This last quake in Chile recorded as #5 in history.
The #1 world's largest quake was also in chile.
Check out CNN's map of the top 10 largest quakes on record.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Rest assured, this is NOT A SCAM
Below is a standard scam trying to get me to send money. What I found really funny was the "Note" included at the bottom. I just don't know what I would have thought if they hadn't included that!
-------
Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2010 06:32:44 -0800 (PST)
From: Western Union®
To: undisclosed recipients: ;
Subject: Western Union®
ATTENTION: Beneficiary,
Western Union® Welcome to Western Union Send Money Worldwide
Attention:Dear Beneficiary ,
There is an issue with the WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER in the amount of $750.000.00 USD United State Dollars directed in cash credited to file KTU/9023118308 at the owner of this email address.
The INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND contacted us for your compensation a couple of hours ago due to your allocated security code. They said that they choose to send it to an email address instead of a name. We are unable to complete a transfer directed at an email address, so we require some more information in order to complete this transfer.
FULL NAME:
FULL CONTACT ADDRESS:
YOUR MOBILE PHONE NUMBER:
YOUR OCCUPATION:
In order to resolve this problem, Please email via Western Union Solicitors Fund Verification Department: infobureau01@Safe-mail.net) As soon as this information is received and you have complied with the requirements of payment of the western union charges $175.00 USD, Payment will be made to your nominated bank account or at the counter directly from Western Union Transfering Bank.
Note: This is not one of those Republic Of Benin west African scams that all they are after is to ripe you off your money and at the end you wil not receive your funds, And note that this is not a scam and is directly from the Management of Western Union Money Transfer United Kingdom Head Office and our Motto is To Serve You Better. Contact us on our website on www.westernunion.com also note that you would be responsible for any payment that is needed for the transfer of your funds into your nominated bank account or at the counter directly from the Western Union Transferring Bank, According to the section 636(1) of the LPN CAF of the 1999 constitution regarding a contract/inheritance/compensation like you will have to make the payment of $175.00.USD so as to enable the purchasing of your inheritance files to prevent illegal transfer of your funds or any form of hindrance.
THE MANAGEMENT OF WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER, UNITED KINGDOM HEAD OFFICE. DISPATCHED THIS DAY.
Sincerely,
Dr.Bassy Roland Smith
WE ARE WAITING FOR YOUR UEGENT RESPONSE TO ENABLE THIS OFFICE KNOW YOUR ARRANGEMENT FOR THE PAYMENT. YOU CALL US FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THIS CELL PHONE NUMBER: +229-99 39 85 95.
Western Union®
Welcome You Worldwide.
www.westernunion.com
Send Money
-------
Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2010 06:32:44 -0800 (PST)
From: Western Union®
To: undisclosed recipients: ;
Subject: Western Union®
ATTENTION: Beneficiary,
Western Union® Welcome to Western Union Send Money Worldwide
Attention:Dear Beneficiary ,
There is an issue with the WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER in the amount of $750.000.00 USD United State Dollars directed in cash credited to file KTU/9023118308 at the owner of this email address.
The INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND contacted us for your compensation a couple of hours ago due to your allocated security code. They said that they choose to send it to an email address instead of a name. We are unable to complete a transfer directed at an email address, so we require some more information in order to complete this transfer.
FULL NAME:
FULL CONTACT ADDRESS:
YOUR MOBILE PHONE NUMBER:
YOUR OCCUPATION:
In order to resolve this problem, Please email via Western Union Solicitors Fund Verification Department: infobureau01@Safe-mail.net) As soon as this information is received and you have complied with the requirements of payment of the western union charges $175.00 USD, Payment will be made to your nominated bank account or at the counter directly from Western Union Transfering Bank.
