November 4 -- Our First Real Typhoon

FYI -- The typhoon described here was Typhoon Krosa, a category 3 typhoon that made landfall on the Northern provinces of the Philippines on October 31 with winds at 160 mph. This is a different typhoon than the recent Typhoon Yolanda, which made landfall farther south, but did not affect the Laoag mission.

We had a typhoon warning on Thursday morning (October 31). President told us we couldn't leave our apartment. I was in Aparri at the time because we had had exchanges, so President allowed us to switch back to our areas in the morning, but after that, we had to stay inside all day. We thought it would be one of the routine typhoon warnings that we sometimes get where there is a little wind and a little rain, and everyone else goes outside, but we are stuck in our apartment. We studied, and we did our weekly planning, and we made fried pizza sandwiches with spaghetti sauce, cheese, and hotdogs, and then we went to our backyard and got some coconuts and tried to carve them for Halloween. But then it started getting super windy. And the power went out. And it started raining really hard too. We slept in the bedroom of Sister H and Sister W because our bedroom is floor level and we were afraid it might flood, and their bedroom was higher up. We had to tape plastic over the windows to keep the rain from coming in and soaking us. The wind was blowing so hard I thought the roof of our kitchen would be torn off. It was kind of scary. And then our cell phones lost their signal. And then we went to sleep.

When we woke up, we went outside. A tree had fallen over in our yard. Our cell phones still didn't have service, so we walked down the road to see if we could find someone who did. No one did. But there were a lot of houses that had been damaged. So we went back to our apartment, put on our normal-people clothes, and went to the houses of our investigators, less actives, and recent coverts to see if they were okay and if we could help. We couldn't proselyte that day because everyone was busy fixing their houses. There were a few houses that were completely destroyed. Everyone we talked to said it was the worst typhoon they had ever experienced. It was a weird day. We still didn't have cell phone service until Saturday morning. And we still don't have electricity. That means we also don't have water. But we have a water pump in the back that we are using. It's kind of an adventure. But don't worry. All the missionaries are safe.

Anyway, the church is true. Heavenly Father loves us. He really is aware of what we need, and He is taking care of us. I know that He wants me to be a missionary right now. Even though being a missionary is not easy, especially as the end is coming, I'm really grateful for the opportunity to serve a mission right now.

Sister Boekweg