Hello from Idaho!: The Rains Came Down and the Floods Came Up!

What a week! Idaho is flooding! Rewind before that happened....

Last Tuesday we went on exchanges. I was with Sister Merrell, from Snowflake, AZ! Go AZ! :) Her and I had lots of fun. We made some connections to people that we both know. Small world. :) #Mormons That morning, we woke up to more snow!! Remember last Monday when it was a "heat wave"? Yeah, well most of the snow melted, and it was completely a surprise to wake up to everything being white again! When Sister Merrell and I tried to go out for the day... (in their 2 wheel-drive Chevy Cruize) and FAILED! haha There was too much snow and ice, the car wasn't moving. We tried for an hour to push it out, but still failed. Finally, when we gave up and were about to go inside, a member drove by and pushed us out. :) Yay!

On Wednesday we had district meeting. I gave a 20 minute training on "Preparing Investigators for Baptism and Confirmation." I started off by having our district leader do 100 push ups... He only made it to 57 then gave up. I had another elder to it too, but he only made it to like, 12. haha After this, I tied it in to preparing to do anything physically challenging, specifically running a marathon or an Iron Man. Just like preparing to do that, we need to help investigators prepare to make the covenants made at baptism, otherwise it's going to be a lot harder for them, just like it would be harder to run a marathon if one was not properly prepared.

Okay, so the rest of the week............................

THE FLOOD!!!!!

We started seeing the effects of the flood on Wednesday. The water was rushing over the roads, flooding into people's basements, causing roads to collapse... CRAZY STUFF! Wednesday night we went over the President Tateoka's house (currently serving as the mission president in Salem, Oregon) because the youth and many members of the ward were helping clean up. His house got the worst hit. The whole basement filled with water TO THE TOP. 8 FEET FULL OF WATER. How sad! :( They had to throw everything away and completely gut it out. They were also hauling out buckets of mud. Attached is a picture.

The next 2 days we went around offering service to people whose houses were flooded, but most people had it taken care of. This has never happened here, so people weren't prepared... But man! It's been crazy!

Although this flooding has been happening, we have still seen success! We found 4 new investigators this week, and I am really excited to teach these people. I kinda just wanna stay here forever! haha

Yesterday, our afternoon ward was CANCELLED! Never in my life have I had church cancelled and this is the second time this year. haha This was due to the country roads out north being so bad, it would be hard for people to make it to church...

Ponderize: 2 Nephi 2:25

Men are, that they might have joy.

Yesterday at church (the ward that wasn't cancelled) all of the topics throughout the day focused on having JOY! Interesting, as everyone's houses are flooding... It's so cool to see people come together in service and happy attitudes. I've never experienced a "natural disaster" before, but I can say...Saints know how to do it right--JOYFULLY! Even though it was a focus during church, I feel like it's been one of those topics or principles that I am learning to live right now. When life is tough...it's okay. Push along. I also had the opportunity to ponder the blessings of living the Plan of Salvation to help my mom with her talk she gave yesterday... I came to the conclusion that the greatest blessing is JOY! I have felt so much joy as I live it and as I see others start to live it. Yay for happiness!! :D

From Idaho to you,

XoXo

Sister Carling