Note: This is not one of those Republic Of Benin west African scams that all they are after is to ripe you off your money and at the end you wil not receive your funds, And note that this is not a scam and is directly from the Management of Western Union Money Transfer United Kingdom Head Office and our Motto is To Serve You Better. Contact us on our website on www.westernunion.com also note that you would be responsible for any payment that is needed for the transfer of your funds into your nominated bank account or at the counter directly from the Western Union Transferring Bank, According to the section 636(1) of the LPN CAF of the 1999 constitution regarding a contract/inheritance/compensation like you will have to make the payment of $175.00.USD so as to enable the purchasing of your inheritance files to prevent illegal transfer of your funds or any form of hindrance.
THE MANAGEMENT OF WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER, UNITED KINGDOM HEAD OFFICE. DISPATCHED THIS DAY.
Sincerely,
Dr.Bassy Roland Smith
WE ARE WAITING FOR YOUR UEGENT RESPONSE TO ENABLE THIS OFFICE KNOW YOUR ARRANGEMENT FOR THE PAYMENT. YOU CALL US FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THIS CELL PHONE NUMBER: +229-99 39 85 95.
Western Union®
Welcome You Worldwide.
www.westernunion.com
Send Money
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Claudia in CostaRica & Daddy hanging with the Boys
As you may know from earlier reports, Claudia flew to Costa Rica on Sunday and started a week of intensive work on her teeth yesterday. The original plan was for four crowns in three days and return on Thursday. It became apparent yesterday that that’s not going to be the case as they began a root canal but quickly decided to refer her to a specialist starting tomorrow to complete it. Thankfully the crowns have diminished by one, but with the delay due to the root canal the earliest it appears she will be able to fly back would be Saturday. One problem, there are no Spirit Air flights on weekends! So now we’re looking at a possible Monday return. Thankfully she is staying with two wonderful LAM missionaries and has made various other friends (including a Chilean neighbor who made her cheese empanadas on Monday!) Please keep her in your prayers as this is a painful process but one we hope will take care of various problems for years to come.
As for daddy and the boys, I am using up various flex days to be home with them, but it may come to some juggling by weeks end or Monday if it gets pushed that far out. The first 2 ½ days have gone well. Monday they got to celebrate a friend’s birthday party at Chuck E. Cheeses and I was at the office. They had a blast although it may take the birthday parents a little longer to recover. I’m familiarizing myself with the week-day meals, chores, home school, piano lessons, etc routine which I helped Claudia put together on paper, but had never actually walked it through prior to this. All I can say is that my wife is a saint (and I want her back!). Jeremy, Nicholas and I are enjoying the time together and they ask me each morning if it’s “church day” because weekends are the only time I’m home two days in a row.
OK, I’ve got to hit the sack before I fall asleep on the keyboard. Please continue praying for Chile, for Claudia’s dental work and for the boys and I as we try to make it through this week without mommy’s amazing care for each of us.
God bless!
As for daddy and the boys, I am using up various flex days to be home with them, but it may come to some juggling by weeks end or Monday if it gets pushed that far out. The first 2 ½ days have gone well. Monday they got to celebrate a friend’s birthday party at Chuck E. Cheeses and I was at the office. They had a blast although it may take the birthday parents a little longer to recover. I’m familiarizing myself with the week-day meals, chores, home school, piano lessons, etc routine which I helped Claudia put together on paper, but had never actually walked it through prior to this. All I can say is that my wife is a saint (and I want her back!). Jeremy, Nicholas and I are enjoying the time together and they ask me each morning if it’s “church day” because weekends are the only time I’m home two days in a row.
OK, I’ve got to hit the sack before I fall asleep on the keyboard. Please continue praying for Chile, for Claudia’s dental work and for the boys and I as we try to make it through this week without mommy’s amazing care for each of us.
God bless!
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Chile Quake updates
I just got off the phone with "Obispo Sanchez" of the Free Methodist Church in Chile. He reported to me on many of their buildings having been destroyed and "entire costal towns swept away" by the resulting tidal waves from Saturday's Earth Quake. Despite the suffering he did aproach this with a faith filled humor in telling me: "We have been raising funds to rebuild one of our churches and were about half way to our goal before the quake. But the Lord must want us to do it faster, because He decided to tear the old building down ahead of our schedule!".
