Excuse my hair - it was windy. There was no amount of gel or hairspray that would keep it in place!
It was definitely an interesting week though. I know that the Lord was looking out for his missionaries.
We have been following Hurricane Matthew very closely, perhaps too closely, but as residents of the Outer Banks it would be dumb not to. On Monday it was doomsday for us! They were forecasting for it to be a Category 2 when it his us and the eye was forecasted to be a direct hit in Barco, where we live. Then all the sudden on Tuesday it changed to miss us entirely. Next to no rain and no wind. This didn't sit right with Elder Kingsford and I. Also on Tuesday, it got cloudy and windy and it continued like that until Sunday evening. But we still prepared like it was going to hit. The Government was still preparing and FEMA was still everywhere. They were taking down all the billboards and clearing drainage routes. On Thursday Verizon went down as a result of "pre-storm testing" and they were getting all the ships and planes out of the Military Bases. As the week went on the forecast got steadily worse. On Friday, we went down to Nags Head for District Meeting and several homes and businesses were boarded up like you see on TV. This whole time we heard very little from the Mission, so we both felt very uneasy about the whole thing. Then we found out that our safe house was with a couple in the Branch. We would ride out the storm in their guest house. At this time the forecast was calling for 3-5 inches of rain, so we didn't believe it. Then the forecast escalated quickly to 8-10 inches of rain and 40 mph winds. So we were very grateful for a place to go. We packed up everything Saturday morning and headed over. The storm didn't arrive until that evening, but man did it pack a punch. Our car we could see out the window was shaking and the trees were being whipped around. The house was shaking and rain was coming in the gaps in the window and door that was facing the wind. The power went out about midnight. No one got any sleep that night!
When we got up we decided to go and walk to the sound and see what the water was like. By this time the storm was mostly passed, but now I know what 60mph winds feel like! This is what the water looked like Saturday Afternoon,
and Sunday morning about 8.
I don't even want to see what it was like during the storm! From what we saw, all the waterfront people lost their docks and whatever was tied up to/on them. Possible windows blown out too. And there was water everywhere! On Aydlett Road, not too far from us, there was a 1/2 mile stretch that had flowing water across it, and it is still there this morning, but slower. There is going to be lots of cleanup this week! Several homes are flooded and cars were lost. Many people are saying that this is the most flooding they have ever seen here, and they have lived here all their lives! We were safe and while I was scared, I knew that we were safe. We are back in our trailer as of this morning, and we got power back about 12:00 last night (we think it was out for somewhere between 48-51 hours, I dumped the milk), but some people won't see power until Thursday! We were very blessed!
One thing that I was impressed with was that the Branch had everyone accounted for so fast! There were many calls going out and people driving by to see property damage. There is now a list of needs and within a month I am sure that everyone will be as back to normal as possible! This Church is amazing like that! And preparedness too. One of the reasons that I wasn't too scared was because I have a 72 hour kit and I knew that if we needed to bug out quick, I would be fine. So get food Storage!!! It is such a peace of mind. As someone who can check off riding out a Hurricane, I speak from experience!
Our investigator is still doing well. Phone service has been spotty all week so we are struggling to get a hold of anyone, but she is still on track for this Sunday! She had her baptismal interview last week and passed! We had to cancel our Monday meeting (she has a tree on her home and is part of the group that won't get power back until Thursday) but we will meet with her tomorrow and catch up! We didn't have church on Sunday (Surprise... haha) so we will be making a lot of visits to members this week to see what we can do to help!
We had a mission tour scheduled with Elder Bennett of the Seventy coming to meet with us, but that got cancelled because many roads are still impassable and all the flights coming into and out of Norfolk were cancelled. So that will be rescheduled. Bummer.
That is all I have to share this week! I love you all and am so grateful for you all!!
I love you!
Elder Ciminski
