) and are baking bread.

In Arauco most of the population is living in the hills. Fear of more tsunamis has made them prefer to live in what shelters they can find or make than live in the insecurity of their homes. We went to one camp where over 2000 people were living.

At each church we try to leave what food and supplies we have. We will need to get much more and are hoping enough funds come in to enable us to meed this tremendous need.

Water continues to be a problem. People line up to get what water they can, be it a fire hydrant that still has a little, an old well, or whatever. We handed out what filters we had and hope to get some more in as soon as we are able

One thing has been constant, people have been very grateful for the help they've received!

Many of the lines for gas have been over a mile long. Yesterday we were trying to get back to where we keep supplies and encountered the worst traffic jam I've ever seen. Trying to navigate around and through that was near nightmarish. People were angry, frustrated, and even fighting. We made it past one section and were cutting around back when I spotted a gas station with one car at the pump. I thought it was worth a try and pulled up. I asked the attendant if they had gas and he told me yes and we could get as much as we wanted! We filled both the car and truck in just minutes! Not one block from there was another station with a line at least a half mile long and hundreds and hundreds of motorists in a huge traffic jam.

Friday

2010-03-05T18:21:00.000-03:00

Today we went around visiting more churches and families. We found one home where over 40 people were living. We went to Talcahuano to see if and when containers of help might be able to arrive.
While we were out it was obvious that life was totally changed for most people here. Driving was chaotic with people walking, on bikes, driving, army, police, fire trucks and ambulances all sharing very rough roads with very few traffic lights working. We also saw lines. Lines everywhere, lines for water, for food, and like the one below for gas. This line stretched for close to a mile. People are spending their day in a line to get something they need.

Not all houses and buildings are damaged but many are to one degree or another. Some look fine from the outside and are torn up inside. Some have cosmetic damage and others have to be abandoned at once. The church we visited in Talcahuano has cracks and one wall leaning. We will have to get an engineer to tell us if it can be saved or not. The photo below is of a street we walked down to get to city hall. City hall in Talcahuano had to be abandoned at once.

We won't know when we can get a container in for a couple days. There are 2 ports here, one is shut down for a long time and they are checking the other. We will try to get supplies from the US to this port as soon as it looks like the port will be usable. The photo below is of the bay and you can see the tsunami damage, boats on dry land, containers in the water, one fishing boat sunk. We saw a quite a number of boats and large ships on dry land and capsized in the water.

It does look like we will need to raise some money to continue helping out here. The need is great and help is urgently needed now and will be needed for some time to come. If you'd like to help please contact me or use the 'donation' link on the right of the page.

Steve

Concepcion

2010-03-05T09:13:00.000-03:00

We finally arrived in Concepcion after 4 days of travel. We did have to take some long detours due to bridges being down. The road was messed up in places and there are lots of small rock and land slides along the sides of the roads.
In Temuco we met up with pastor Juan Mella and we went to a store and spend a couple thousand dollars on food and supplies to take in with us. We packed both vehicles and made it to Concepcion in the late afternoon.
Once here we met with pastor Pedro Contreras and we waited in a line at the military base for over an hour but managed to get a pass so we could be out after curfew which is from 6PM to noon.
We then went to the town of Chiguayante. The pastor and family and parsonage are fine. The church building has suffered serious damage. They are exists a real possibility that it will have to be demolished. Next we went to a church in central Concepcion. Again, the pastoral family is fine and the church building came through in good shape. The parsonage is a total loss and we were surprised that no one died there.
We are experiencing numerous strong aftershocks, the last being a few minutes ago that was 6.8 on Richter.
I'm surprised that we still have lights and internet!
I'll post more as I'm able

Update

2010-03-04T07:44:00.000-03:00

First we want you to know how much we appreciate your prayers and support. I believe it has already made a big difference.
We are fine and in Temuco right now. After 2 days of driving we made it to Bariloche, Argentina and picked up fellow missionary Mike Files and 2 members of Convoy of Hope. We then crossed the Andes and made it to Temuco yesterday evening.
This morning we plan on spending several thousand dollars to buy food and supplies to bring in with us.
So far we haven't seen all that much damage other than some overpasses down and a little road damage. Temuco has most of it's power back as well.
Fuel might be a problem, gas stations are rationing what they have and many are out completely.
I'll post this right now and add more if I am able.
Steve

Travel

2010-03-01T11:31:00.000-03:00

After 4 trips to the port this morning I found out the ferry is completly full. Looks like we will have to make the long drive through Argentina.
We might be out of touch for a while, I'll do an update when I can.

Update

2010-02-28T18:05:00.002-03:00

Looks like the ferry loads tomorrow night at midnight. We should arrive in Puerto Montt 8 am Wed and could be in Osorno around noon. Ferry will charge us some $300 for the car and charges vary for us. Depends on what's available and how much we want to spend. Anything from a bus type seat to a small room with actual bunks. We will spend 2 nights on the boat if we go that route.

Update

2010-02-28T18:04:00.000-03:00

as I write this they are sacking the supermarkets in Concepcion. There will be little to no food or supplies when we arrive.

Travel

2010-02-28T17:56:00.000-03:00

Rhonda and I have been asked to travel to Concepcion (near the epicenter) and take a team from Convoy of Hope. We will see if we can take the ferry or have to drive through Argentina to get there.

Update

2010-02-28T17:54:00.000-03:00

La alcaldesa de Concepción dice que el mayor problema que enfrenta la ciudad es el desabastecimiento que hay en las casas, ya que al ser fin de mes la gente no tenía alimentos y los supermercados están cerrados. Incluso dijo que si la situación no se soluciona a la brevedad podría haber un estallido social. Afirma que ...desde Santiago no ha llegado ayuda, lo que calificó como una vergüenza,

The mayor of Concepcion says the major problem facing the city is shortages in the homes. Since it is the end of the month most homes were already low on food and now supermarkets are closed. She added that if the situation isn't resolved quickly there could be serious social problems. She assures that no help has arrived from Santiago which is shameful.

2010-02-27T20:06:00.000-03:00

2010-02-27T20:04:00.000-03:00

Update

2010-02-27T17:44:00.000-03:00

Please know that Rhonda and I are fine. The only thing that happened here was that we lost electricity for a couple hours and internet and phone service has been off and on. I do expect some interruption in supplies to our area so I went to the gas station and filled up the car and a 40 gal. barrel. The government was saying not to do that as there was plenty of gas but I went anyway. About 2 hours later we hear they are now rationing gas.
We are looking at the possibility of traveling north to help out in the affected area if we are needed. I'll try to keep you posted.

Earthquake

2010-02-27T16:56:00.000-03:00

3:30 AM today Chile experienced a major earthquake. They are talking of 8.5 on the Richter that lasted some 2 minutes. Damage is extensive and hundreds of thousands homeless. I will try to keep posting information as I can. In the meantime here's a link to look at some photos:
http://www.fotos.emol.com/?G_ID=13635#

The Throne

2010-02-19T11:23:00.000-03:00

Thought you might like the bathroom in our hotel room in Punta Arenas.

Baptism Aysén

2010-02-09T14:55:00.000-03:00

Last week the church here in Puerto Aysén had a baptism. We all went up the canyon about 25 miles from town and spend the day in fellowship and fun. Here's some photos I took to help you get an idea of how our day went:

Christmas cookies

2009-12-25T17:23:00.000-03:00

The kids all pitched in to help us decorate Christmas cookies.
Most of the icing actually made it onto the cookies!