What a week and especially weekend to remember here in the Great Texas Houston South. The muck work continues across the mission and into the other two as well. We estimated that we had some 11,000 Mormon Helping Hands come into the area this weekend. We moved to the new service schedule this week with a day on and a day off so the missionaries don’t get too fatigued with all the work that is needed.
Tuesday was first day of school after Harvey for the kids. The boys were not too excited to return to school but Jessie was. We treated it like a first day with a back to school picture and all. It will be nice to have a routine again. The boys will have basketball each day and Zac plans on trying out for golf this week. Jessie will start dance and hopefully Tennis this week too. Yeah for school! Yeah for schedules!
After getting the kids off to school, Aaron and I went with the missionaries to an area just 10-15 miles north of us that was hit particularly hard and it’s hard to describe how bad it truly is. The water didn’t recede in the homes until Monday and we arrived on the scene some two weeks later to start cleaning things out. The smell is beyond description and in these areas the water was 5-6 feet high in the homes so every piece of sheet rock had to be removed. The piles of debris are staggering. I went to the church’s Harvey supply warehouse to pick up boots for the missionaries. As I have passed them out, I have been hearing stories of gratitude because they have come close to having nails go through their shoes. The missionaries have been spiritually protected, now they will be physically protected with these boots. As Aaron continued to work with the missionaries muck a home, I was asked to help a man whose partner’s body had been recovered four days earlier after he was electrocuted trying to escape during the flooding. My heart just ached for the man as he was trying to salvage documents so he could prepare for what lay ahead of him. We, two sister missionaries, his mom and brother, carefully sorted through files and separated papers to dry in the sun. We encouraged him to find anything of personal value that we could clean, treat and pack up for him before helping hands came to muck his house. At first, he just wanted to walk away and do nothing with the house. I was able to share with his mom why it would better for him to have the house mucked rather leave it to mold and decay. She was grateful for the help and realizing we really wanted to help him through this incredible difficult time.
The local media came to the area we were working and the following link was on the evening news. So cool to see our missionaries spotlighted and the two on the video are absolutely amazing sisters. http://www.fox26houston.com/news/army-of-mormon-relief-workers-helping-houston-recover
On Thursday, we held our new missionary training for the group of 20 elders and sisters that just arrived and it was a welcome break from all the other activities we’ve had to do since Harvey. On Friday, we held our new missionary skills training and you can tell how young we are as many are unware of the basic principles and skills we’ve been teaching. It’s hard to lose 70 senior missionaries in 90 days and try to keep a culture alive and well, but we’ll keep repeating and repeating until we get all up to speed.
Late Thursday night, Aaron learned that Elder Ballard, Rasband, Nielsen, Uceda, and Cornish, along with Sister Franco from the General Primary Presidency would be coming to Houston for the weekend. Aaron was told that he’d have the assignment to be the companion with Elder Giff Nielsen. On Saturday morning, they arrived on a private jet to an airport just north of the mission. Their tour of the area included a visit to a distribution center the Church had set up to bring in all the necessary supplies to clean out homes. They purchased a Sports Authority building that just two months ago was slated to become a DI. From there they were splitting up into companionships to go to the work sites, but Elder Nielsen was asked by Elder Ballard to join him at a few community leader visits so Aaron joined them as they went first to a well known black preacher (Reverend Clements - 5th Ward Ministries) in the area that has met with Elder Ballard previously. Elder Ballard was asked to pray so Reverend Clements pulled us all into a circle with arms around shoulders. Aaron shared how cool it was to be with an apostle as he prayed a simple, but powerful pray. They then went to a large Houston furniture retailer who opened their doors to 800 evacuees during the initial rescue efforts. Mattress Mack as he’s known, let everyone in that needed a place to stay and let all use his two massive floor room stores for families with no where to go. Elder Ballard heard about the story and strings were pulled to meet him in the store. He’s a good Catholic who is aware of the Helping Hand efforts and was happy to meet Elder Ballard.
After those visits, Aaron and Elder Nielsen went into the city so Elder Nielsen could see the missionaries at work in some of the devastated homes. He lived in the area for 30 years and he and the rest of Houstonians haven’t seen anything like it. They then traveled to area I referenced to earlier in my email and when they arrived he immediately called Elder Ballard and told him they had to come our way. There were a lot of yellow shirts out to see and we took Elder Ballard (soon to be 89) into the war zone. We are long past done in mucking out member homes so all those we’re serving now are just grateful we’ve there are people willing to help.
That evening a Houston wide fireside for the member families that were displaced by the flood or had their homes damaged. The final count of members impacted ended up being about 900 families. All the visiting authorities spoke and the three mission presidents and wives were also in attendance. A good meeting with expressions of hope, patience, love, and perseverance.
Back to the home front, Zac did make the golf team. He’s also on the basketball team so he will most likely have some tough decisions ahead as the two compete for the same time. In Texas, both sports are year-round. Bode will also found out that he has made the cut to stay in the basketball class and he’s confident he will make the team in the future. Allie is full in to work and school and paying for half of her rent. Our baby is all grown up. Jess loved her Hip Hop and Jazz dance classes. Tennis will start next week. ;) We’re blessed beyond compare.
Here’s a few other links to videos that include our missionaries.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CW5iRtt-QzU
https://www.mormonlight.org/2017/09/04/video-tour-gutting-flooded-home-houston/