Mission report in our ward when we returned after the hurricanes:
About six weeks ago, we watched the weather as Hurricane Irma approached our island. We made sure the car was full of gas. We went to the grocery store and bought canned goods and non-perishable foods. We purchased batteries, flashlights, and gas cans. We withdrew an ample amount of cash from our account at the bank. We plugged in and charged up the satellite phone the church had for us and made sure our phones were charged.
Hurricane Irma hit with all her fury. She was the largest recorded hurricane to ever come out of the Atlantic. Her eye was only 40 miles north of us centered over the islands of St. Thomas, St. John and Tortola. Those 40 miles were a shield to us against the worst of her destruction. When she passed, trees and power poles were down, but normal life was able to resume pretty quickly. After a week, power was on at our church and a few other places, but our part of the island was still in the dark without power.
Sunday at church we gathered together for Sacrament meeting. Our branch president read the quote of President Brigham Young in the general conference where he told of the suffering of the saints of the Martin-Wiley handcart companies still out on the plains. Brother Brigham ended the meeting and immediately sent out rescue parties. Earlier that morning in St. Croix, a private boat owner had been located who agreed to transport food and supplies from our branch to the branch on St. Thomas if we could have it at the dock Sunday night so he could take it early Monday morning. After sacrament meeting, our branch became the rescuers. We headed to the store and purchased all the items we could to send on the boat. We also gathered the food and batteries we had in our home, which we had purchased to prepare for Irma. We met back at the church where we assembled 50 sanitary kits and boxed and sorted the food. In total, we sent over 1200 lbs. to the St. Thomas branch.
It was a wonderful feeling to help our neighbor and to be the rescuers. Many in our branch are very poor and so it was a big sacrifice for them. We went home that Sabbath day feeling like we had truly honored God by consecrating our efforts in behalf of the members on St. Thomas.
Two weeks later, we were still without power, when Hurricane Maria suddenly formed. This time we had only a couple of days to prepare. The store shelves were already depleted of all the food that was sent to St. Thomas. It was impossible to buy batteries and duct tape and other needed supplies. Most of us in the branch had sent our supplies to St. Thomas. As Maria approached we were less prepared and way more apprehensive as she was headed straight for us. Maria hit our island with sustained winds of 175+ miles per hour during the dark of night. It was a night that no one slept. When the sun rose, we were shocked to see the condition of the island. What had been a lush, green tropical jungle was now brown and bare. Trees were down everywhere. The leaves on the ground looked as thought they had been shredded in a blender into confetti. Power lines and snapped power poles were down and crisscrossed every road making it impossible to drive anywhere. Sewers were bubbling up in the roads and spilling into the ocean. The sand on the beaches had disappeared revealing rocky shores that had previously been hidden underneath the sand. Ships were overturned in the bay. There was an eerie silence over the whole island and the sky was an unearthly gray-green.
In the days after, the branch president came with us as we tried to visit and rescue the members on the island. The students at the P. A. school had been evacuated the day before the hurricane so they volunteered their supplies and food. We traveled around the island in the four hours we were allowed with the curfew. We could only see one or two members at a time. We passed out food and water and some tarps that were made available to our branch president. All we could do without any construction tools was to offer the food and water we had and a hug. Hugs didn't repair roofs ripped off of members houses. Hugs didn't lessen the unbearable heat. Hugs didn't get rid of the millions of mosquitos that hatched. Hugs didn't reduce the lines for food and gas. Our mission president had advised us to leave the island. We insisted that we wanted to stay. We tried everything we could to buy or borrow a generator. At one point, we actually moved into an apartment that had a backup generator. After getting one night of sleep, the generator broke, so we moved back to our apartment. During the last week we were there, we packed and moved our bags three different times. It was an exhausting effort in that heat. Finally one day the missionary department called us again. This time they didn't ask us questions about our living conditions, they simply said, "Well done thou good and faithful servants. You are done." The next day they called us and told us our entire mission was being evacuated and temporarily dissolved. It was heartbreaking news.
It is hard to get off an island when the airport is damaged. At that point our only option was going to a fire station and signing our names to a list for a mercy ship that was evacuating nearly 1,000 people off St. Croix. As we sat on that ship that was anchored to our dear little island, we looked back on it and sobbed all afternoon. Our missionary hearts were broken. WE DIDN'T WANT TO BE RESCUED!
This rescue story is probably one that is quite interesting to hear about. But there are rescue stories that happened during our mission that are more important.
