Irma Survivors!

Hey everyone! We are all alive and well here in South Florida! Mum has asked me to do a day by day on the last couple of weeks so here goes nothing.

Thursday, September 7th

Today was the day we found out that all of the missionaries were being evacuated from their homes and into a chapel. This was so we could have everyone in the same place to make sure everyone was well and safe. We were given that day to start packing up our house. We could only take our 72 hour kits and a small suitcase so we started realizing what things were the most valuable to us and packing it up to take. We felt a lot like Lehi's family leaving Jerusalem. We just had to take ourselves and go and hope for the best. The things we took included letters from family and our spiritual things like scriptures, note books, journals, etc. The Brass Plates were so important for Nephi and his brothers to go back and get because not only was that their ancestors stories but there are so many memories and things that come from those things. We stopped by the store to buy some more food for our kits and I got a sketch pad to keep myself company. Best choice. 

Friday, September 8th

Today we woke up and did our normal studies. We had a mission wide conference call noon and confirmed the chapels we would be staying at for the next 5 days. We finished packing up our house, picked up as many things off the floor as we could, duck taped our cupboards closed, closed the last of our shutters, and headed off to the chapel with as much as we could fit in our cars. Upon arriving at the chapel we met our entire Zone and the Miami South Zone. Both of us were staying in that chapel. We had 40 missionaries. We only had 8 sisters and we were given the relief society room to stay it. The Elders are so kind. We had a last meal at Wendy's because it was the only place that was still open. It felt like a zombie apocalypse as everyone was closed and no one was on the roads. Super weird. We all put our bikes in one room and then set up some beds that would last us the next 5 days. I got the couch because no one else wanted it. That night was pretty chill. We had a Mission-wide conference call that night to make sure everyone was in and then we had a diesel show up. Our chapel was going to be one of the distribution centers so we all lined up and started unloading. We did that for about 45 minutes, got ready for bed, and by that point we were all exhausted so it was not hard to sleep that night. 

Saturday, September 9th

Our first full day locked up in the chapel. We woke up and had our first yoga class instructed by our Zone Leader Elder Jones. We didn't want to get sweaty so we had yoga every morning. I'm glad to say that I am more flexible today than I was 2 weeks ago. We ate some breakfast and then had our studies. While we were in the Chapel we had a conference call every morning and night with a spiritual thought and a mighty prayer. After mighty prayer we just tried to find some stuff to do. We played a lot of board games and a lot of uno. I had a lot of time to draw. See pictures. I hope you all got to see the video of us singing around the piano. It was much needed as we were all worried about what was going on. After our little music jam we all ate some dinner and then had a movie night and watched Meet the Mormons in the relief society room. We weren't allowed in to go in the chapel or gym because steeples have been known to fall through the roof. The primary room and relief society room were the only rooms without windows so that is where we had a lot of our activities. After the movie we had a mighty prayer then went to bed.

Sunday, September 10th

The best day on the mission so far. We got permission to have sacrament meeting in the relief society room so that was a real tender mercy. We had a testimony meeting after that lasted 2 and a half hours so we got our full 3 hours of church in ;) I have never felt the Spirit so strong for as long as we did during that testimony meeting. It was a way neat experience to have 40 missionaries and our 2 senior couples just sharing what we know. We lost power right after the sacrament so we had testimony meeting in the dark and it was cool to just forget about everything and just focus on the Spirit. Something I will never forget. After sacrament we cleaned up the relief society room and had some snacks. We had a huge game of signs, I drew some more and just watched. Everyone got really good at it. I loved the missionaries that we stayed with. Everyone got along so well. It was a real tender mercy to meet some more missionaries in my first transfer. The door we had used didn't have shutters on it so we got to watch what was going on outside. There was a lot of wind and a lot of rain. It made me think of the story of the Brother of Jared. They were stuck in a boat with very limited light (like our flashlights) and they could probably hear everything that was going on outside and just had to trust that they would be safe. By that night there was a lot of tree damage outside. We only had tropical storms all day that day but that night we got hit a little by Irma. The wind woke some of us up. It was pretty eerie. 

Monday, September 11th

We got to go outside today!! The damage was not bad. We were definitely protected. Irma was in God's hands. There is a fence that goes around our chapel and it was crazy to see all the damage that happened outside of the the chapel grounds compared to inside. Most of it was just tree damage. Trees were uprooted, palm trees all over, lots of water. We spent a good 2 hours outside just making piles of branches and leaves. We played in the puddles a little and got some pretty cool pictures. Our Zone Leader hooked up a super legit shower in the bathroom so we all took a shower after cleaning up for a bit. I drew some more pictures and then we had a huge game of Mafia. It was so much fun. We played a couple of rounds while the Senior couples were awesome and made us some soup for dinner. They are so amazing. We had another round of Mafia after dinner and then had a mighty prayer and went to bed.

