Our experience with the typhoon brought out the best in our missionaries and also the Saints here. We had asked our missionaries to be prepared with extra water, food, batteries and cash. Some moved to areas of higher ground and by Sunday evening, we were all settled in with contact information and plans in place. Most of us heard the storm at some point during the night, but because it ended up taking a different track, it was over by about 9 AM. The places north did not receive much wind or rain. But the southern portions of the mission were a different story.
Four of our Sisters in Almaguer live in the same house. They were awakened by the wild wind and rain of the storm during the night and watched for awhile, then slept again until about 5 AM. By 9, it appeared that it was finished--the wind died down, the rain stopped, and the water on the streets went away. At around 10, though, their Branch Mission leader called and told them to leave their house and head for the church because flood waters were headed their way. They grabbed their 72 hour kits (prepared Sisters!) and headed for the church in water up to their calves. But a few minutes later, the Branch President called and told them to turn back as the church was already flooded with chest high water. As they turned around, they saw the retaining wall around their housing area break, and the flood came. They had to run and the water was catching up. Fortunately, a vegetable truck was close by and they flagged it down. They were helped upon it while it was still moving in order to stay ahead of the flood. They made it out of the neighborhood to higher ground. As they looked down on their street, all they could see were the tops of people's heads. Members of the branch took them in for the rest of the day. At about 5 PM, when the water was down, they went to the Church, to see who might need their help and spent time bucketing water out of homes. Then they returned to their own. The water had been chest high inside and left behind 2 inches of sticky mud and everything tipped over. Members helped clean out the mud and the Branch President took them to his home for the night. The next day, Elder and Sister Mills (one of our Senior Couples) came with our two housing Elders and they all cleaned the entire day. Everything is back to normal now, with many tender mercies and miracles along the way.
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| Sisters Morales and Peckham |
Sisters Morales, Broqueza, Peckham and Clyde with their 72 hour kits
The flood
The flood next to the church, which you can see on the left-hand side of the picture
Other Elders and Sisters experienced loss of electricity, bridges out, cell towers down, and also flooding. But the members here have watched out for and over them, and all are well. We are deeply grateful for the many faithful prayers and acts of kindness here and in the States. We came through this first experience thanks to counseling together and having plans in place. We also learned where our gaps were and are even better prepared.
We are thankful for our steady, faithful, calm missionaries--who are teaching every day how the gospel of Jesus Christ shows us the way to weather the storms of life and find joy in the journey.
