Tsunami Warning...? (February 23, 2015)

'Ello! I wasn't going to mention it, but my parents heard about it, I guess.

I was reading my scriptures on Tuesday morning when I felt something that could be described as oddly similar to the earth quaking. "Do you feel that?" I said, watching a paper chain dancing on the wall. "I think it's an earthquake." Sister M said, no... oh wait, maybe, yeah. Gentle shaking for maybe thirty seconds.

Five minutes later, we got a call from the APs (assistants to the president): "Hey, Sisters. Did you feel that earthquake?" Affirmative. "Okay, well, there's been a tsunami warning, so you're supposed to get to high ground immediately." Holy smokes, right?

We had a little frenzy getting our ugly yellow emergency backpacks from the closet and trying to find the cell phone, because somehow we misplaced it in the two steps to the closet, but I confess I had a blast. The quake was so small (I've heard enough descriptions of the pre-Disaster quake to know it was harmless), so it wasn't remotely scary, and we waited for the elders and climbed up a hill, found a park, ate bananas (courtesy of Elder B) and climbed on the jungle gym. A local lady walked by and told us we were crazy for seeking high ground after such a minor quake, but we are obedient little missionaries so we stayed on that hill until the APs called us back. That was the adventure of the week:) 

***For those who might be feeling concern at this point in time, please don't worry, little quakes are a good thing. It releases tension between tectonic plates. If there are little quakes, it's actually safer than having that tension build up, which would result in a much larger and more destructive quake. I'm Lisa Luke, and I approve this message.***

Moral of the story: sometimes, we might do things that seem silly in the name of obedience. We might feel foolish choosing what we believe to be right, and we might sacrifice some other good things for it. But even if you don't see the benefit of getting to high ground when you know there will be no tsunami, if there comes a time when you are truly tested, you will know which hill to climb to get out of harm's way. The world can be a scary place, but I promise each of you that as we strive to follow God's plan for us, we can and will be happy; the choice is ours. I love you all very much. Thank you for your support and encouraging words.

P.S.

One more thing! Sorry for the long email... I was mailing one of my MTC friends and was giving kind of a language pep-talk-ish, and I thought what these lovely ladies said to me was inspiring and wanted to share it with all of you. Sorry for the additional text. Thanks:)

Yeah, I get you on the social thing... My companion is SUPER peppy and can talk with anyone, it's really inspiring, but definitely does push me a lil' bit. My companion and I had this super long talk about beanhood last night, and what we came out with was three things that I really liked: 1) Choose to be happy, 2) don't go home, and 3) if Satan tells you you're not good enough, tell him to bug off. Anything that says you're less than amazing is not of God.

Another thing I liked that a lady who was visiting our branch told me yesterday is this: it doesn't matter what language you speak, or if you can or can't do it well. It simply does not matter. What matters is that you show them love, because as representatives of Jesus Christ, that's our role; we weren't called to master a language or become good at talking to strangers easily, we were called to serve and to love these people, to show them that God loves them and that life is full of hope. Isn't that awesome? I love it, because at the end of the day, what matters is that you touched their hearts and their lives in a way they might not recognize, but someday, they will.

Pictures: A companionship mirror selfie, because, why not? And my beloved district on the jungle gyms. It's a terrible picture, but I need something to remember my first (and probably last) tsunami warning.

We had a potatoe chip party!!! Except no one actually knew how to make potatoe chips, so we kind of spun it in such a way that we made French fries instead, because fries are easy to make.

(Away for only a month and the Idaho Girl has already forgotten how to spell "potato." ヤベッ。)

(A few more random photos -- she didn't include any explanation.)