Chile Earthquake Update by Temple President Ted Lyon

We've had a bit more time to find out details since the big quake. Cheryl's letter, written last Saturday just a few hour after the quake, was written in haste and was never intended to be a full report, nor did she expect it to "go around the world" as it has done. We had only two hours of sleep before the quake, and then she had experienced several hours of anguish and fear, plus having to rush to take care of several very real urgencies and emergencies. She wishes that she could recall, and then re-write that letter, since it has been reproduced almost everywhere.

What might we say with a week's perspective? First, the damage is much much more than originally reported or we realized. For the first twenty-four or thirty hours the Chilean news media didn't even report anything on a tsunami here, but covered happy tourists waiting to film something in Hawaii! The tsunami, reported here to be somewhere between ten all the way up to ninety feet in height (quite a variation; averaging the two might make a safe guess), did terrible damage, perhaps killing more and doing more damage than the earthquake itself. The reasons for this slow reporting are somewhat understandable - all electric power, microwave towers, and other base ground works for communications were down. Bridges were (are) out, roads were impassable, and most seacoast boats had been washed high up on the shore, or destroyed. No one really knew anything. Some few who had satellite-link phones could communicate. It was night of course (full moon though) and no one could take a picture of the tsunami. All coastal towns that I know here have a good warning system (sirens, evacuation routes) for tsunamis, but people in isolated areas did not have this advantage. The damage is truly terrible. Here in Santiago not so bad, but there are thousands here whose homes or apartment buildings were so damaged that they cannot return. Almost all modern buildings stood up very well.

The LDS Church is doing something. A lot. We are working through established ward, stake and mission structures. And this is good - we indeed "cover the territory," and know how to deliver aid. The first aid has been to members but where possible, and where real need exists, has extended to thousands of others. For several days the government wouldn't let relief from Church headquarters into the country. And the roads to the worst-hit areas simply cold not be used. We have several bishop's storehouses set up in and near the Concepcion area; a mobile hospital, have sent tons of water, food, medical, blankets, clothing supplies from here in Santiago. We have an on ground rep with a satellite phone who keeps in touch. All our missionaries are safe; I wish that concerned mothers would quit pressuring the Church for details (as they have done so loudly; hundreds of calls every day to find out if Johnny is OK). Trust the Lord, the call, the setting apart, the mission president and wife. Actually, I personally feel that where ever possible the missionaries ought to be out on the streets, trying to help people, all people, and not just holed up in a safe chapel waiting to "report in." (I may get in minor trouble for that last statement, but hey, I can express deep-seated feelings here). So far we only know of one member killed, some 900 homes of members destroyed (that's a huge number, and will grow) and major damage to 40 or 50 chapels. Many chapels, even here in Santiago, suffered minor damage, but hey - being alive, you can live fairly well with cracks in the walls, and broken or missing ceiling tiles.

Finally (I say "finally" only because this letter may already be too long and no one really wants to read 'too-long' letters from too-talkative Ted): some surprises. We are used to minor quakes here, quite often. But when this one started, at 3:34 AM, I knew that it was more than minor, because of the noise, yes, the actual noise of the earth moving. Not only could I feel the sliding up of some distant tectonic plate, but we could hear it! Grinding, rock on rock. Then the noise of building shaking, really shaking as if it were cardboard in the wind. Then dishes and pictures falling from the cupboards and walls. The sound was frightening (and also Cheryl complaining in fear - I hate to see or hear her suffer anything). Time. Perhaps just a little over two total minutes, but paralyzed as were were, rocking back and forth on the fourth floor of a building that seemed sure to fall, time was extended and seemed to go on for hours. When will it end? How soon will I die?!

Will it be long, painful hours in rubble, with twisted girders and legs and ankles twisted and broken too? Hurry, end this all now! And then finally, peace, peace. The building stopped shaking and sliding back and forth, and peace came. We all rushed from the building, and gathered near the fountain between our temple patron housing building and the temple. People came from neighboring apartments and joined us. And "round about the temple" we "were marveling and wondering one with another . . . ." And conversing about the amazing thing that had taken place and the destruction, yes (or, yea), even the fact that we were alive, safe, saved. And only a few minutes later did I realize that we had all sought the temple, to be near the temple (III Nephi 11:1,2), to gather and find peace. And we did.

