A Sigh of Relief

Sunday February 28th 2010 6:00pm

Saturday morning, I woke up and checked my email before heading to Plaza to meet Luis Felipe and head to the school to get back to our normal Saturday morning routine. When I checked my email, the news popped up about the earthquake in Chile.

The epicenter of the 8.8 quake was about 100 miles away from the region where I worked and visited about a year ago. I have lots of friends in Talca, and Curico, each about 100 miles away from Concepcion, the city that was the hardest hit. I was frozen when I read the news, and frustrated that I didn't have enough time to do more than send off a few quick messages and emails to my friends there checking in on them.

Once at the office/school, I headed to the computers to check for more news on the earthquake, but the internet was down, and I was unable to get any updates. Due to a surplus of teachers, I ended up not having a time slot to teach, and headed back to my apartment around lunchtime.

I was glued to the TV and the internet waiting to hear news and updates from my friends. One of those friends was my "gemelo" or my "twin" Freddy. I met him last year, and he and I became fast friends. I was supposed to go and visit before coming to Honduras, but due to a passport situation, I wasn't able to. Probably my closest friend in Curico is Erin Larsen, a former missionary who I went to Advance Conference with and who is living with her boyfriend for a few years in his hometown.

By 6:00pm, I hadn't heard anything from either of them, and decided to try and make some dinner and watch some Pushing Daisies to take my mind off of the situation. After a couple of episodes, I checked back, and found out from a Global Ministries update that our missionary partner Elena, and the staff at the Shalom Center (where I had been) were up in the Andes Mountains at the camp. They were largely unaffected by the earthquake, but needed to check in with friends and family to hear make sure that their loved ones were safe.

I tried to read as I waited for more news, but found my mind wandering off of the words on the page. I tried to fall asleep, but my mind kept me tossing and turning with thoughts of my friends.


Sunday

This morning, I woke up and turned on the news. As I watched the CNN en Espanol updates on Chile, I headed to my computer, where I saw a message on Erin's facebook page letting us know that she was okay. A few hours later, I saw that Monica, Freddy's fiance posted that she and her family and friends were okay too.

I exhaled.

I took some time to do some morning devotions, and decided to go for a walk after lunch. I normally head up towards Plaza when I walk anywhere, but this time I decided to wander in the opposite direction. I headed down the street in the direction towards a different mall, and wasn't really sure if I could actually walk to the mall, but decided that it would be my goal.

20 minutes later, I arrived at Mall Cascadas (Fountain Mall) and entered a vastly different realm than that of Plaza Miraflores. Mall Cascadas was air conditioned, and was some sort of a kid haven. There was a carousel, a train that ran around the second level, bumper BOATS on the first level, and arcade games at every corner.

What I noticed more than these things though, was that the smells reminded me very much of malls back in the United States. That may sound kind of weird, but scent is the sense most closely tied to memory, so I think it just popped into my head as a way of remembering home.

I walked back after a while, and took a much needed nap after a restless night of sleep last night. In the afternoon, I caught up with some emails and read for a while. I'm about to make some dinner over a stove that I have realize I take for granted. When people you love get hit by an earthquake, it kind of puts some of your life into perspective. I've got it pretty good here.