3 Nephi 8 (. ..Kind of):
"5 And it came to pass in the two thousandth and seventeenth year, in the ninth month, on the tenth day of the month, there arose a great storm called Irma, such an one as never had been known in all the land.
6 And there was also a great and terrible tempest; and there was terrible thunder, insomuch that it did shake the whole earth as if it was about to divide asunder.
7 And there were exceedingly sharp lightnings, such as never had been known in all the land.
9 And the city of Ft. Lauderdale did sink into the depths of the sea, and the inhabitants thereof were drowned.
11 And there was a great and terrible destruction in the land southward.
12 But behold, there was a more great and terrible destruction in the land northward; for behold, the whole face of the land was changed, because of the tempest and the whirlwinds, and the thunderings and the lightnings, and the exceedingly great quaking of the whole earth;
13 And the highways were broken up, and the level roads were spoiled, and many smooth places became rough.
14 And many great and notable cities were sunk, and many were shaken till the buildings thereof had fallen to the earth, and the places were left desolate.
15 And there were some cities which remained such as Winter Garden; but the damage thereof was exceedingly great.
16 And there were some who shot their guns into the hurricane who were carried away in the whirlwind; and whither they went no man knoweth, save they know that they were carried away.
17 And thus the face of the whole of the state of Florida became deformed, because of the tempests, and the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the quaking of the earth caused by Irma.
18 And behold, the rocks were rent in twain; they were broken up upon the face of the whole earth, insomuch that they were found in broken fragments, and in seams and in cracks, upon all the face of Florida.
19 And it came to pass that when the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the storm, and the tempest, and the quakings of the earth did cease--for behold, they did last for about the space of three hours; and it was said by some that the time was greater; nevertheless, all these great and terrible things were done in about the space of three hours. "
That was me likening the scriptures to ourselves in my personal study this morning (hopefully that wasn't too sacrilege, thanks for reading through that 😅)
No but really, I'm so safe it's crazy. We slept through the whole thing hahahahahaha. Apparently all you need is to turn the fan on real loud to drown out the raging tempest outside to get through a hurricane. Our parking lot is a wreck and covered in branches but we are fine.
Due to lack to time, here's an excerpt of an email I sent to my family Saturday:
"So I guess enough parents called and harassed the mission office that
they relented and gave permission for each missionary to send one
email home to let their families know that we are alive and safe.
Yes, Hurricane Irma is real, and we will affected by it. But the good
news is that Orlando is the 2nd safest city in Florida to ride out a
hurricane. Sister Hill and I are safe in our apartment here in winter
garden and we are going to be holed up here for a few days. They even
sent up a companionship from Kissimmee to be safe here with us- and
guess who it is? OUR BELOVED SISTER KNOX! She came with her trainee,
Sister Stephens, earlier today and now we're going to have a big
slumber party!
We have plenty of food and water and we are well taken care of. We are
totally prepared to hunker down and ride it out. (I'm particularly
excited to take a few naps as well) Please don't worry, all is well in Winter Garden."
We've been having a blast and watching videos (Sister Hill bought "Legacy" and "The Testaments" on DVD at the distribution center earlier this week, which was a brilliant idea) and eating snacks and I am loving it. I'm so happy. I love doing nothing without feeling guilty. 🙃
I know I've been making it sound like the storm was a vacation, but in reality it was severe in many parts of the state and along the Caribbean. Our thoughts and prayers are with all those that have been affected and we recognize with immense gratitude how blessed we have been with our safety and comfort throughout this entire ordeal. Thank you for the prayers and thoughts offered in my behalf and for all others affected. Your faith sustained and strengthened us.
We know that we will have bounteous opportunities to do service in the coming days and weeks and are so thankful that we are in a position to help so many. The Lord has truly prepared us to care for His children. We will be hitting the streets in our stylish yellow Mormon helping hands shirts tomorrow and making things look real sharp!
I'll have a more proper update on the work in our area next week, because a lot of this week was prepping for Irma.
Fear not,
-Sister Olivia Petty🌪
No comments:
Post a Comment