Mallory was a single mother of a 5 year old son and pregnant with another baby on the way Her boyfriend ditched her and ended up in jail. Mallory was homeless, although she didn't live on the street. A friend of the boyfriend took her in. Because of her 5 year old, someone invited them to a play-group where she met our branch president's wife and children. Mallory ad her son became friends with this family They invited her to listen to the missionary lessons, but she declined. One Sunday it was going to be the Primary program at Sacrament meeting. The branch president's girls invited Noah to come see them in the program. Because Noah wanted to go, Mallory agreed to go to church. Something in the program touched her She agreed to listen to the gospel message. She gained a testimony of the Book of Mormon and of God's plan of salvation or happiness. She learned to repent and find joy in living the gospel. She felt strongly the Lord's hand in her life that directed her to this time and place where she was RESCUED through the mercies and atonement of Jesus Christ.
Mallory was baptized. She found government housing but had no furniture or appliances. We taught her lessons on the floor for many weeks. Little by little the branch members helped her furnish her apartment. When her baby daughter was born, members and friends gave her diapers, food and baby equipment.
Mallory and her children never miss church except for illness. She was rescued spiritually and temporally. She found her place in Heavenly Father's family and a family within the branch membership. In all ways, she is no longer homeless. In all ways, she was rescued.
In the late 1700s in St. Croix, there were many plantations. Rum and sugar cane were heavily exported. Pirates abounded. Often china from Denmark was thrown overboard to lighten their loads. On the plantations when their china broke, they threw it outside. The children of the island would often take these pieces of china found along the beaches and the plantations and file it into round pieces and use it as play money. The combination of the words, "china" and "money" became "chaney". Today, there is a silversmith on island who has taken these broken shards and made them into beautiful pieces of jewelry. In a sense, he has taken garbage and made it into something valuable.
Just like chaney, Heavenly Father can create something beautiful from his children. As we repent, each of us can be rescued by a loving Heavenly Father.
"In paying for our sins, Jesus did not eliminate our agency or personal responsibility. He will not make you clean against your will." (Preach My Gospel pamphlet) If we want to be rescued, we need to show Him our desire to love Him and follow His commandments. He will not force us to be rescued.
In 1 Nephi 18:20, we read about Laman and Lemuel. They were on the ship crossing the ocean when they tied up Nephi. "And there was nothing save it were the power of God, which threatened them with destruction, could soften their hearts; wherefore, when they saw that they were about to be swallowed up in the depths of the sea they repented of the thing which they had done, insomuch that they loosed me." Laman and Lemuel temporarily repented, but it was a repentance based on FEAR that God would smite them.
Compare this to what we read in Alma 22:18. The great missionary, Aaron, was teaching the father of King Lamoni. The King's heart was touched by the Holy Ghost. He says, "O God, Aaron hath told me that there is a God; and if there is a God and if thou are God, wilt thou make thyself known unto me, and I will give away all my sins to know thee, and that I may be raised from the dead, and be saved at the last day."
The king desired to be rescued by the atonement of Jesus Christ. He learned to love God and gave away all his sins to know God. While on our mission, I learned to more fully repent and embrace repentance with joy because I love God our Father, and Jesus Christ. In a more everlasting and eternal way, as I repent, they extend their loving arms of eternal rescue and hope to me. And that is way greater and more eternal than any rescue on a mercy ship.
We can be rescued through repentance and our love for God. We can be rescuers to others like our branch president's wife was to Mallory. We don't need to wear a missionary tag to be able take around food and water to help rescue others who are sometimes hanging on by just a tiny thread. The gospel message is a message of love and rescue.
And now, because Brother Woolsey asked us to speak on gratitude, what kind of gratitude do you think we had for those on the mercy ship who treated us so kindly and fed us good food and provided electricity and air conditioning, all without payment? How much gratitude do you think Mallory feels each night as she tucks her children into actual beds and has food enough and a branch family to care for them? She has the hope of eternal family possibilities with a God who has forgiven her, loved her, and rescued her from a dark place in her life.
How much love and gratitude do I feel for Jesus Christ who suffered for my many sins and can rescue me if I but only turn my heart to Him? My cup over-floweth with gratitude for the experiences He has given me to trust on His ample arm. I WANT TO FIND MYSELF ON THE MERCY SHIP OF JESUS CHRIST,
I am grateful we don't have to live in the dark, physically or spiritually I am grateful that we have plenty to eat, physically and spiritually. I am grateful that we don't have to live in unbearable heat, physically or the heat of guilt and despair.
For all these things, I am grateful that our Lord and Savior can rescue us as we cry out,"Master, the tempest is raging, the billows are tossing high." As we give our hearts to him, we will know, "The winds and the waves will obey his will." We will feel the stillness and sweetness of peace as he rescues us from our storms.
I know the Book of Mormon is true. I love and value that Book. I know that we have a living prophet on earth in our day. I know that the gospel was restored through Joseph Smith. I know as we will obey the commandments that we an be rescuers and can be rescued ourselves. I am grateful for a loving Father in Heaven who provided a plan and a rescue for all of his children.
