Hurricane Casualty Report

Hey y'all! Happy Halloween!!!

Hurricane Casualty report:

1 Trash can tipped over, 5 reported incidents of boredom (more were hinted at but only 5 reported), 1 report of severe heartburn, and one turtle in the bathtub. Also, one spilled cup of root beer and I won 2 games of Monopoly deal. We never did finish that game of Trivial pursuit...

 

We didn't get evacuated, we just had a bunch of Elders from Norfolk and Sandbridge come inland a little just in case, but to be honest it was nothing worse than a bad rain storm and some howling winds. We had 7 Elders in our apartment and there were 9 in another and 6 in another. The Norfolk sisters stayed with the stake president and our senior couples stayed in their own apartments. Nobody flooded, nobody hurt (as far as we know), but we did stay in all night Sunday and all day Monday per orders from church headquarters. That was crazy.... I had cabin fever so bad I just wanted to go out and WORK!!!

 

The most debris we saw was a twig or two on the way to the library, we are so thankful to say that not much happened here. I know the same cannot be said about others up north. Maryland and Rhode Island and D.C. are all getting slammed aren't they? We just pray everyone is OK. We feel silly for staying inside but hey, plan for the worst and hope for the best eh?. I am especially thankful that our prayers for safety were answered.

 

This week was pretty crazy, and it feels like we didn't get much done :( we had to cancel an exchange because of the hurricane.

You already know about mission conference, that was amazing. It feels as though that happened months ago.

Tuesday night, we went on splits with the ward and I went with a member named Brother Layne. He is so awesome. It was my first chance to teach about the Doctrine of Christ to a less active family right after we learned about it from Elder Whiting. It was fun, and they got it! It really clicked and they were uplifted. He couldn't come to church this week and I didnt' see her or the kids but we will be back over there and we will continue to bare testimony and hope they come to church. After that Brother Layne and I just sat in the parking lot talking. I got to pick his brain about what he learned on his mission and what I could do to improve. When talking to returned missionaries, there seems to be this recurring statement where they explain a time in their mission that they finally "got it". They "understood how to do missionary work" or they "finally got it". It also seems to be that in most cases, they "got it" near the end of their service, and had to go home. It is my quest to "get it" before the end and then apply "it". I'll let you know when I find out what "it" is haha.

 

Wednesday we had a table time in Norfolk with the Sisters to talk about how we can improve things down there and figure out how the Sisters are doing. It helps to just go have a meeting because we can do exchanges with the Elders but we cannot with the Sisters so we just go ask some questions and cousel about things. After that we had Melinda. I've told you about Melinda right? She is in a wheelchair and cannot move, but talks with her eyes? She is amazing and it's always uplifting to speak with her. Her dad is coming back into activity and because of his faith his wife is now investigating. We haven't taught her a lesson yet but she said she knows she needs to be baptized. :)

 

Thursday we had an exchange with the OTHER spanish Elders, the second set in VAbeach. I had Elder Gonzales with me in our area and it was awesome. We did some tracting, some teaching, some contacting, and had waffles on WAFFLE DAY!! The Justesen family has really taken on to waffle day and she loves to feed us on that day. After that we had a lesson at Brother Schoppauls house and went to exchange back. It was an especially good exchange as we were able to do a wide range of activities and learn from each other.

 

Friday we did weekly planning, and we almost finished in one sitting!!!! This almost never happens. Too many people calling and things happening. So after that we just went down a list for the Salem Ward Relief Society president and visited with less active members.

 

Saturday wasn't much. The Elders we lived with managed to clog our sink and we worked on that for a while, we tried draino twice and ended up buying a small snake to clear it. You wouldn't think that would take long, but pair it with lunch and a trip to wal-mart and it's already 2 o clock. The rest of the day was spent at dinner with Josh Debres, and then I was with Josh when we did splits with the ward. We went to one of his home teaching families and talked about the Word of Wisdom. I learned a ton. Dad, you were right on target with the restrictions thing those are wise words!

 

Sunday, Went to church (9am to 4pm) and then we went to the Stake Pres. house with a bunch of missionaries that were here for the hurricane and had dinner and played apples to apples. The assistants called and told us all to stay indoors until tueday morning so we went home and were inside Sunday night.

 

Monday, in all day :( nothing happened of any significance. Haha actually I learned to play 4 songs on the guitar! WOO!!

 

This week coming up should be good. :) I am excited for interviews with President Perry on Thursday.

 

Well, I have about 10 min left and I have a referral for Elder Lawson in AK so I gotta go!

 

 I love you all so much and I hope you can feel the excitement and the joy that comes from simply living the Gospel. I am eternally grateful for the knowledge I have been given and the testimony that is within me.

 

Love,

 

Elder Skyler Mark Andreasen

P.S. I choose Chirst!!