I also received an very brief e-mail from our home church inRancagua Chile
I also received an very brief e-mail from our home church in
A quick update on the Abeggs.
Claudia to Costa Rica and Kevin as Mr. Mom (pray for the kids!)
This coming Sunday Claudia will be flying to Costa Rica for some “Dental Tourism”. She will be in San Jose through Thursday in order to get four crowns as well as some other work. Some have asked “Why Costa Rica?”. The answer is that even though we have to pay for airlines, room and board, we will still come out minimally $2000. ahead instead of having the work done here in the States. That’s $2000 we don’t have to come up with or can be used in other ways. Thankfully LAM has numerous missionaries, ministry partners and friends there to help if needed, and she may even be able to meet up with a short term team from Walnut Creek Presbyterian Church on Sunday before she’s had her work done. Please keep her in your prayers as daddy and the boys won’t be there to comfort and care for her in the evenings. Also keep Kevin, Jeremy and Nicholas in your prayers as we’ll be having a guy’s week on our own. Daddy will be attempting to fill mommy’s amazing role of home school teacher, primary guidance councilor and overall house manager.
Rotating Jobs at Latin America Mission
This week in between responding to calls/emails from missionaries and various Chilean pastors or ministries realing from the EQ, I’m also in the process of slowly moving offices. As you know my primary job at the LAM “Cuba desk” has been expanded to the "Ministries Department" and got a jump start with my Tijuana trip last month. Since then my inbox has exploded with correspondence from LAM missionaries and our ministry partners. My primary responsibility at this point is to maintain and develop the depth LAM’s relationships with our partner ministries. A few weeks ago (prior to the Chile EQ blogs) I included a couple of entries on some of these ministries and will continue to do so in the future in the hopes of sharing some of the international (and eternal) good news you don’t usually get to hear on your evening news.
That’s probably one of the things I like best about my current position. I get a spectacular vantage point for what God is doing throughout Latin America through Latin ministries in general and missionaries associated with the LAM. God is doing some exciting things especially in the area of equipping Latinos for ministry both in their own countries as well as abroad. LAM is involved with numerous seminaries, Bible schools and training programs throughout Central and South America as well as entire international denominations that take very seriously the need to have well equipped pastors, teachers and trainers in order to have well equipped healthy churches ministering to entire populations in need of the Gospel. Please keep these ministries in your prayers, and I personally ask for your prayers to manage well the responsibilities and quantity of work the Lord has placed before me.
As you know, this is a “temporary assignment” until we find the right person to fill this position. Similar to when LAM was seeking a new president and the Lord finally brought Steve Johnson to us, I ask you to be praying for the Lord to bring the right person to fill this position. In the mean time I ask for your prayers as I survey the Ministries department, consider changes with the LAM guidance team and seek the Lord for how He would have us position this branch of the ministry for the future. Once the Lord does provide the right person for this I will be able to step back into the role I had for a few weeks of developing the North American Ministries (NAM) department of LAM, something that is very close to my heart as well.
In the midst of what I could perceive as a detour on the road to the NAM work I desire to do, I see the Lord once again educating me. The NAM responsibilities will essentially be as a “match maker” or in essence “marriage counselor” assisting the North American churches to develop and deepen their relationships with their missionaries as well as the ministry partners they are working with in the field. How better to get to know the ins and outs of this than to first do similar work between these very missionaries and their Latin ministry partners? I may be slow, but I’m starting to expect the Lord to prepare me for what only He knows comes next!
This coming Sunday Claudia will be flying to Costa Rica for some “Dental Tourism”. She will be in San Jose through Thursday in order to get four crowns as well as some other work. Some have asked “Why Costa Rica?”. The answer is that even though we have to pay for airlines, room and board, we will still come out minimally $2000. ahead instead of having the work done here in the States. That’s $2000 we don’t have to come up with or can be used in other ways. Thankfully LAM has numerous missionaries, ministry partners and friends there to help if needed, and she may even be able to meet up with a short term team from Walnut Creek Presbyterian Church on Sunday before she’s had her work done. Please keep her in your prayers as daddy and the boys won’t be there to comfort and care for her in the evenings. Also keep Kevin, Jeremy and Nicholas in your prayers as we’ll be having a guy’s week on our own. Daddy will be attempting to fill mommy’s amazing role of home school teacher, primary guidance councilor and overall house manager.