Thank you for all your prayers,

Ted Lyon

BYU Professor Dr. Ted Lyon has served as an LDS (Mormon) mission president in Chile. He has also served as the president of the Chile LDS Missionary Training Center. He is currently serving as Temple President in the Santiago Chile LDS Temple.

The earthquake in Chile moved the city Conception (population 300.000) three meters on the map. The city Santiago (3.700.000 people or 46% of Chile's entire population) moved twenty-eight centimeters in the same earthquake. With over half a million Latter-day Saints living in the country, the Church has a substantial presence in Chile.

"Safety for the Soul" Part 1 - Jeffrey R. Holland 2009

"Safety for the Soul" Part 2 - Jeffrey R. Holland 2009

Chile Earthquake: President and Sister Laycock of the Chile, Santiago East Mission

I am writing to let you all know how very grateful we are for your prayers, concern, and love. Please keep praying! We need the Lord's help and guidance in order to do all He would have us do to learn what He would have us learn from this earth quake tragedy, and to minister in the way He would have us minister. During the past few days, we have witnessed many events which serve to remind us that the Lord is in charge and that as missionaries and members of His church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we are performing His work, and as President Monson teaches, "When we are on the Lord's errand, we are entitled to His help." I want to share with you a few miracles that will help you to understand our profound feelings of gratitude.

When we were set apart for this calling, Elder Scott of the counsel of the twelve apostles taught us many important lessons. He spoke from personal experience when he was a Mission President in Argentina. One message that he shared with us is this: "At times, during your mission, you will be awakened in the middle of the night or the early morning hours with thoughts of specific things you should do for certain missionaries. Do not ignore these thoughts. They are promptings from the Holy Ghost who will communicate with you in the stillness of the night or the peace of the early morning hours. He will speak to you then because that is when you are still enough to hear." Elder Scott further instructed us to keep a notebook beside our bed so that we could record these precious promptings. He said that by the next morning, we would be likely to forget the promptings if we didn't write them down.

We have been astonished at the fulfillment of Elder Scott's prophetic words. We have received many promptings in the exact manner that Elder Scott described. We are so thankful that Elder Scott taught us how to recognize and act upon these precious promptings. Had he not taught us, we may not have given these promptings the attention they require.

Nearly two and one half weeks ago, I was awakened at around 4:00 AM by just such a prompting. I did not hear a voice, but the thought was as clear as if it had been in the form of spoken words: "There is going to be an earthquake. Prepare your missionaries." I sat up in bed and immediately remembered Elder Scott's counsel. That morning I told Larry what had happened. He immediately set to work organizing our missionaries to prepare for an earthquake.

In talking with our office missionaries to arrange for them to put together a list of everything we would need to prepare... in both Spanish and English... we discovered that the Lord had also let two of our office missionaries know of the possibility of an earthquake (in the form of dreams) and the need to prepare our mission. We set a goal and arranged our schedule so that we could visit every apartment in the mission to check for safety and to review with our missionaries what to do in case of an earth quake. What a wonderful experience we have had as we have met with them and shared scriptures with them about being spiritually and physically prepared. "...if ye are prepared, ye shall not fear" (D&C 38:30). We instructed every missionary to have a "go-bag" (36 hour kit). We reviewed our emergency action plan with them of where to go and what to do if they had phone service and in case they did not. We gave everyone a paper with all instructions in English and Spanish, and we reminded them that "this life is the time to prepare to meet God" (Alma 34:32-34). We shared with them our thoughts and feelings about the need for spiritual and physical safety. Some of them became frightened and asked us if we knew something they didn't know. We smiled and repeated "...if ye are prepared, ye shall not fear." We didn't want to unduly alarm them, but we did want to impress upon them the need to be prepared. We tearfully reminded them of our recent transfer conference where we had shared our feelings about our dear Elder McKay Burrows who was unexpectedly called home in January while serving his mission in Romania...how he was prepared in every way to meet God. We reissued our challenge to "be prepared" in every way. Then we knelt with them in their apartment and dedicated each apartment, asking for a blessing of safety and security to be upon every apartment.

