The Master of Ocean and Earth and Skies

Today we are soon leaving for a ward temple trip to Santiago.  There has been a drought in this area and our Stakes in Valparaíso have fasted and prayed for rain.  We had four good days of rain the first week of August and the area is still repairing areas from the storm.  The metro tracks are still closed between Valpo and Viña as they dig them out, the beaches in Viña need much repair.  The coastal road just after our turn to Cementerio3 is still closed. 

We sent this report to Grandpa Gibson of the rains:

9 August 2015                                                                         Valparaíso, Chile

Dear Dad,

Last week it rained.  It really rained – all week.  One day we took our regular bus to the cemetery.  When we left, all was quite normal, but as the bus got closer to the other side of the bay everything changed.  Dawn was just starting to break, and the whole city lost electricity. Even the traffic lights were out, and we could see no lights all up in the hills.

It was true!  As we arrived, there were only two others in the office and no electricity.

 One man had just come about 10 minutes earlier on another bus and a huge wave had pounded over the sea barrier and onto the road and the bus. He got wet to his knees and was talking very excitedly.  What?  He said the bus rocked back and forth as the wave hit them broadside, and he feared it would tip completely over.  The bus driver held onto the steering wheel for dear life (we rode his bus later, and heard him describe the action).  The bus door had been shut, but the force of the rogue wave blew it open and soaked our friend up to his knees as he sat in the bus.

 Here are some pictures of our trip back home:

Master, the tempest is raging!

 The billows are tossing high!

The sky is o’ershadowed with blackness.

 It was an exciting day with 4 hours without electricity and 2 hours without water.   …a strange morning with only the sound of a loud, strong, whistling wind which kicked up 10+ foot high  waves in the bay, and turned it to a muddy brown while rearranging the beach sand.

Linger, O blessed Redeemer!

 Leave me alone no more,

 And with joy I shall make the blest harbor

 And rest on the blissful shore.

 The Master of ocean and earth and skies....

They all shall sweetly obey thy will:

Peace, peace, be still.

Mary Ann Baker, ca. 1874 Text of  LDS Hymn,  “Master, The Tempest is Raging”

He was the Great Jehovah of the Old Testament, the Messiah of the New. Under the direction of His Father, He was the creator of the earth. “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:3).

The Living Christ: The Testimony of the Apostles

 

Of Him the Prophet also declared: “And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him: That he lives!

“For we saw him, even on the right hand of God; and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the Only Begotten of the Father--

“That by him, and through him, and of him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God” (D&C 76:22–24). The Living Christ: The Testimony of the Apostles