Earthquake Relief Fund

Hey folks,

We are sending out a request to join Peru Mission in collecting aid to send to the earthquake victims in central-south Peru. It was reported by Peru's National Civil Defense Institute (INDECI) that "16,669 homes have been destroyed. Reports are for the areas of Ica, Lima, Junín and Huancavelica. It was also reported that 9 highways, 8 hospitals, 4 churches, 2 schools and 2 hotels have been destroyed."

Below is some information on how you can help. Our plan is to send the first wire of funds from the states this Thursday, followed by another wire 10-14 days later. Thank you for your participation, and please continue to pray for those affected and for the Gospel & the Church of Jesus Christ to shine at this moment.

Grace & Peace,
John

[You can view the original Peru Mission e-bulletin here.]

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

As many of you know, a massive 7.9 magnitude earthquake struck Peru Wednesday evening at 6:40pm, killing hundreds in the southern cities of Pisco and Ica. One church in Pisco collapsed during a memorial service, which alone has left an estimated 200 dead.

The quake thankfully did little damage in the capital city of Lima 90 miles away, a city of nearly 10 million where many more might have perished. The mission's own RUF pastor John Ferguson, with his wife Heather and their children Colton, Jason, Justin, Kevin and Miranda, and our SALI director Caleb Sutton, all happened to be in Lima at the time and experienced some of the panic that occurred there. In northern Peru where our mission works, we felt the tremor, but did not suffer any damage.

The quake thankfully did little damage in the capital city of Lima 90 miles away, a city of nearly 10 million where many more might have perished. The mission's own RUF pastor John Ferguson, with his wife Heather and their children Colton, Jason, Justin, Kevin and Miranda, and our SALI director Caleb Sutton, all happened to be in Lima at the time and experienced some of the panic that occurred there. In northern Peru where our mission works, we felt the tremor, but did not suffer any damage.

The people of Peru are responding to the disaster and sending aid to the affected regions. As a mission, we will also be sending aid through the local church and/or the National Evangelical Council of Peru, which has already taken steps to collect needed items. If you would like to give to our brothers and sisters in need, you may send your contributions to the following address:

Christian Missionary Society
Re: Earthquake Relief Fund
PO Box 53363
Knoxville, TN 37950-3363

We will pledge to use 100% of any contributions received by Thursday, August 23 toward buying emergency supplies for those left without water, electricity or shelter, and 100% of any contributions received afterward toward ongoing care of the victims of this natural disaster.

Thank you again for your prayers.

In His Grace,
the Peru Mission team

We're all fine after the Earthquake in Peru

We wanted to give you an update on the 8.0-magnitude earthquake that hit Peru last night. As of this writing, some 337 have been confirmed dead and some 1,350 injured, mostly from the region south of Lima. The death toll is expected to rise.

We have just arrived back home from Lima where we spent a few days on vacation. We were in Lima last night on the 6th floor of an 8 story hotel when the earthquake struck. We were getting ready to go out to eat at Chili's (our favorite home away from home restaurant in Lima and a little taste of Texas!) and Heather had just entered the bathroom to freshen up. I was checking out the news on the TV when the bed started shaking. My first thought was that a couple of our kids had started started wrestling on the bed. That's when Kevin yelled, "It's an earthquake!"

It was pretty freaky. I gathered the kids to stand under a door frame. We probably should have made a run for it outside but the building was moving so much that I didn't think my five kids could have maneuvered the six flights of stairs (plus Heather had been sick throughout our vacation). Things were falling off shelves, lights were swaying, our legs felt like jelly--as if we were on a boat that was rising and falling, and we had sensations of being dizzy and disoriented. I can only imagine what the building looked like from outside.

The whole thing lasted about five minutes, maybe longer, maybe less. At one point it eased and I thought it was passing, but then a second more powerful wave hit. That's when I started getting scared not knowing how this was going to play out. As soon as it was over, we ran down the stairs. On the way down, we saw plaster that had fallen from the ceiling. Most buildings didn't suffer damage in Lima, but some lost some windows, some small concrete pieces & rubble had fallen, especially where buildings connect to each other.

FoxNews is reporting that this quake struck about 90 miles SE of Lima and 25 miles down. A couple little cities called Ica and Pisco took a severe hit where most of the casualties occurred. We had planned on visiting this Ica to see the famed sea lions that live on the coast there, but we never got around to making the arrangements for that leg of the trip so we ended our trip a day early.

For those who don't know, we live in Trujillo which is about an hour flight north of Lima (or a nine hour bus ride which we took last night), so most of the tragedy is occurring on the opposite side of the country from us.

For more info, check out these news reports: FoxNews Photo Essay, Breitbart, 24 Dash & CNN.

Thanks for the emails & voice messages! Please pray for Peru, & especially for the Church of the Lord Jesus in central and southern Peru.