We had a District Meeting at 9:30. Before that we went to
President Banchon's office to ask for a more complete map. The tourist maps
only show the part of the city near the water. He said we could get one at the
government office inside the bus station. We went to our meeting and the elders
had a couple of well planned thoughts and presentations. The presented the
mission goal of 600 baptisms in the month of April. March ended with 395. WOW!
The Quito mission was happy when they broke 200. We did a roll play and I was
the investigator. They plan to teach about keeping the Sabbath Day holy every
day this week and commit people to coming to church to participate in General
Conference. After our meeting Lewis
wanted to show them how to the identify the power poles to help in locating the
houses of members. We went to the home of the closest members and talked with Alexandra
Velez, her 12 year old daughter and her mother. Most of the mothers family
joined the church but they have all married non members and are less active
now. Lewis promised that he would give the booklet, My Family, to the 12 year
old when they come to church on Sunday and she was to start collecting stories
of her family.
The missionaries left to go to their lunch appointments. We went
to the bus terminal to get the maps. Naturally the man we needed to see left 5
min early and we had to return later. We got back to town after walking quite a
ways and had lunch at the kiosks. We ate at a Chineseplace but had the usual
menu del dia. We had a lentil soup that was very good. They we had a plate of
rice, a big vegetable salad that featured beets and a piece of fried chicken. The
chicken is always tough but tasty. Beets are not my thing but I can never eat
everything anyway. It was good. We went back to the Terminal and found that we
had to return to town and pay money at the government office in order to get a
map. It took even longer to get a taxi this time but we got to the government
office and they had a hard time figuring out what to do with our request.
Finally they were able to put it into the name of the church and charged us $19
for three maps. We went back to the Terminal and they had to print out the
maps. The taxi didn't want to wait. They didn't have the right sized paper so we
got a smaller version and you can't read the names of the streets. Ugh! Oh
well, we have three maps. We finally got another taxi after we walked back to
the edge of town and went home.
Lewis had an opportunity to get into MLS at 7:00 when
President Banchon had an interview so we went to the church with our computers.
I spent an hour writing an email to Nova Johnson about our experiences here on the
island. I was trying to reply to President Groberg when Lewis came back into
the room and said there is an Tsunami alert and we have to get to higher
ground. Flor came in with her husband and said pack up your stuff, someone is
coming to pick you up and take you up the mountain. It was a red alert and
fortunately everyone was concerned about the missionaries. President Banchon
knew where we were and asked the Pallacios to come and get us. The sisters were
near and returned to their apartment to get their emergency kit and met us and
hopped in the truck also. They had their two children two older couples and a
dog. The Elders were already up the mountain because they had gone there after
lunch. It is part of their area. Everyone was out on the streets carrying bags
and children. All the cars and motorcycles were full of people. Every pickup
had the back stuffed full of people. The tourists were walking out of town and
uphill. We were grateful to be with the Palacios who have lived here for a long
time, own a hotel and he has previously been the branch president. I felt confident that he
would make good decisions and we were very grateful that we were very well taken
care of. We would have been clueless because we do not listen to the TV or the
radio. The Palacios were telling us that the tsunami from Japan had caused damage and
this earthquake danger is about the same size but much closer. They predicted
the first wave to hit about 9:00. We went up to Bella Vista and went to the
home and tiny store of Rosa and her daughter Jessica who is at least 8 months
pregnant. They live on a couple of acres and sell the bananas that grow there
as well as convenience store items. They have a very tiny store with a walk up
counter. There are lights in and on the front of the store and even though they
are not in the little city they were doing very well selling water bottles and
food to all who passed by. We all
crowded around the front of their store. They had a radio playing that gave
updates and information. They brought all the chairs out from their home and we
were comfortable and enjoying each others company. We found the elders. They
were concerned about the sisters and had started to go back down to Puerto Ayora.
They were on the "chiva", the only ones headed in that direction. The
rest of the world was streaming up the mountain. They and the driver decided to
turn around. Brother Palacio picked them up at the park in the town and they
joined our little group. We were served crackers and soda from their store. It
started to feel like a party. They we laughing about trying to get down the
hill when everyone is rushing up the hill. They reported to the President our
situation and he asked for hourly updates until the danger was clear. They kept
moving the time of the first wave forward. Then they said that the first wave
did not cause damage but successive waves could be stronger. They said the
alert had been extended to Hawaii. Hope all is well in Honolulu. The President
advised that we stay there overnight and call him in the morning. Sister Rosita
served us all hot rice with tuna and onion that was surprisingly good. She
apparently has another house and she really had to scrounge to feed all of us
here. I hope I am prepared to serve others as graciously as she served us when
we were the refugees. We chatted for a long time and went down to the house to
go to the bathroom and tried to get a bit comfortable for the hours ahead. It
wasn't cold but it was cool and breezy. It was near midnight and Brother
Palacio returned and said he had found a five star hotel for all of us. Brother Tite of the Branch Presidency has a new building
on his property that he finished this week (except for the bathroom on our
floor) there in Buena Vista. It will be a government office but tonight it was empty
and clean and they scrounged up three mattresses and three pillows and we were
delighted. Lewis kept President Tite talking for the longest time about how everything was
constructed and exactly what each thing cost. He was delighted to tell him all
the details. Our situation didn't exactly fit the white missionary handbook but
the six of us slept safely and were quite comfortable. The Palacio family was
on the floor above us. It was a long wait to go to the bathroom in the morning
at the house next door but we felt so cared for and blessed during our
adventure with a "red alert tsunami evacuation" in the Galapagos.
Lots of love from the grateful missionaries in Santa Cruz, Galapagos
Lewis and Jeri Pettingill
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