Quaking a Bit on a Chilean Mission

Boy, do I remember earthquakes in Chile. One day we had finished our prayers and were getting ready for the day. I had finished getting ready and sat down on the bed. Boom, the bed started shaking so violently that it was hitting the back of my calves. The rest of the family in the house went nuts and were yelling at us from the inner courtyard. We both didn't know how to react. I think we were numb. I think fear is not the right word,

we had said our prayers and we were on a mission.

What better place to go through an earthquake?

Going out the courtyard we looked into the kitchen at the huge pot they used to cook up oysters. They hung it on a peg using one of the two handles. It was swinging in an arc fully 180 degrees from side to side. I admire that family so much because of their stability in trying times. The dad was an ex-mayor of the city. All of his land had been removed from him that he could not live on. He had five homes before and now he lived in his last remaining home. He took us out to the country to show us his holdings there. We looked all around as far as the eye could see on a hill -- it all had belonged to him. He gave it to various people who worked for him to prevent losing all of it.

He, his wife and his family were full of faith in liberty.

They lived a life exemplary of those founding fathers who formed our country. I admire his courage in the midst a real battle of territory and rights. In the midst of their own earthquake they displayed courage and fortitude. His children carried within them dignity and respect for human life and liberty. I think I carried back home with me a new found respect for those who gave us our liberty in the United States.