No power. No water. No problem!

Friday was a rainy day, but at this time of the year that is not unusual. But when we got home at the end of the night the wind was starting to blow pretty hard. This we the beginning of the big storm we had been told was coming. We did our regular planning and preparing for the next day. Around 10:30pm the power went out. By candle light and flashlight light, we moved everything up off the floor in case of flood. We sang "Master the Tempest is Raging" and went to bed. I slept with out a problem, but the storm kept my companion up.

Saturday morning we woke up to see the mess that was outside. We were grateful we had brought in our clothes that had been drying outside, because if not they would have been halfway down the street. There wasn't much damage done to the houses on our street, but there were a lot of fallen trees and vegetation every where. 

 

Saturday was supposed to be General Conference, but no power was one of the many reasons that didn't continue. We didn't teach any lessons that day, we just went out and helped people recover from the storm. 

 

One of the families we teach that was effect the most was the Alejandro family. I've attached a picture of what is left of their house. The house itself was a side sight to see, but the most heart wrenching part was crying 8 year old inside the house: Jacque. She is one of the two girls that was baptized last month, and she has a special place in my heart. I instantly ran to her and wrapped my arms around her frail little body until she stopped crying. One of her concerns was that she was worried that the Book of Mormon we had given her was destroyed, and she didn't even get to finish it. I promised that we would get her another one. We brought their family food and help, and I was impressed with how optimistic their still were. I love them.

 

We visited other members and helped anyway we could; gathering scattered clothes, setting up safety obstructions, cleaning up and such. 

 

Sunday morning there was still no power, but we made our way to the church in Bongabon because we heard there was a generator there so we could watch general conference. We were a little late and when we got there we saw that they hadn't got the generator working, but there was a group of saints striving to hear and see the Sunday Morning on the Laptop that was set up in the front of the chapel. About halfway through the session the battery of the laptop ran out. After a lunch break the generator was up and running and we were able to watch the Sunday afternoon session. Afterwords whoever was still there was able to charge our almost dead phones. I have all of general conference downloaded on my memory card. The only problem is I won't be able to listen to it until we have power again. It's okay, it just helps me to appreciate it so much more. 

 

What an adventure! We don't have electricity. So when it gets dark we do everything by candle light. I kind of love it a lot. The water at our house usually comes from our electric pump, but with no power that mean we also have no water. So for the past couple days we have been going across the street to the members who live there. We pump our water at their pump and carry it back over in buckets. We use that water for bathing, dishes and flushing the toilet. We have to buy clean water for drinking. I still think it's fun to pump the water and carry it over (even though I have blisters from doing it). Don't worry, our stove is powering by a propane tank so we are still able to cook. Haven't no fridge isn't really that big a problem. We cooked the meat we had frozen in the freezer. I haven't checked on it yet, but I think our ice cream has melted by now :(

 

We are not sure how long we will be without power. We have heard 7 days. 7-10 days, and even that it will take up to a month. I hope that however long it takes, I'll still think this is a fun adventure.

There have been plenty of opportunities to serve and I love it. Missionary work is not stopping. Anna Rose had her baptismal interview yesterday, and hopefully having no power will not effect her baptism on the 19th of October. 

 

You may be wondering: "Sister Curtis if you don't have power, how are you sending this email?" The answer is that we traveled to the Mall in the Cabanatuan city where they have generators. I don't know if we will be able to come back next week. I don't know if we'll have power by next week. I don't know if I'll be able to email next week. If I don't, don't worry about this happy, hardworking missionary who is living an adventure out here in the Philippines, serving God by serving other people.

 

Maybe there is something else that I forgot to tell you. If there is I can't remember what it is....

Love you all!!!

Sister "Living like they used to in the days before electricity" Curtis