Earthquake Update - March 1, 2010 AM

The following is an email sent to family from David's mother.

I just got an email from David with permission to call him, after several tries I was able to reach him. He is fine. They have moved out of their apartment for now--it is on the 14th floor and the ceiling in the hall is partly down. It was hard to hear everything--his voice cut out every few seconds so some of this is a guess--he will email with more details later. The inside of their apartment is fine but they are living with other elders for at least the next week until damage in the building is assesed, cleaned up ect. One set of Elders on the first floor have cracks in their floor and have moved out completely, I don't know if it is the same building or not. Those two were a little scratched up in getting out of the building. David said he was afraid at first but quickly felt calm. If I heard him correctly he said he realized if the building was coming down being on the 14th floor he wouldn't be able to get out. They could see the buildings around them swaying 3 to 4 feet side to side after it was over. He said he would not have been able to walk around during the quake it was moving too much. After the quake they left the building to look around and see if help was needed anywhere around them but people seemed to be fine--not a lot of damage where he is. They had a baptism yesterday in cold water since there was no electricity. For now they are just on a normal schedule. Some metro routes are not running but most are. It sounds like Concepcion is really the area that has been hit hard. David did say the stores are packed with people buying up supplies. It was such a relief to hear his voice and know what is going on. Three weeks ago the mission sent out instructions to all the Missonaries on the protocols for what to do in case of an earthquake specifically or an emergency in general so they all knew what to do. He had not heard that the Angel Moroni on the Temple lost his trumpet--that was in a Salt Lake City newspaper. Now I can rest easy but I will still be praying for those who have sons in Concepcion where there is a lot of damage and looting going on. Thanks for your prayers.