Families of Mormon missionaries serving in Chile were shaken awake before dawn Saturday with phone calls alerting them to the huge earthquake that shook the South American country.
Those serving in the nine missions of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were accounted for by Saturday evening.
"We have confirmed that all of the church's missionaries in Chile have reported in and are safe, including the two elders on the Juan Fernandez Island," said a statement on LDS.org.
Tony and Connie Reynolds' phone rang at 2:43 a.m. with news of the earthquake. The South Ogden couple's son, Chase, is serving in the Concepcion Mission.
"It was another missionary mother on the phone and she asked me if I had heard about the earthquake," Connie Reynolds said. "When I heard that the earthquake was 8.8 I thought to myself, 'OK. Haiti was 7.0 and Chile was 8.8 What are my chances?' I was on pins and needles all morning."
At 6 a.m., the Reynolds got word that the church office building in Santiago and the temple were both fine, but still hadn't heard any word on their son.
"We started calling church headquarters every hour and then every 20 minutes," she said. "At 10:45 we got word that Chase's mission was accounted for."
Tony Reynolds said Chase is in a town called Molina, about 70 miles south of the epicenter of the quake.
"It was pretty awful to see the images of the quake on TV," he said. "We certainly hope the members and the Chileans are doing OK. We know Chase loves the people of Chile and we have grown to love them through him. We feel for them and our hearts go out to them. We're sure Chase is rolling up his sleeves and helping the people of Chile right now."
Chase Halverson, of Ogden, is the son of Dave and Camille Halverson and grandson of Ron Halverson who is a member of the Quorum of the Seventy. He is serving in the Concepcion South Mission. Efforts to reach the family Saturday were not successful.
Jeffrey Stagg, the son of Dr. Neil and Ruth Ann Stagg, of South Ogden, is serving in the Santiago East Mission, which is approximately 200 miles from Talca, the quake epicenter.
"My husband had to be to work real early this morning and he called me when he heard the news," Ruth Ann said. "We went straight to the Internet and started researching and talking to others on the missionary mom Web site."
Stagg said Jeffrey's mission president created a blog site recently and is keeping everyone informed.
"We haven't heard from Jeffrey yet but as far as we know he is safe," Ruth Ann said. "I would love to hear from him. Just hear his voice."
Mark and Julie Tensmeyer, of Ogden, whose son Kyle is serving in the Vina Del Mar mission haven't heard any news about their son, but are confident he's OK.
"We are just expecting the best unless we hear otherwise," Mark said. "Kyle is in a rural area where there aren't a lot of large buildings which is good when there's an earthquake but I'm sure we won't hear from him until communications have improved."
Tensmeyer said his son and Skyeler King, another missionary from Ogden, are serving together in the same mission.
"They were best friends growing up and when they were sent to the same mission they were pretty excited," he said.
Mike King, Skyeler's father, said the family normally communicates with their son by e-mail and expects to hear from him today per their usual schedule.
Another Ogden missionary, Ben Buck, is serving in Rancagua. Efforts to reach his family were unsuccessful. However, the missionaries in his area have been accounted for.
Earthquakes are not uncommon in Chile, according to Manuel Navarro, an Ogden area resident and native of Chile.
"There have always been earthquakes in Chile," said Navarro said, who experienced his first earthquake when he was 5 years old.
Navarro is originally from Vina del Mar in the northern part of the country. He believes his family is unharmed, given their distance from the quake's epicenter.
"The worst is the panic. People don't know what to do," Navarro said. "People don't want to go sleep in their own rooms because they don't know what is going to happen next."
Lorena Riffo Jenson said Saturday afternoon her family is unharmed.
"We have been on the telephone all day and reading Chilean newspapers on the Internet."
Jenson said her family is originally from Concepción, but moved to Santiago, the capital, about 20 years ago.
Reporters Tim Gurrister and Jesus Lopez contributed to this story.
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