When the earthquake came, we were prepared. We did not experience the panic that many felt. We knew we were prepared. Because of the words of the Lord's chosen Apostle, Elder Scott, we had listened and heeded the quiet, but clear promptings of the Holy Ghost. We were blessed with peace in the midst of chaos. We learned an important lesson: our preparation helped us to avoid panic and fear, but the Lord, in His wisdom, allowed us to experience enough discomfort to know that He has all power. He is in charge. We are nothing without Him. We are dependent upon Him for every breath we take. Only He can save us from death and destruction. He is the way, the truth, and the life. He is our perfect example. If we follow Him, we will be saved through obedience to the laws and ordinances of His gospel.

As the earthquake became more violent, the mission home groaned and wailed. The power died, so the whole city was black. The windows made a hideous screeching sound, and flying objects banged against swaying walls. The printer/fax machine, books, book ends, and fifty-pound television burst from the entertainment center and crashed to the floor, cabinets emptied, drawers flew open, the refrigerator moved, water sloshed out of the toilets, the floor jolted up and down as we ran across it trying to hold onto the walls to keep from falling down, and the piano toppled over like a small toy. As we made our way to the back yard, I remember thinking, "God is all-powerful. He is our only refuge from this horrible mess." I prayed and prayed for Him to still the earth. When we reached the back yard, we watched in terror. By the light of the moon we could see the swimming pool water form giant waves and crash out onto the rocks. House and car alarms screamed into the night... some from being crushed by falling debris and others I guess from the bizarre movement of the earth. I am not sure if the intense rumbling sounds came from the earth itself or from everything else that was shaking so violently. Finally, it stopped. When the calm came, we had to sit down because our legs were weak and unstable. My legs stayed wobbly all day and night yesterday. Today the muscles in my legs hurt like I ran a marathon. The aftershocks have been extremely unsettling. Each one begins like the one last night started. We just close our eyes and wait to see if it escalates or dies down. I have never experienced anything like this!

We were awakened this morning by a very strong after shock. Larry jumped out of bed and yelled, "Welcome to another glorious day in Chile!" We just had to laugh. We moved a mattress into the floor in our bedroom and made Landon sleep in our room. He was in his room with the door locked the night before and we couldn't wake him up. He never locks his door, but he was playing a joke on Larry because every morning Larry wakes him at 5:30 AM for seminary by tickling him unmercifully. So Landon had decided to stop him. When we couldn't open his door, in the middle of the quake, we thought he was trapped, so we screamed and banged. Landon thought that everything was falling off the walls because we were banging so hard on the door. I think we scared him more than the earthquake did!

Today, we attended a strong ward where Larry was invited to speak. The entire chapel and beyond was filled. People were so humble and so teachable. Larry taught the importance of doing the small things. He taught about Jesus Christ and the opportunity we have to love one another and to share what we have with others. It was a great blessing for us to be with these beautiful Chilean people. Some have lost their homes...or at least parts of their homes. But they are strong and they want to serve the Lord. He taught of the scripture in Luke 21:11,13 which says, "and great earthquakes shall be in divers places...and it shall turn to you for a testimony." He also welcomed the sweet young woman who was in the congregation with the missionaries...her first time attending church...and then he invited her to be baptized from the pulpit. He asked her to please invite us to her baptism, and she said, "I will." The Lord always knows what His people need. Landon was reading in Alma 15:17 today. He said, Mom listen to this. This is what is happening here in Chile just like in happened in Ammonihah. The people were humbled and "checked as to the pride of their hearts and began to humble themselves before God, watching and praying continually that they might be delivered from Satan, and from death, and from destruction."

Our hearts are filled to the brim with gratitude for all of the blessings we have received in the Chile Santiago East Mission. We see miracles every day. In the midst of great pain and suffering, we can always find our Savior. He stands with His arms open, pleading for all of us to humble ourselves and come unto Him. He loves us. He invites us to accept His gift...the atonement. He invites us to repent. He wants us to love one another and to serve one another. He wants us to bring our families and those we love to Him. We can do it. We can do all that He asks, no matter how difficult it may seem. "With God all things are possible"

OK, sorry this is so long. I will end now. We are having a devotional tomorrow for all of our missionaries to talk about the last week of Christ's life in preparation for Easter. We want to remind our missionaries to teach and preach with increased vigor and animo of Christ. Last Monday in our office meeting, Larry suddenly stopped in the middle, and said, "During the prayer, I had a very strong impression that March 2010 is going to be our best baptizing month we have ever had in this mission." Now we know why he received that feeling. We are going to prepare to bring many souls to the waters of baptism in March. Please continue to pray for us and for the people of Chile. Please pray for the missionaries to have strength and courage to do all that is being required of them, even in difficult times.

