Chile Wildfires Update
In February, wildfires began burning in the area of Chile where Fellowship International missionaries Antonio and Hélène Bascuñan live and minister. Shortly afterwards, the Bascuñans joined with their local church network to care for those affected. In response, FAIR set up the Chile Wildfires emergency appeal which has already raised $6,200. These funds are being used to help with relief and rebuilding efforts within the local church network.
Today, we wanted to share some of the incredible details that the Bascuñans have communicated about the fires:
“Viña Del Mar is a coastal city surrounded by hills and a lot of people live in those hills. The fire started behind the hills on February 6th. With the winds and hot temperatures, the fire swept into the hills very quickly. There are some indications that the fires were started by arson.
“We work about 50 minutes away, but also work with the mother church in Viña Del Mar. From the mother church, eight families were evacuated from those hills. The houses of those families were not significantly impacted by the fires, but their whole surrounding neighbourhoods were. The sparing of these particular houses is a great opportunity to witness to their neighbours about the amazing ways God provided by saving their houses and cars.
“The BBN radio - Bible Christian Network antenna fell down, but missed the building, meaning the required repairs to become operational again are minimal.
“In Viña del Mar, there are two other churches ministering alongside the mother church. From those two churches, there are six families who have lost everything. Through the fundraising of the local church network and funds sent from Canada, the mother church has started helping the church members and neighbours in the hills who lost their homes.
“The Viña del Mar church is mission/evangelism focused. When there is a catastrophe (fires are common in the summer), the church is very well experienced in sharing the Gospel during a crisis. They do a lot of relief work and also share the Gospel a lot. In this situation, neighbours are surprised by church members’ homes being spared and are interested in Jesus.”
Please pray for the Bascuñans and the local church as they minister to those most affected by the fires in Viña del Mar. Pray that many would see the love of Christ in action and come to know Jesus as their Lord and Saviour as a result.