Missionary Moments #13--November 30, 2014

What an interesting week this has been.  And actually a perfect week to be grateful for so many things!  We were so excited to have the missionaries come for dinner.  The menu was made, grocery list compiled, and on Monday night the shopping was done.  They mentioned that a snow front was coming our way and about 11:00 a.m. Wednesday morning the snow started to fall.  Not a problem--we were prepared--at least we thought we were.  We left work about noon so I could pick up some bowls and dishes to serve the dinner in and planned to spend the rest of the day making the pies.  When we got home I decided it may be a late night so I would take a little nap.  After the nap I made us some dinner and started the pie crust extravaganza.  All was well until we were in total darkness.  The electricity was off and actually stayed off until Friday afternoon.  Since you are reading this you know that it ended well.  You can read the blog about our Thanksgiving dinner but I wanted to share some reminders I gained out of this experience.  Reminder 1-You are never as prepared as you think you are.  We had coats, sweaters, gloves, hats, snow shovel, the right kind of windshield wiper fluid, automatic starting car, cat litter(!) and so we confidently said, "let the snow begin!"  What we didn't have was flashlights, fully charged tablets, or enough food to eat when there is an electric stove but no electricity.  Reminder 2-Always live by young healthy missionaries.  Talk about sweet, positive, hardworking young men.  I can't wait for my grandsons and granddaughters who serve missions in the coming years to become lifesavers to so many in need (both spiritually and physically). Reminder 3-If you don't laugh, you may cry.  When we were locked out of our apartment I would have absolutely cried buckets of tears but it was so typical of some of our experiences lately that it just got me laughing, especially when we were back in the apartment.  Reminder 4-When you have a prompting to do something--do it!  I had mentioned to Scott a week or so ago that we should probably buy some lanterns for the apartment in case the electricity went out.  He agreed but we didn't.  You see what I mean. Having the lights wouldn't have solved all the problems we encountered but it would have kept us out of Walmart on Thursday night (during some crazy people shopping time) to buy flashlights because all the lanterns were sold out.  And last, Reminder 5-You are never alone.  During this time I had a strong sense that we were being comforted and protected and that although inconvenient we could do what needed to be done.  Just the week before I was in a 17th century one room house with no lights, paper on the windows, and smoke permeating our clothes from the small fireplace.  I remember thinking how wonderful these people were to have endured so much and how blessed we are not to have to.  Two days without electricity is very doable--don't you think?