Go
gators!!!
Hello everyone, I’m alive, I
survived!!
This last week has been so bizarre
but it was also a week of miracles and blessings!!! for anyone that didn’t see
the news this past week....a category 4 hurricane(hurricane Matthew) hit
Florida on Friday.
As missionaries we don't get to watch
the news or listen to the radio or anything, so we really had no idea what was
coming. We were doing service for a member on Tuesday and they asked us if we
had boards to put on our windows. We were super confused and said no and they
were like, "Well what are y'all doing to get ready for the
hurricane??" We started freaking out hahaha. We called some other
missionaries and finally found out what was happening. We had a mission wide
conference call that night and they told us that they would be evacuating all
of the costal cities (like St. Augustine) and that we would be sent to a city
called Palatka (about 40 miles west).
A tree down in the road in front of
one of our investigators house
Going into this we knew our apartment
was not the most weather proof...we've had some flooding with tropical storms
and we were positive it was going to flood with a hurricane. We moved all of
our stuff up into closets, took our valuables with us, and pushed our
mattresses up against the windows. It was hard because we weren't being told a
lot about the severity of the hurricane (probably so we wouldn't freak out). So
we didn't really know what we were doing or how much to pack so it made
everything super stressful. Once we made it to Palatka on Wednesday we were
there for about 2hrs when our zone leaders called and said we were being
evacuated again. We had the choice of sleeping in a church building for two
days with no beds or food or driving all the way to Gainesville. We decided
having beds and food was worth the drive hahaha. We were so blessed to have this
amazing member in Palatka take all 6 sister missionaries to Gainesville then
they drove all the way back to pick us up. The members here rock.
Seriously.
Elder McConkie helping on the roof.
The tree landed on this ladies trailer and we helped haul it off
We spent all of Thursday and Friday
in Gainesville and we stayed with this amazing senior couple named the Bookers!
They are from Utah and are serving here in the U of F institute (religion
classes for college students). We got to go hang out with them at the institute
on Thursday and it was super fun! We walked all around campus and we saw some
of the people Sister Fotheringham taught when she served there!! It was weird
to be away from St. Augustine for so long but it was also a nice change of
pace. Friday we were on hurricane watch and were told to stay inside all day. It
was really weird because it was my first kind of normal day since I’ve been a
missionary lol. We did our studies in the morning, planning for the upcoming
week, and then we just watched church movies and napped the rest of the day. It
was really weird haha but kind of nice!
What used to be a grass field is now
a swamp. Flooding in Florida
Saturday we were able to head back to
St. Augustine!! The whole drive back we were terrified that our apartment had
blown away. When we got home there was only a tiny bit of flooding and all of
our stuff was okay!! Other than the carpet there was no damage. This was a MIRACLE!
There was so much flooding in St. Augustine and other apartments in our complex
had some serious damage. We were so thankful and knew heavenly father had
blessed us. The rest of the day Saturday and all day on Sunday we were out
helping members clean up their yards and houses. Some members had up to 3ft of
water get into their houses. It was so hard to see some of the awful aftermath
of the storm, but it was also amazing to see the strong faith of the people in
the south!! Saturday night we were helping a lady who'd had a massive tree fall
on her house. We were hauling off branches and cleaning up and she just kept
saying "I can still see God in all of this. He's always blessing me."
she had lost so much but she knew God hadn't left her alone in this hard
time!!! It was so sweet I wanted to cry.
I loved this scripture when I was
thinking about this last week.
Matthew 7:25-“And the rain descended,
and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell
not: for it was founded upon a rock.”
Life is super hard sometimes. We
might not lose everything we have in a hurricane, but we will all face those
impossible and heart breaking trials. I know that if we have a solid foundation
in Jesus Christ we will be able to withstand all the rain, and the floods, and
the winds, and the hard and scary things.
I love y'all so much!! Have a blessed
week <33
xoxo
Sister Morrow
Cleaning up at a members after the hurricane.
Snug at two bugs at the Booker's