Hola y'all!
Well this was another interesting week thanks to hurricane Delta...
On Monday we spent pday in Leesville with the new district. Elder Teare had Uno Flip and that was super fun since I played Uno like everyday in middle school with my friends. Then we played this card game called Bang it was wack...then we played some volleyball, some more Uno Flip and then did some stuff on the computers at the church after pday was over. Then we went home and had a call with SISTER FARRIS! She and her companion, Sister Cave, were talking to us about them coming to DeRidder as Travelling Trainers because President Amos felt like they needed to come to our area. I am so excited for Sister Farris to come in the next couple weeks! Although I'll be companions with Sister Cave when they come since Sister Farris and I were past companions :'( but I'll still get to see her! After that we celebrated Sister Teague's 16 month mark with brownies! Yum!
Tuesday morning we did our studies and texted Michael after his wedding last month and the scripture we sent him really helped! Then for lunch I made a stuffed bell pepper and salad! Getting fancy as I try to become a chef! Jajaja then I had a really good talk with Sister Hansen and Sister Newby about the Book of Mormon which was super cool! Then we called a bunch of members, attempting to make our way through the list. For dinner I made a baked potato! It didn't quite turn out right though...a bit too chewy...oh well jajaja.
On Wednesday I was driving us to Nachitoches for district council (an hour away from Leesville) when our district leader, Elder Teare, called and told the whole district that there is going to be a MISSION-WIDE evacuation for hurricane Delta!!! The ENTIRE mission of 240 missionaries was being evacuated! That's insane! President Amos was having a mission-wide Zoom call that night to explain more details. The whole time we were trying to guess where they were going to evacuate us to. Texas? Arkansas? Florida? Alabama? Who knows?? But we had an awesome district council, lunch at Chick-fil-a and drove back to Leesville, stocking up on water, new 72 hour kits and gas. Then that night we had the zoom call with President Amos. At first he told us how 4 hours prior to our call, we were supposed to be going to Pensacola, Florida with white sand beaches, 3 meals a day by the Relief Society and everything set up OUTSIDE our mission boundaries. Then he said that about an hour ago the plan changed...we'd all be staging INSIDE the mission somewhere and we'd find out sometime that night...so much for Pensacola! Right before bed the AP's (Assistants to the President) called and told us that we were going to Ocean Springs, Mississippi!
Thursday we finished packing everything up and left by 8:30am for our 5 hour drive to Mississippi! On the way, we stopped in Baton Rouge for lunch at Albasha's Greek and Lebanese restaurant that Sister Hansen recommended (she previously served in the Baton Rouge area). It was SO good! And my favorite thing was that they had…SHAWARMA! Now if anyone knows me and marvel movies they should know this reference. [Marvel sidenote: At the end of the first Avengers movie Tony Stark tells them about a shawarma place that he wants to try...so they go in the post-credit scene. I ate the same food as the Avengers!] It was awesome! Then we drove the rest of the way to Ocean Springs. When we got to the church building we realized that 6 Zones (areas of Alexandria, Baton Rouge, Denham Springs, New Orleans, Slidell and Gulfport) of Sisters were all staying there too! There were like 60 sisters all staying in one church building! Crazy! I got to meet so many people and see Sister Cottle from my first quad in El Dorado! It was such an awesome reunion! AND Sister Farris was there too!!! It was so cool! And the like 150 Elders were staying at a church building in Gulfport. AND the members brought us dinner! Lasagna and salad with root beer floats for dessert! They're so sweet! Then we had a little devotional with a talk from the Sisters and talked about General Conference before bed.
On Friday we walked around a nearby neighborhood for exercise time. Then we had to figure out the showering situation...we had a showering schedule by each Zone and my Zone, Alexandria, was up first...the day before, the Elders helped build some showers outside. There were 6 shower stalls made of wood, tarps and nails out in the church parking lot. So there were 6 showers hooked up to the hose and then a little trapped hallway to put our stuff/change and give some more protection from just having one tarp between the shower and the outside world...not that it really helped...since it was put up by the Elders pretty fast, some of the tarp shower walls were nailed so that giant holes/slits were there, so no matter what, you were never fully covered while showering. AND on top of that the wind kept blowing open these "shower curtains" so our only hope was everyone keeping their eyes closed. But luckily the freezing cold hose water kept us all in there for a very brief period of time. But hey it's a shower! Then we had breakfast; muffins, cereal, yogurt and Sister Amos made sure we had some bananas! Then we did our studies before lunch where the members brought us pizza! Then Sister Teague took a nap because we were all exhausted from all the driving the previous day. Afterwards we played a fun speed dating group activity to get to know the sisters better. I even got to talk with Sister Farris! Then we had some outside time, so I walked around the church with Sister Newby while our companions took a nap. Then we worked our area by calling a bunch of people. But literally as we were on the phone talking to Ms. Kay her power went out!! So she had to go! I'm beginning to think I'll never get back to DeRidder! Then we had a ham dinner, I talked to Sister Farris and Sister Cottle some more, we had a Zone sister meeting and another nightly devotional on joy!
