Hey everyone! Sorry for the late email! It's pretty crazy out here!
On Monday, we all came together as a zone in Gonzaga. Since there is no electricity, lots of people will use generators. But in Gonzaga, the computer shop didn't have signal so I couldn't email yesterday. A lot of missionaries won't be able to email for quite a while. When I figured that out, I was pretty bummed. Then we came to our area, and luckily for us, there is signal! So with special permission from our zone leaders I get to email on Tuesday instead of yesterday!
So, right after our study as we were walking to a recent convert's house we received a phone call from President Andrada. I didn't hear much from the call but as soon as he finished we turned around. I asked where we were going and my companion answered "back to our apartment. President Andrada said to travel back to Laoag." I was pretty surprised. Laoag is about 7-8 hours away from our area.
We packed our things for a couple of days and left. Soon we ran into many other missionaries and took a bus back to Laoag. After talking to everyone, apparently President Andrada pulled all the missionaries out of Cagayan which is 1 of the 3 sections of our mission. He put all the missionaries in a hotel and that is where we stayed for 2 days. All of the missionaries loved it, because there was hot water there and all we did was talk to each other the whole time. I got to see a lot of my old batch from the Provo MTC including my old companion Elder Odermott. We were all completely fine.
When the typhoon did hit us, it was a signal 3 out of 5. Honestly I slept through the whole storm. It did storm pretty bad after during the day but for the most part it wasn't bad. I was just really worried for all of the members and people back in Sta. Terisita. If the typhoon was said to be as strong as it was, I didn't know who would survive.
Well after we got an all clear, we made emergency packs filled with rice, cans and water. I got to try Jollibee's for the first time, which is their version of McDonalds here (even though they also have McDonalds here) which was pretty good. It was weird to have spaghetti as fast food but it was good! Anyways after we ate and did some service we were all sent back to our areas.
I wasn't expecting to see my apartment still standing but a miracle happened. Everyone and most everything was fine. All the people were fine and all my things were fine. There was some damage but nothing extreme. Some Elders lost parts of their roofs but in all everything is okay. I saw videos of what the typhoon looked like though, and there was brown water up to everyone's knees when we were back in Laoag. Luckily all the water drained out and everyone is okay. I am very happy that everyone is fine and for the prayers that were all given for everyone here.
The only thing different for us now is we won't have electricity for a long time. It could be months. We also have to now pump our water but always look on the bright side right? Now, there is no air or light pollution here, and the sky is exceptionally beautiful. These past couple nights I can't stop looking at the sky while we were walking. So things are starting to swing back into normal. It is just a little hotter when no one has electricity but the spirit is still strong when I teach. I am getting better at testifying to the people and I can definitely feel the spirit.
Despite everything that has happened here, I am still so happy to be able to be serving in Laoag. We may not have lights or running water but if the people here can survive, so can I. It's still pretty hard out here and it might stay like that for a while, but I will continue to find the diamonds in the sand.
No storm can stop the Lord's work! Till next week, let's see how life goes!
-Elder Espiritu
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