Hey Everyone,
It was SO good to call home on Mother's Day! I'm so glad I got to talk to my family! It was a great call home! Corey and I only have one more phone call home, at Christmas, and then we'll be home! That is so crazy to think about! But he and I still have a while!
So, you'll never guess what happened yesterday! Well, maybe because of the subject line. Hermana Xiques and I were tracting, and it was a little before 5. We heard there were supposed to be thunderstorms, but it was sunny when we started tracting. Hermana Xiques was like, I hope it rains. I said nothing. Then it starts raining just a little. Then it starts pouring, so we go back to the car to get our jackets. I didn't want to put my jacket on because it was hot, like high 80s/low 90s. But I didn't want to get wet. Then we walk back to the door we left off on. Suddenly, off in the distant, we hear some noise, Hermana Xiques thought it was a tornado siren. I thought it was a train, BUT I knew that I hadn't heard a single train up here. I told her it was a train, hoping she wouldn't freak out or worry. She tends to get scared a little more easily then I do. Then I go to knock this door I've been standing in front of for like a minute or so, and the tornado siren goes off. Hermana Xiques starts freaking out, we link arms and run off to our car. Hermana Xiques kept saying, what do we do, what do we do!?!? I wasn't too worried, except that I hadn't been told what to do in this situation. And it's not like either of us are with Hermana Whiting or Hermana Alas to tell us what to do.
We get in the car, and we start calling our leaders-district leader: Elder Bass...no answer, zone leaders: Elder Kleinman and Elder Call...no answer, APs (they each have their own phone): Elder Olsen...no answer & Elder Reed...no answer, President Gee...no answer. Hermana Xiques was like, President Gee is probably in his storm shelter, having left his phone upstairs, thinking they'll (we'll) figure it out. Haha! I knew that wasn't true. I knew that President Gee was on the phone with the APs or some missionary telling them what to do. We also couldn't really get signal on our phone, and I was like, maybe it's due to the weather. I probably shouldn't have said that because Hermana Xiques was just like, great, so what happens if we can't call anyone. I just started driving to our apt because I didn't know what else to do. By the time we were a block from the apt, Elder Bass called saying to go to the apt. Surprise! Then after being home for a little bit, Elder Bass calls again saying the APs told us to get in a bathtub or doorway. We didn't think much of it because it was just raining really hard, and by the time we got that information the storm seemed to be settling down. In times like these, we wish we could watch the news. But we can't. We just have to depend our on leaders to tell us what we need to do. We seriously couldn't believe this was happening, especially after I was like, it's not a tornado. Haha!
Well, we did get in our bathtub at one point, but not for long. Oh, and there was supposed to be golf-ball sized hail. The hail came, but it was like between the size of a pebble and a rock and it lasted for like two seconds. A member called us, Hna. Veronica Morales. She was in the south on 44th and Penn (that's close to the church I used to go to down there and my apt down there). She said the sky was black, and she saw a tornado touch the ground. Hermana Xiques and I were so jealous we weren't in the south because there was more action happening down there. Anyway, the rain stopped here in the north, and around 6pm Elder Bass called saying we could go back out.
Later on that night, Elder Reed (one of the APs) called us, I think returning our call (who knows), and he told us all about their adventures down in the south. Apparently they were at Hibdon Tires and saw the news about the tornado and everything. They did have golf-ball sized hail which dented the top of their truck. Oh, and it gets better... because the hail was so bad some of the windows in their apt complex were shattered. Pretty crazy, huh?
Anyway, I didn't really see anything because the tornadoes around us never hit us, but if I had still been in the south I'm sure I would have seen some pretty crazy things. But it was kind of fun to experience my first tornado warning.
Don't worry, we're still working hard. We had 3 investigators at church this past Sunday! It was great! Also, 2 of them were from Watonga. Watonga is an hour away, and Sister Christensen, a lady from a completely different ward that lives like 40 minutes from us, takes us there every week. There are members in Watonga and investigators, but they're all the same family-the Reza family. They are AWESOME! I love them! The biggest problem is the distance! When we drove out there for the first time last week, we drove through nothing! I asked Sister Christensen if this is more what Oklahoma was like and she said yes. Being in the city, I don't really feel like I'm in the middle of nowhere where there is nothing, but I definitely am.
So, church was wonderful! Miguel Tepaz also came. He's one of our investigators too. We've taught him a few times since I've been here and he seems GOLDEN! The first time we went over, loud music was coming from his house, and he came outside and seemed out of it (he was drinking), and Hermana Xiques and I didn't even get a chance to introduce me. Then a few days later we were in the area and went by. He was home, and we taught him the Word of Wisdom. He told us that he had stopped drinking on his own for two months, but Saturday, when we had gone by he had returned into his old ways. He almost started crying. He commited to live the WOW. Then we went by and taught him lesson 3, the gospel of Jesus Christ (faith, repent, baptism, Holy Ghost, endure to end), and two of his roommates joined us. He wants to be baptized! Then he told us we should teach his friends the WOW. We did, and they said they would live it. He lives in a house with 5 other guys. If we can get them to listen, maybe they all help each other live the WOW.
We have some awesome people, but we also do a lot of tracting. But it's all good! I love it!
Oh, on Sunday I ran into a girl who I used to work with at BYU-I in the bookstore, Brittany. It was so weird to see her in Oklahoma. It felt like we should be in Idaho. Apparently, she's selling alarm systems for Apex this summer, and she'll go back to BYU-I in the fall. It's a small world after all!
Today we are going to go play soccer and hopefully the spanish south district is coming up! I'm SO excited! Man, I LOVE sports! I'm not that great, but it's so fun!
Well, I love you all tons! I hope all is well with you and your families! Thanks for all y'all do for me and Corey! And Corey is good! he has two more transfers (two periods of 6 weeks) until the mission closes I believe, and his transfers are this week, but I won't know until next week whether he'll stay or get transferred or if he'll stay zone leader.
Love,
Hermana Christina Hogewoning
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