( 02-09-2010 by Andrew Mathewson – Javier Garcia)
The families of the 33 miners trapped underground at the San José mine in northern Chile have been presented with personalised copies of the New Testament by the Chilean Bible Society.
Also present were Alfredo Cooper, the Evangelical Chaplain to the palace of the President, and Eduardo Duran, the pastor of the Evangelical Cathedral of Santiago, a mega-church in the capital with a weekly attendance of 45,000, as well as pastors from the district of Copiapó, a town about 45 km (28 miles) south of the mine.
The inscription in each New Testament includes the name of each miner and reads: «Good books should be in good hands. The Chilean Bible Society would like to present […] and his family with this copy of the New Testament, in the hope that it may be light and guidance for your life. God bless you.”
On the windy hillside just above Camp Hope where the families are keeping their vigil stands a row of 33 Chilean flags, each with the name of a miner inked onto it. And on the stony ground at the foot of each flagpole are a jar containing a candle and a card with a prayer for the miner offered by his family who await a safe rescue in what the government predicts will be three to four months’ time.