We are so thankful that the tsunami did not turn out badly in Hawaii. Who would ever think that an earthquake in Chile could threaten the shores of Hawaii? Thankfully, the Lord is in charge. He is the one to whom we must turn for refuge from every storm. He has the power to save us.

Con mucho amor,

President Larry and Sister Lisa Laycock, Chile, Santiago East Mission

Santiago, Chile Temple News

This just in from Sister Cheryl Lyon, wife of Santiago, Chile Temple President Ted Lyon:

... We can state unequivocally that we're fine. We can also state with the same emphasis that riding through that quake in our rocking fourth-floor apartment was for me the scariest experience I've ever been through!

I was sure we were about to die - that either the ceiling would fall on us or that we'd collapse through the floor. It truly was an emotion I'd never experienced before. My whole body shook for the next two hours, and after that I couldn't stop crying.

We didn't even have the presence of mind to get out of bed during the quake. I felt paralyzed, staring at the ceiling and wondering when the earth would stop rolling. It was the longest two minutes of our lives! We could hear things falling out of cupboards, and pictures falling off the walls. But the sound and the movement was the worst.

Our sturdy building held up fine. Just lots of dust and a few broken dishes. But elsewhere, as I'm sure you've seen on the news, people didn't fare as well. Lots of damage. Virtually no stores open. Most parts of Santiago still have no electricity. Collapsed overpasses have closed major highways. The airport is closed because of damage, and planes have been rerouted to northern Chile or to Argentina. Our new missionary doctor was to arrive this morning, so I don't know where he and his wife have ended up.

What a joy to walk into the temple and find it in perfect condition. We just had to close a few drawers and straighten a few crooked pictures. It felt so good to be there in that peaceful refuge and find normality. Moroni did lose his trumpet, however! That was the only noticeable damage.

How grateful we are for how well the Church takes care of us. We've often thought the 24-hour emergency lights in our building were excessive, but we were surely thankful for them at 3:30 this morning as everyone was evacuating the building - including the missionaries downstairs in the MTC. It was so disconcerting to get out of bed in the dark and stumble over fallen items in the bathroom. We got just a taste of what the Haitians have suffered, though their damage and deaths have been so much more devastating, even though their quake a weaker one. So far here they're reporting 123 deaths, but we assume the toll will climb.

We had to decide what to do about the temple. We had every session booked for the day, and wondered if people would arrive. We met with one of Ted's counselors - who had arrived at 5:00 for the early shift, as faithful as ever - and our registrar. We knew it would be difficult for the employees and workers to get to the temple and there was not electricity at the time. One faithful laundry sister came a great distance to help, but there was no gas for the dryers, so she had baptismal clothes from last night lying out all over the laundry.

The temple has an emergency generator which roars into action the second the power goes out. But we learned that it runs on petroleum which lasts only four hours. By 8 a.m. we knew we were about to go dark again, so we made the decision to simply close the temple for the day.

Then, just in the second that the lights began to dim, the power came back on! (We've learned since that we're the only section of Santiago that has power yet.) So then we decided to hold just one session, since we had three out-of-town couples staying in the hospedaje who were expecting to receive their endowments and be sealed today. We mustered all the missionary couples, along with a group of faithful sisters who work the late shift on Fridays and then stay over for the Sat morning shift. We had a most moving morning. The quake had brought such a sense of unity to workers and patrons, and the Spirit was amazing. I've seldom had such a moving experience at the veil - with three consecutive young sisters who were receiving their endowments.

Right now we're sleep-deprived, and Ted has already gone back to bed. The stress has left us exhausted - but we're alive and well! We're still feeling aftershocks - called "replicas" in Spanish. They're reported about 25 of them. One just rolled by as I was writing this.

So, that's the report. After some rest we may venture out and about to see what we can see.

Thanks for your love and concern.

Ted and Cheryl
President of the Santiago Temple