Concepcion, Chile

Talk about a emotional roller coaster.... at 1:30 AM mtn. time I was woken up by the ringing of my phone. I immediately thought, no good calls come at 1 in the morning. It was my mom and she was very upset, she said "are you awake, honey are you awake?" "yes mom" I replied and she said listen...I heard a CNN reporter reporting that Chile had been hit by an 8.3 earthquake! I started to sob as my heart pounded and my mom and I both screamed into the phone "where is Christopher!!" over and over. My baby brother Christopher is serving an LDS mission in the Bio Bio region of Concepcion, Chile. I ran downstairs and turned on CNN sobbing as the only images coming in were of fires since it was still dark. I dropped to my knees to pray for my little brothers safety and to find the strength to inform my siblings and comfort my mom and little sister who were in shock.

I was glued to CNN for hours, looking for any information on Facebook and Twitter. My mom and sister have "friended" some of Christopher's acquaintances in Chile on FB and they frantically sent out messages for any information about his safety, but there still has been no response. The Church HQ knew nothing for hours and it was agonizing. What should I do? I wanted to jump on a plane and go find him but how so I did the only thing I could, I prayed. I Tweeted back and forth with a corespondent at CNN and 2 of my Tweets went National but we still received no news. No one had any information about the Bio Bio region.

Around noon someone at Church headquarters said that all the missionaries were accounted for but then retracted the statement, so frustrating! It has been a very emotional day to say the least. There has been no power, no Internet, no cell service in most areas of Chile and they don't expect it any time soon. At 5:30 tonight we finally got confirmation that Christopher has been accounted for! But we still want to talk to him or at least have a message from someone that has seen him and I am hoping that will happen sooner than later.

I am still praying for his safety and that he may find peace and comfort during this very difficult time. I still can't pry myself away from CNN and am always searching the web for any bit of information that I can find. Please keep him and the Chilean people in your thoughts and prayers and I will post updates when I get them. I love you Christopher and I am praying for you and hope to hear from you very very soon!!