For the past few weeks we have been sending our Tacloban missionaries back to their original mission. I had posted a picture of Sister Bingham and Sister Sousa. This coming Monday, Sister Smith, Sister Dumas, Sister Kalonihea, Elder Andus, and Elder Solomon have been called back to Tacloban. It is hard to send them back, as we have learned to love them so much. They are terrific missionaries.
Each missionary has expressed their desire to serve their Heavenly Father wherever He sends them, but the return is bittersweet as they have learned to love the Cebu Mission and President Schmutz.
After Sister Bingham's return to Tacloban, we received an email from her. I will condense the information.
After 2 days of work and a talk with the mission president about how to get the mission back running, including new goals and exact obedience, we went outside and it had started to rain. Back at the apartment, we received a text from the Zone Leaders saying we weren't allowed to work for the rest of the day because another typhoon was headed our way.
After picking up a phone charger, the power went out. When we got home, miraculously the power came back and we charged our battery. After eating dinner, we knelt down to open our planning. As soon as my companion said, "amen," the power went out again.
By the time we had finished our planning session, it was raining ridiculously hard outside. After talking to the other sisters on the phone to see how they were doing, our roof suddenly started leaking - a lot! Rugs and pots could not catch all the water, and in about 30 seconds, the water was about a foot high. We had moved some of our things from our luggage on the floor up on the top of the dressers.
I was standing on a chair, watching the water rise. It was all happening all over again. My companion strongly suggested that we go to the roof. When she opened the door, she got pushed back because of all the water. When I stepped off the chair to follow her, the water was up past my knees. A man began climbing on our gate, yelling at us to get to the roof.
On the roof, people were crying and yelling. All we could think of was that we had gotten evacuated because of a Typhoon, then we returned, and two days later we were experiencing a flash flood. As we looked down the street, the water was up to some of the house roofs. We decided we had better call President Andaya and tell him our situation.
After I hung up, I looked around me and saw all of the families and all of the kids crying. I thought, "How can I help these people?" A thought came to my mind that we should just pray with them. So, that is what we did. We went around to each family or group and prayed with all the people. Me and my companion took turns saying the prayers.
I said the first prayer. I prayed that the water would start going down, and it wouldn't get any higher. And right after that, it did. About our 4th or 5th prayer, my companion was praying, and she prayed that the rain would stop, and then it did. One girl said she felt really calm after we finished praying. We were able to bear our testimonies to a lot of people who really needed it. When we finished praying with all the people, no one was crying or freaking out anymore. The spirit was strong and my own testimony was strengthened as I knew the Lord really does protect and watch over his people.
After about an hour or so, the roads were clear, and President Andaya and an office elder came and found us and took us back to the mission home, where we spent the night. All of our books, letters, and clothes were once more destroyed.
At the district conference, people were really happy to see the sister missionaries again. Elder Teh of the 70 was there. He was so concerned about us, and asked if we wanted to go back to our other mission or go home. I told him I just really wanted to stay in Tacloban where I was called.
The next day we drove around Tacloban with President Andaya. It is amazing how much of the town has been re-built. The schools and lots of the stores are re-opened now. So many foreigners have come to help this country rebuild. It's amazing that so many would give up a few months of their lives to go to a destroyed city in a third world country to make other peoples' lives better.
I know that the gospel is true. I know that we have the power to still be positive in the most difficult situations of our lives, and I also know that our trials really do help us become better people. I don't think I've ever looked at trials as a good thing before my mission, but going through a flash flood has changed my outlook on life. It really has helped me see how temporary our "stuff" is. One guy on the roof was saying, "Sisters, when it started to flood, I didn't grab anything except my four-year old son."
I love being a representative of Jesus Christ. I'm so grateful that Heavenly Father put us on that roof, so we could help other people feel His love for them. No matter how hard our lives are, we ALWAYS have something to be grateful for. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Sister Bingham concludes with:
PS - Don't tell my mission president I went swimming - haha
