At the end of Hils last hand-written letter The very next night Kyle (Hils brother) says: "Did
you hear about the big Ice Storm in the Northeast?
2 1/2 million people are without power."
I thought "nah--she's probably alright! The storm
most likely affected people closer to the coast."
On Sunday the 14th I e-mailed the mission home and
received this reply Monday: "Yes we did have an ice
storm and your Daughter and her companion are staying
with a member family because they don't have power in
their apartment until Thursday or Friday this week.
They came to my ward yesterday and they look great."
On Tuesday 12/16 we received this e-mail from Hilary:
"what an eventful week i tell ya! one i will never ever forget? i don't know if it's been on the news in the u.s. but last thurs/fri we had an icredible ice storm! It was so crazy! so on thursday night we heard that the weekend was supposed to be really bad and that we would have 'freezing rain'. that night after our dinner appointment we walked outside and we were sliding all over the place bc there was ice covering the streets. so the next morning we woke up to snow plow lights blinkin and beeping like crazy and no electricity! we looked outside (from our 2 layers of blankets covering the windows to block the wind draft) and everything was just COVERED in ice! I mean literally! so we tried messin around with the circuit breaker and uh--no luck. then we went outside bc cmon no heat/electricity, lets at least take pics! so we walk outside and there are trees half broken or completely up-rooted everywhere. and you could still hear like a crack and then a huge tree would fall or one of it's limbs or something which was scary bc we are out in the boonies and there are trees surrounding us everywhere! but don't worry mom we were careful...so we ate icicles alot that morning bc I thought it was just the coolest thing! then we walked over to the park across the street and saw the major damage. power lines were down bc the tree pole they were on had fallen over bc other trees hit them. so we realized why the electricity was not working. then a lady in our ward called and invited us over to her house bc she has a wood stove so it would be warmer than our house and she was able to cook. so we cleaned our apt while the sun was out and then headed over around 4 to eat and every candle was lit in ther house so we could have a little light, and we walked around with flashlights and stuff. oh and by the way there were 2 other families there besides us and the johnsons. one of them was dillon and danielle whose baby i told you all about ...ended up passing away on wednesday. so we had 14 people in a little home with a wood stove as the heat source and 2 new babies and 4 toddlers running around. we managed to get through the night with bout 4 hours of sleep. so we woke up that morning with no shower once again and we didn't know what to do bc people were leaving to go to motels and there just wasn't anything we could do as far as missionary work went...so we called pres england and what does he say? 'go to one of the members homes and take a shower, charge your cell phone, etc.' we're like'pres-no one in our area or ward boundaries has electricity.' no one really knew how bad it was or anything. so after we told him that, he started to understand what was really happening and the fact that we weren't supposed to have electricity back until the middle of next week. so he told us to drive down to the mission home with our clothes and stuff packed for a few days staying out here closer to the mission home. so we went home and packed and expected to be back by monday for the baby's funeral. president found us a beautiful home to stay in with some members in his ward. so we drove to the englands passing through our town with trees fallen down on top of cars and houses to about 20-30 minutes from our town were there was no snow or any sign of a ice storm...no wonder people had no clue what was going on. when we got to the mission home, pres took one look and he says do you want to take a shower here and get cleaned up? we about cried we were so happy! haha then we stayed at their home for a couple of hours and ate lunch and talked with sis england. then the lund's (the cute family pres arranged to let us stay at) called and so we went over and their home was so warm and comfy!! it was so nice of them to just let us stay and feed us. but we have recently found out that our power is back on and so we're leaving to go back home soon... the reason I am writing today is that there is supposed to be another ice storm tomorrow as well!! oh boy--pray for us! i'm so lucky to have been with such an amazing companion! i love her to death! so we have had a WILD week! pics are soon to come and you'll all feel my joy of the beauty of 'freezing rain' but also think and imagine the pain of the literal'freezing' part. I hope you're all okay out in az with your 'cold' 60 degree weather! oh man...don't catch a cold! everyone take care! i will talk to you all soon!! woop woop! love you! love, shw
3 comments:
Oh my gosh! I hate driving in the snow even here in Provo so I can't even begin to imagine what it is like there. Good to hear that all is safe and sound with her though. What in the world are they going to do with 2 1/2 million people w/out power. HOw scary! Makes me happy that Mesa has such normal weather!
That picture is nuts!! I'm glad Hilary is surviving that crazy weather. I cannot imagine driving in it!! WOW.
Wow!! So different from AZ weather, that's for sure! Hello Hilary & family :) Hope you are all doing well! See you soon Hilary!
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