Tuesday, September 12th

We would have gone back to our homes today but President Garns was worried about there being Alligators on the roads so we stayed at the chapel for one more night. We did a lot more cleaning outside and inside today. We raked all the leaves and made some huge piles. We caught some lizards and wore them like earrings which was cool. (See Pictures) We had pizza for lunch which was awesome and then we all took a nap. I drew some more pictures and then we played games the rest of the night and packed up our stuff a little bit. We had a mighty prayer just as a chapel because a lot of the other chapels were back in  their homes already. We got a lot done that day so we all slept well that night.

Wednesday, September 13th

We woke up this morning, did our personal study, and the deep cleaned the chapel. Wiped every last handel, vacuumed, swept, floorboards, the whole nine yards. We packed up our cars, strapped up our bikes, finished cleaning. Then we ate lunch that a member brought for us and headed out. It started raining as soon as we got on the freeway so we had to drive carefully but we finally got home. We got walked into our little house that had no damage, except for our banana tree falling in the back yard, and entered the bog of eternal stench. We learned our lesson real quick. There were a few things in our fridge that we had totally forgot to throw out and we had to suffer the consequences. We spent the rest of the day getting our house back to normal, buying candles, deep cleaning everything, and desmelling our fridge. We slept well that night.

Thursday, September 14th

We woke up and got to go running again finally. It was much needed. We did all of our normal studies and then went and visited some members that our Branch President asked us to visit. Some weren't home but it was nice to do a little bit of missionary work again.

Friday, September 15th

More Studies. More service. We taught our awesome investigator Mary today at the chapel. She is full of so many questions. We get to teach her on Friday with President Garns at his house so that will be super exciting. We also got a new gator name Keilyn. She is so sweet. She lives right behind the chapel and has photographic memory so she just took in everything we said. I can't wait to teach her again. 

Saturday, September 16th

We woke up at 5:30 this morning, got ready, and headed down south to do some service. We had some Costco muffins for breakfast and then got yellow Helping Hands t-shirts. We got in our teams and headed out. They put elders and sisters together which was so fun. We got put with our District Leader Elder Smith and his comp Elder Belnap. They drove us everywhere and it was cool to get to know them. We had assignments down in Homestead cutting up trees and just doing service. We all got some nice battle wounds and went to bed very tired that night.

Sunday, September 17th

We missed our alarm and woke up at 5:38. We got our shirts on and were out the door by 6. We got to the chapel just in time to take the sacrament at 6:45 before we headed out to our assignments. We stayed in Miami until lunch and then headed down to the Keys!! We were in charge of driving so it is the furthest I've ever driven because I'm designated driver. It is so pretty down there. There is water on each side that just goes on forever. There was a lot of tree damage. We drove for a solid 225 miles that day. We stayed at one house right on the coast for a couple hours. It was cool to hear stories and just carry logs and branches out. I woke up so sore this morning. We left the Keys around 6 and didn't get home until about 9. Long drives but fun times. I love doing service. I love being here for this time and being able to do the work at this time.

I love you all. We have felt the mighty prayers and seen the blessings that come from it. This is the last week of this transfer so next week p-day will be on Tuesday. I love hearing from all of you. I hope all is well. I pray for all of you and know that you guys are praying for us. Thank you for worrying about Florida during Irma. Hurricane is still going strong and we know we will be safe no matter what happens. I love this work. I love the people here. I love the missionaries. I can't wait to hear from you all next week!

All my love,

Sister Beckstrand

 

 Our House all packed up and such. Shutters closed. Ready to go.

 

Our room, all of our bikes  

  Playing signs, meet the mormons, mafia.

 What kept me company. The lion was for my comp, nature for Sister Murdock, butterfly for Sister Diamond and a few more random drawings.

 

 

Just some that I have with me still. 

My Florida Sunshine for this week:

Hurricane Birds! This guy showed up on Sunday. He was kind of like our dove with the olive leaf. Just letting us know there was still life out there.

These next three pictures are before, during and after the storm.

 These are some of the clean up around our stake center.

My comp.

Lots of water all over

  Our Lizard friend named Zeek. One of the many trees that we cut down after it fell. They all luckily missed houses.  The pic of the 4 of us is with our DL and his comp. Elder Smith and Elder Belnap. They were in our team that we drove around both days

Our very long and pretty drive down to the keys!

Key damage

 On the beach. Wore my BOM socks!

Piles of stuff. Huge logs we moved. Main house we were at. The palm tree fell in the pool. 

Dab District. House Pic. Drive Home. I have a ton more but those are the main ones that I have time for. I love you all! Can't wait to hear from you next Tuesday!