Rotating Jobs at Latin America Mission
This week in between responding to calls/emails from missionaries and various Chilean pastors or ministries realing from the EQ, I’m also in the process of slowly moving offices. As you know my primary job at the LAM “Cuba desk” has been expanded to the "Ministries Department" and got a jump start with my Tijuana trip last month. Since then my inbox has exploded with correspondence from LAM missionaries and our ministry partners. My primary responsibility at this point is to maintain and develop the depth LAM’s relationships with our partner ministries. A few weeks ago (prior to the Chile EQ blogs) I included a couple of entries on some of these ministries and will continue to do so in the future in the hopes of sharing some of the international (and eternal) good news you don’t usually get to hear on your evening news.
That’s probably one of the things I like best about my current position. I get a spectacular vantage point for what God is doing throughout Latin America through Latin ministries in general and missionaries associated with the LAM. God is doing some exciting things especially in the area of equipping Latinos for ministry both in their own countries as well as abroad. LAM is involved with numerous seminaries, Bible schools and training programs throughout Central and South America as well as entire international denominations that take very seriously the need to have well equipped pastors, teachers and trainers in order to have well equipped healthy churches ministering to entire populations in need of the Gospel. Please keep these ministries in your prayers, and I personally ask for your prayers to manage well the responsibilities and quantity of work the Lord has placed before me.
As you know, this is a “temporary assignment” until we find the right person to fill this position. Similar to when LAM was seeking a new president and the Lord finally brought Steve Johnson to us, I ask you to be praying for the Lord to bring the right person to fill this position. In the mean time I ask for your prayers as I survey the Ministries department, consider changes with the LAM guidance team and seek the Lord for how He would have us position this branch of the ministry for the future. Once the Lord does provide the right person for this I will be able to step back into the role I had for a few weeks of developing the North American Ministries (NAM) department of LAM, something that is very close to my heart as well.
In the midst of what I could perceive as a detour on the road to the NAM work I desire to do, I see the Lord once again educating me. The NAM responsibilities will essentially be as a “match maker” or in essence “marriage counselor” assisting the North American churches to develop and deepen their relationships with their missionaries as well as the ministry partners they are working with in the field. How better to get to know the ins and outs of this than to first do similar work between these very missionaries and their Latin ministry partners? I may be slow, but I’m starting to expect the Lord to prepare me for what only He knows comes next!
What an amazing God we serve!
What an amazing adventure He has us all on!
Thank you for your partnership with us and your willingness to be used by Him both internationally and the daily ways He uses you to accomplish His purposes in this World.
God bless!
Monday, March 1, 2010
Chile Update
Again, thank you to all who have been calling, e-mailing and praying. Claudia's family is well. We managed to talk to Cristy on Sunday and Barbara today and Claudia got to web chat with Chabe a little while ago. We haven't been able to talk with her parents yet but know they are fine. We are also trying to get news from Reneuvo, our church in Rancagua. The YWAM base in Pichilemu is fine although we have reports that the waves caused by the quake devistated the lower lying areas. Please continue to pray for the needs in Chile, but do not forget the needs in Haiti. Although the quake was 500 times the strength of Haitis, the Chilean death toll is under 800 thus far. We grieve for those who have lost loved ones but thank the Lord for his mercy in sparing life. More soon.
For some of the pictures of the damage in Chile see CNN's site.
For some of the pictures of the damage in Chile see CNN's site.
Earthquake in Chile
First we want to thank every one of you who have called and written over the past few days. We managed to comunicate with Claudia's family yesterday and they are all well. We'll try to post more tomorrow. God bless!
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