Earthquake in Peru

I woke up this morning to a flurry of emails asking me about Peru's natural disaster. A powerful 8.0 earthquake hit 165 miles south of Lima, near the city of Ica & Pisco. The death toll is now over 330. Pisco is reported to be destroyed by 80%.

Two of our team members, the Fergusons and Caleb Sutton, were in Lima when the earthquake struck. I called Wes Baker and he said that everyone on our team is fine. Supposedly the earthquake was even felt hundreds of miles in the northern city of Trujillo. Here is a first hand account from Heather Ferguson:

"Well, we were in Lima - on a little vacation - in the earthquake - on the 6th floor of our hotel, standing with the kids in the doorway of our room wondering if we should make a run for the stairs or just stay. We just stayed until it stopped. I don't know what else to say right now - we knew it was a big deal, but we had no idea. Nothing came tumbling down around us. There were pieces of plaster in the hall outside of our room, but nothing major. Nobody that we saw was hurt - but Ica - wow. We had beeen talking about going to Ica during this trip to see the sea lions. We just never got around to planning that leg of the trip, so therefore, no Ica. Wow."

Also, Caleb reports his experience,

"I'm back, and I'm fine. I was in Miraflores when it all went down. It was kind of funny because I was walking and I didn't notice the ground moving until I looked up and saw the powerlines waving and shaking. When I stopped I felt the ground moving. My greatest fear was that the powerlines would collapse. God really protected that city."

Since we experienced a 7.0 earthquake in Lima last October, we know how scary it can be. Please pray that the gospel would have advance during the aftermath of this disaster.