Saturday we got to help with the Bishop's storehouse (where people in need basically send in their grocery orders and we gather up their food in bags in a shopping cart and then bring it out to their car). We helped unload the food in a semi truck, organize it in the church and then "go shopping" for people. It was some good service. Today we didn't get to shower until noon on the schedule...so while we waited, I was companions with Sister Hansen (so Sister Teague and Sister Newby could go on a run to the beach because there's no way I'm running! Jajaja) and we took a walk, played some basketball with other Sisters for exercise time and played volleyball. It was fun and I got to talk with Sister Farris again! Then we finally got to shower! And let me just say that the wind was crazy that day! I probably flashed so many Sisters with the wind blowing open the "shower curtain". But oh well! I was clean! Then we had sandwiches for lunch and I got to talk to Sister Amos about her life and kids and grandkids! She's so cool! Then we even stood guard so that she could take a shower! Then we did our studies and some Facebook finding before dinner. The members made us pulled pork sandwiches! After that we went outside and sang a song for a Facebook video. Then we had another Zone meeting and our devotional that night was a testimony meeting. Everyone had such cool testimonies and they even invited the Sisters in Mississippi who didn't evacuate, so I got to see Sister Earl! Then Sister Teague got a haircut from Sister Becker right before we all went crazy cleaning the whole church building!
On Sunday everyone packed up their stuff by 8:00am, had whatever was left for breakfast and stayed for sacrament meeting. We even went up and sang "Love One Another" for the congregation! Then we finished saying our goodbyes to everyone and headed out! We made sure to stop by the beach and have whatever snacks we had for lunch too ;) Then we drove back to DeRidder! When we got to the DeRidder apartment y'all will never guess what we found! *drum roll please*...ANOTHER TREE on our building! So I guess we won't be staying there for a while...then we drove to Leesville to clean out both of their fridges because the power was out and the Leesville quad of Sisters were staying in Lafayette. Let's just say the 90 degree apartment's milk...wasn't quite milk anymore...it was gross...but their downstairs neighbor let us eat some of her fried chicken she made on the grill for dinner! She was so kind! THEN we drove to Alexandria to stay with the 5 Pineville sisters (the house the trio of sisters lives in got flooded) until the power comes back on. It was a lot of driving man, but we made it!
Overall I had a nice weekend to see past friends and recover. I was so much more energized after being around SO many wonderful Sister missionaries! Their love for me and beautiful testimonies just strengthened my own and motivated me to continue on the path I'm on. Although things were crazy and I spent 3 days on my air mattress in the Young Women's room, I really needed it. Being with them, singing with them and serving others kind of reinvigorated all of us to keep on pushing, working and trying our best to fulfill our missionary purpose to help others come closer to Christ. I know that this hurricane was rough AGAIN for so many people, but we'll be there to help them, love them and serve them as Christ would. I KNOW that this church has been such a blessing in my life and that it really is Christ's restored church on the earth today. And I KNOW that this is where my Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ want me to be :)
Have a blessed week!
Smile because God loves you and remember that I love, love, love y'all too!
Love,
Sister Johnson
October Bug Bite Count: 22 bites
September Bike Mileage: 0.0 miles
August Bike Mileage: 46.9 miles
July Bike Mileage: 161.0 miles
June Bike Mileage: 61.6 miles
Pictures!!
- Sister Teague and I on the way to Mississippi for Delta evacuation!
- The six pack at Albasha's!
- My plate of shawarma (basically just chicken) and gyros!
- Sister Teague and I in front of the Mississippi sign
- The six pack Mississippi sign selfie!
- Our setup for sleeping in a church building
- Getting ready for bed!
- A turtle I found on our morning walk!
- President and Sister Amos in front of our makeshift showers…
- Breakfast day 1!
- Mandatory outside time with Sister Amos
- President Amos after plunging all the toilets because the septic tank broke at the church...
- Sister Teague and I taking pictures at sunset
- Companion selfie at sunset!
- Six pack selfie at sunset!
- Selfie with Sister Farris!
- Silly selfie with Sister Farris!
- Me in front of the pier in Ocean Springs Mississippi
- The water is a little different down South…
- Companion beach selfie!
- Made it safely back to Louisiana!
- What's left of our DeRidder apartment after tree #2...
