Reconstruction begins to move

In September, Chile celebrated two hundred years of independence, and spring was never more welcome than in 2010.  It was a winter with exceptionally complicated respiratory infections for many... I was down 15 days with a sinus infection.  But it was particularly hard for the churches who had lost their buildings to February's magnitude 8.8 earthquake.  Churches wrestled with plans, permits, weather and in some cases, discouragement, while some faced the challenges of overcoming their personal losses.  Only recently have things begun to move on church construction.

The work of demolition is finally moving ahead quickly in Cerro Alto, Los Alamos and Arauco.  In Talca, the municipality graciously tore down the remnants of their buildings and cleared the site of rubble, saving the church thousands of dollars that can now be used for reconstruction.  The best news so far is that in Curicó they are building.  They hope to be using (the first stage of) their new building by the end of November!  They have received help from the national church, CAMA Services and the Hillside Church of Denver.

We have just learned that the Hualpén church of Concepción, after a lot of prayer and consultation with building professionals, has decided that it would not be wise to repair their severely damaged building.  They will tear it down, making a final total of six Chilean Alliance churches that must rebuild from the ground up.  The church in Hualén is currently meeting in a fire hall on Sundays and the local fire captain has accepted Christ.

The prayers, gifts and encouragement from Christians around the world continues to be a boost to the pastors and church members.  Thank you for remembering those who are rebuilding.