KANSAS CITY, Kan. — On Saturday morning, a family of five originally from Kansas City, Kansas, found themselves in the midst of destruction, as a 7.8 magnitude earthquake rattled their home in Nepal.
Drew and Lauren Timberlake went to Nepal with their three kids about a month ago to help refugees. But on Saturday morning their mission changed from helping refugees to pulling quake victims from the rubble.
“I love you and we’re safe,” said Lauren Timberlake in a voicemail left on her parents phone. “We’ll talk soon. Bye.”
On Saturday, Shirley Posladek and her husband Glen have listened to this voicemail countless times. The voice of their daughter on the other end reassuring them she and her family are alive and safe.
“There’s joy and then there’s horror,” said Shirly Posladek. She says that they turned their kitchen counter into a control center, constantly checking the web for updates and seeing headlines that read “nearly 1,500 dead.”
Then, their phone rang again and they heard their daughter’s voice.
“She said ‘Mom, I’m okay’,” said Shirly Posladek.
She says her daughter was in a field huddling around her three children, trying to avoid power lines.
“She put it on speaker and she said there is lots fear around me…lots of people that are very very afraid,” said Shirly Posladek, who tried her best to reassure her daughter everything was going to be okay.
“Her husband was helping the neighbors at buildings that had fallen down,” she says. “He was able to help with others and pull two toddlers out of a building that had collapsed.”
The news didn’t come as a surprise to the Posladeks. They say it’s in the Timberlake’s nature to put everyone else first. Their dauughter works for Mission Adelante in Kansas City, Kansas, helping refugees in the area. It’s why she and her family of five went to Nepal in the first place.
“They got involved in that about five or six years ago because they just had a heart for people,” said Shirly Posladek, who says that the Timberlake’s home is now no longer safe because of the quake. “The buildings are concrete. There are shocks all the time. Once you’ve escaped you don’t wanna go back in.”
They’re now living in the hallway of a Nepal building but instead of escaping, the Timberlakes are staying put and continuing their mission.
“They have great hearts, we couldn’t be prouder,” said Shirly Posladek.
The Timberlake’s have a blog documenting their experience. Click here to read more.