Hurricane Irene....Part 2

Hey hey hey!

So, last week I was so excited to tell you how living through my first hurricane went and then the computer shut down. But it's okay because I can finish telling you the adventures of Sis. Joseph and Sis. Johnson now.

So, Thursday night we recieved a call from Sis. Cotterell and she told us to pack up our things and be ready to leave Greenville by 8am the next morning. We did as she instructed and then we set off to go and stay with Sis. Kissell and Sis. Welch in Wake Forest (which is near Raleigh). We drove out there. It was really odd to leave our area behind. I felt like part of me was missing. Wake Forest is the ritzy-est place I've ever been in my life. We basically stayed in a castle. The sisters there live with a member, Sis. Ingram. She is one of the funniest ladies I've ever met in my life. Wake Forest also has hills! Sis. Joseph and I went on a run and it was like we were running in the mountains. Greenville is flat. I can count on one hand how many hills (if you can call them that...more of a gradual incline) there are. The hurricane came through Friday night/Saturday day/Saturday night. I guess it was really windy outside and the power was going on and off all night in Wake Forest, but I was dead to the world and had no idea. No one else slept well and they informed me of the adventurous nights they had with lots of lightning and wind. The damage in Wake Forest wasn't bad. There were a few trees in the road, but that was about it. We weren't allowed to go outside all day on Saturday so we updated all of our area books. Then we had a slumber party and watched Finding Faith in Christ and pulled out all of our beds and slept in the living room together.

Oh! I tried fried green tomatoes. Sis. Ingram has these giant tomato plants (they're more like bushes) So, she made us some fried green tomatoes. They were really yummy.

We had to cancel Kia's baptism because of the hurricane. We called her and Chevaughn did not want to cancel. He said he didn't care if there was a hurricane. He was going to go through with this. I guess the bishop was able to persaude him otherwise. She is rescheduled for Sept. 17 though!

On Sunday, we walked outside and it was the most gorgeous day you could ever imagine. You wouldn't have ever guessed that a hurricane came ripping through 12 hours prior. We got to go to church with the Wake Forest sisters and it was really good to see how they did everything. It definitely helped Sis. Joseph and I know how we could better help the people in Greenville. The members there are fantastic. They desire to be involved in missionary work and want to help the sisters out as much as they can. They even gave us assignments to go and contact some less actives! It was great!

Monday we headed home and there was a lot of damage in Greenville. Most people were without power until the middle of this week due to the large trees that had taken out the power lines. Lots of houses were damaged by the trees. There was also quite a bit of flooding. Most of which had been soaked up by the time we got home on Monday. Sis. Carman faired well during the storm. There was no damage to her home. Her sister who lives only a mile up the street had a lot of her windows blown out, shingles missing and water damage from when the windows broke. It was sad to see so many homes in such a mess. We spent this whole week helping clean up. I caught a cold of sorts this week (the sisters in Wake Forest were sick) and it pretty much wiped me out. I've just been sleeping the past couple of days, but feel much better now. I've never been so exhausted in my life. Sis. Joseph went on splits with a YSA to go and see Matthew. Matthew has a solid testimony. He knows it's true. He just needs to talk to his parents about being baptized. We are excited for him. We also were able to get a hold of Talia (she was supposed to be baptized on the 13th, but her mom wouldn't let her). She is leaving for the Navy next week, but she wants Sis. Jospeh and I to stay in contact. So, I am thankful for that at least.

On Saturday night, Sis. Joseph called Kia to make sure she would be coming to church, but she said she had to work. We both started thinking, "great. now we'll have to start from square one for the zillionth time before she can be baptized." Sunday we were still moping and who walked through the door? Kia! She told us she wanted to surprise us. She sure did! I'm so happy. She has changed so much since we first started teaching her. It's incredible to see the difference. The only thing I really desire is to see people who are truely converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I don't desire to baptize millions unless they are truely converted. Kia is truely converted and I am truely thankful for that.

We shared a message with Stake Pres. last night. I was scared stiff. Pres. Walker is one of the most intimidating people I know. It ended up being really good though. I really like Pres. Walker now. He is hilarious. It was a good message. We shared a lot of missionary scriptures and I learned a lot from him. Afterwards, we went to a part member family. Rusty's wife, Brittney isn't a member and she's been taught by the elders before, but he said he thought she would be more comfortable with sisters. We taught her and had a good lesson with her. She is very sweet and wants to be baptized. We are very excited to help her gain a testimony and work towards that desire. She wants us to come back over!

It's incredible to see how God works and after leaving the area last week, I realized I have a lot to be thankful for. This area is incredible and I know Heavenly Father has many people prepared. I read a really good talk by Elder Perry called, "Bring Souls Unto Me." Y'all should read it!

The church=true. I know that for a fact.

Love you all so much!

Love,

Sister J