Hurricane Gustav

We evacuated with all of the missionaries on Friday, August 29th. The 3rd anniversary of Katrina. We packed as if we were never coming back. There is a levee 3/4 of a mile away from our house and the lake level on the other side is higher than our apartment level - and it has been leaking for a few months. We all went to the Baton Rouge Stake Center where they had a short meeting to receive their temporary assignments. We thought the opening song was perfect - "Master the Tempest is Raging". We were assigned to the Mission Home with the other senior couples.

The two wards that we have worked with evacuated to the Stake Centers in Alexandria, LA or Jackson, MS. It was their choice if they wanted to evacuate to a Church building and we heard they all had a great time in Jackson, no loss of power and lots of great food, games and movies. Some people even took what is called a "Hurrication" fancy that, new word for me. But sounds like a great idea. Some went to hotels and sat in the hot dark for two days before they came home and sat in their hot apartments for another two days, before the power came on. Some hurricationers went to Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee or Texas. They are all talking about going on a better Hurrication if Ike comes. Funny!

Can you imagine 85 people from your home ward evacuating in their cars 8 hours away to live together in a Church for who knows how long. The Armstrongs called us and said they were living in classroom 7. Oh, my!

As Gustav got closer it became apparent that Baton Rouge would take a big hit, so the Mission President worked with the Stake Presidents up there and had all of the missionaries in member's homes from Sunday at 2 pm until Wednesday morning. We had 17 Elders, 2 Senior Couples, the Mission President and his wife in the Mission Home. We lost power on Monday afternoon. He was very inspired in doing this, rather than leaving the missionaries sitting alone in their apartments in the dark to ride out the storm. There were tens of thousands of trees toppled or uprooted due to the high winds and their shallow root bases. There were 9 trees that fell just on properties touching the Mission Home lot. The damage and power outages were worse in Baton Rouge than to the area where we live. Of course, all of the coastal areas south of us are severely damaged and suffering great losses.

During the Hurricane the missionaries were running from window to window to watch and finally went out to the front porch to watch the trees. They soon were able to predict when they would fall and would cheer them on until they finally succumbed and fell to the ground. The soft woods would break in half, but the pecans and oaks would uproot and topple over in one big piece.

One of the miracles was the tree falling on the Mission Home Garage, not that it was a good thing. But the office elder over cars, Elder Sutton, had the inspiration to move the Mission van and Assistant's car just minutes before the tree fell where they were parked. He ran in and opened the garage door to get the Anderson's car out of the garage. They got their car out and the garage had shifted enough to restrict the door from closing. Later in the day, Elder Sutton told us that he was the "car czar" - too bad he went home this week and won't be here for Ike.

The next day we all went out and cleaned up the neighborhood by putting all the tree limbs, branches and debris next to the street for the city to come and pick up. It was so nice to be outside, even though it was raining. The missionaries had a blast giving service and came back with big smiles and very dirty clothes. Which they proceeded to wash by hand with the hose and hang on the makeshift clothesline made from of all things - extension cords. This is the sign of a true Eagle Scout.

We had the opportunity to go to Hattiesburg, Mississippi on Thursday to pick up Air Conditioners that would run on a generator for the Mission Home. It was a long drive and interesting to see how far away people were going to get supplies. We tried to get some things 100 miles away and they were still out. The only fruits available were bananas and cantaloupe. Amazing.

We came home on Friday to find everything fine with our apartment. No damage to the apartment, we just lost all of the food in our refrigerator. Sunday, we helped with the Damage Assessments sponsored by the Church for members in New Orleans. We helped give out Food and Hygiene kits as well as Cleaning kits. There are so many people that used the last of their money to evacuate and so they didn't have money for food. The Stake President is considering ordering another truck of food from Salt Lake.

It was interesting today when we went to Wal-Mart. Everybody is stopping and talking to each other. Sharing their evacuation stories and the current status of their utilities. The people are still just as friendly as ever and they love to talk and share experiences.

So now we watch Ike and continue to pray and prepare. We have our 72 hour kit and have practiced the evacuation thing once. The only thing we forgot to bring was our battery operated fans. Not to worry they are already packed for the next one. We were prepared enough that there was no suffering and very little inconvenience- plus we had a lot of fun at the Mission Home.

President and Sister Woods are great! We love them and appreciate all they do to make the missionaries feel loved. They have made some wonderful changes and the missionaries are happier, healthier and doing more missionary work.

We hope you will continue to pray for the people of Louisiana, many are still without electricity and water and food. If Ike comes our way, who knows what will happen. Many homes are waiting to get the blue tarps on their roofs and another Hurricane will just cause more home damage.

We love the Lord, love each other and love serving together. It doesn't matter what we are doing, we love to do it together.