No Power in Puerto Rico - My Brother in a Hurricane

I have a brother who, along with his wife, went to serve as a missionary for a few years in Puerto Rico. Soon after their arriving in the island, I got a text with a picture of my brother and his wife with my neighbors of 20+ years! They had recently moved into a new home and went out as missionaries but I hadn't heard where there were going. It was so fun to see them working together. Both are amazing couples with very large families and are hard workers.  

After the first hurricane hit the islands, we were super happy to hear that all the missionaries in country were well and they had power and water soon after. When Maria hit, the reports have been rough.

This was the first report from them after Maria:

"Update on my parents. They texted a few days ago and said things were looking bad. They were on minimum food rations, sewage was backing up, they were having to boil water because water can't be found anywhere on the island, and the generators broke at the mission home so no more power. The heat and humidity has been tremendous, given that they are still having some rain. A curfew was in effect on the island at 4p because things were a little dangerous and emergency crews were needing to work through the night. Here is their text from very late last night:

"As you probably know by now, we are evacuating our missionaries from this island. We sent off 36 sisters yesterday and hope to send the balance of the sisters tomorrow with the elders shortly thereafter. Mom and I will likely stay behind to help close the sixty apartments and move all furniture, fridges, washing machines, beds, etc, to storage and clean out each unit and secure each of our vehicles. It is really rough right now but we continue as best we can with the work. We had a baptism yesterday evening and the Spirit was so strong. We continue to see miracles on every front. We have had people of every faith ask us for help and also cheer and clap as we take out groups of missionaries to help clean up. We worried about where to park all of our vehicles. At first, the President suggested just driving all of the missionaries to the airport and then just leaving the vehicles at the airport. I felt that we should take them to the nearby stake center but we didn't have a key to the gate. We could not call anyone because the phone systems were all down.

When we arrived, a family drove by and asked if we needed help. He happens to serve on the High Council there and mom asked if he happened to have a key to the gate. He said he did and was able to let us in and we were able to park the cars there. The President asked me to fill the van with gas because we were so low with all the trips to the airport etc. but there are lines nearly a mile long at any gas station open that happens to have gas and due to tempers and violence, nearly all police are kept busy monitoring the lines there. So I had a group of missionaries learn how to take off the hose from the top of our gas tanks to bypass the anti siphon apparatus on the cars and siphoned gas from some of our vehicles that we are storing and was able to fill the van. We had instructed all to fill their tanks before the storm and most were obedient and this helped us in this time of emergency. Mom got up early and waited in line at the first grocery store that was to open and used our personal cash since the credit card machine was down to buy a truckload of food to help feed all 150 missionaries. We were grateful that our daughter was able to bring down the cash to us when she visited. We love you all and feel your prayers!"

A few days ago, we got this update. "Hi all. I want to give you all an update on things. We were having difficulty getting seats on flights for our missionaries and we're only able to get 37 out after three days of trying and so the church chartered a jet from Miami to come and pick up the rest of us. We were told at first that we could choose but then were told to pack up and so we did but didn't feel good about it. Mom and I prayed to receive a confirmation that we should go and did not receive it and then we prayed to know if we should stay and did receive a confirmation. We sent a text to the president letting him know of our desire to stay and the many reasons why but told him we had our bags packed and in the car and would "bow our heads and say yes" if the brethren still wanted us to leave. The president spoke with the powers that be and they agreed to let us stay and now we have been given a mountain load of things to do. One job is to help with the humanitarian relief coordination. We went to two airports to pick up donations being flown in today and one of the planes didn't make it in time and couldn't land because the airport still doesn't have landing lights. We are blessed to now have two battery operated fans today and are excited that we might get more sleep. Our freezer finally lost all of the coolness from all of the frozen water bottles and if we don't get power soon, we may have to throw out the balance of the food. Our plan to freeze additional water bottles at two different locations failed as one generator broke and the other ran out of fuel."

Also they said they have been able to give out two copies of the Book of Mormon, so I am sure a lot of good will come from their efforts!"

Please keep them, and all the missionaries and people suffering losses from these hurricanes and earthquakes around the world, in your prayers!  

Have a Blessed Day and weekend!