LDS Church assessing quake damage

Eileen Swenson of Sandy, whose son, Steven, is serving in Ica, Peru — one of the areas identified as being hardest hit by the quake — said Thursday she had heard only briefly from her son before the line went dead. She said she had contacted the mission office in Peru and missionaries in Ica had been out clearing rubble all day. An e-mail forwarded from another missionary, Elder Jacob Frietz, read in part, "I don't have much time. ... We were hit hard here ... with this huge earthquake. There were a lot of deaths but not here — a lot in Ica, Chincha, Pisco and Canete." Elder Frietz wrote that he was teaching a lesson at the time of the quake, "explaining the Plan of Salvation ... when we were talking the Earth started shaking."

The missionary and his companion then went looking for church members and people who have listened to the missionary lessons, and "thankfully everyone was good," he reported.

Swenson said she regularly communicates with other mothers of missionaries serving in Peru, and they spent Wednesday night comparing notes and hoping for more information.

April Ellsworth in Mesa, Ariz., said when she talked with LDS Church headquarters Thursday seeking word about her son, Elder Pace Ellsworth, she was told the missionaries were safe and had been "moved to the MTC (Missionary Training Center) in Lima."

Tami Sorensen of Tullahoma, Tenn., said she received a call from her son, Elder Glenn Sorensen, on Thursday. He is serving in Lima. Tami Sorensen said "it was pretty shaky but he's OK and his companions are OK. They were just sitting down to dinner when it started. At first they told them to stay in the apartment after the quake happened and not to go anywhere, but later they were told to go about their daily activities."

She said her son was joking a bit about the quake, saying when things started shaking, he looked at the Peruvian elders he was eating with and said, "'Are we going to die?' They said they didn't think so, but they got up and ran outside," while her son stood in a doorway.

Elder Sorensen also sought out investigators, one of whom hadn't yet been baptized but "wanted to talk about baptism during their next lesson," she said.

David Urtilla of South Ogden was in contact with the LDS district president in Pisco, where the LDS Church was one of few undamaged buildings.

"Last night, the charge was to pack people who didn't have a place to sleep," Urtilla said. "He said they didn't have water or electricity ... It is very bad."

Michael Arce-Rivera, 15, hadn't reached his father in Lima by midday Thursday, though after several tries he had managed to reach a cousin in Peru, who related that his father was OK, but he still hadn't located a sister.

At lunch hour, the El Chalan restaurant owned by Arce-Rivera's mother, Sara, was nearly deserted, news of the quake played on the television.

Arce-Rivera's uncle Alberto Rivera figured that like Sara, people were likely at home trying to get through to Peru.

"My mom couldn't get through," Arce-Rivera said. "She's worried. We've only talked to my cousin.

Community advocate Tony Yapias, orginally from Junin, Peru, said attempting to reach loved ones was a harrowing experience for everyone.

�Most of us were devastated, frantically trying to call our families and friends to no avail," Yapias said. "There was a lot of confusion last night."

He has yet to hear from a second cousin, who is a police officer in Pisco. Yapias' mother, Tomasa Conteras, said relatives related to her that the quake ripped telephone poles back and forth.

"I don't know what happened, we don't have any communication," she said. "It's bad, bad."

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