Monday, October 5, 2015

All is well :)


 


Hey y'all!
This week has been quite out of the ordinary! So transfers are on Wednesday! To end the suspense I am now serving in Camden with Sister Harvey! Camden is about 30 or 45 minutes away from Columbia! Fun fact is that the very bottom of our area touches the very top of FortJackson! Also we are replacing a set of Elders so that's fun as well! So Sister Harvey and I arrived at our apartment! We realized that the Elders left a list of names of people we should visit and had their dots up on a map for us, but did not leave any indication of who was who on the map. As a missionary plan for our next day activities entirely based off of these area maps, so we quickly realized that we would be unable to really plan and work until we fixed the map. So we spent most of the afternoon on Thursday working on the map. Then we went out to a few appointments. We planned to follow a similar schedule Friday where we spent the afternoon on the map and then go out and work the evening. 10 minutes before our break we got a voicemail from our zone leaders saying that because of the hurricane in the Bahamas that the Carolinas were going to be hit by a "historical amount of rain". And starting after dinner we were being put on lockdown until further notice. We did not have very much food at our apartment so we spent our dinner break running to Walmart and buy food along with the rest of the city of Camden. The funny part was that it the mad rush for food the things that were out were chips, sugar, and bananas. So I guess I know what's considered good food storage here haha!

Then the lockdown started. Basically lockdown means you can't leave your apartment. Saturday the rain wasn't too bad, at least where we were. But Saturday we got a text from the zone leaders saying we were still in lockdown until Monday morning. Sunday the rain was a lot harder, but still not too bad. We later learned that the storm had been much worse other places. The Columbia church building, where I was just last week, has three stories and the flooding reached all the way to the third floor. Also there has been some flood in Camden, we just can't see if from our apartment window. We consider ourselves very lucky that the only problem we have had is that our ceiling has a little leak in it. The other excitement is that yesterday we got a text saying that South Carolina has issued a warning about the water so we have to boil all of our water before we drink it. So we spent a good portion of yesterday boiling water and finding containers to put it in. Also last night we got another call from the zone leaders informing us that South Carolina had declared a state of emergency and that we were to continue to go on lock down. We got another voicemail this morning saying that we will continue to be on lockdown until at least Tuesday morning. But we had permission to get a member to take us to the store to buy food. Luckily the elders that split Camden with us helped us to find a member to drive us to Walmart and luckily Walmart has wifi so I can quickly send out this email to let y'all know where I am and how I am doing! So I actually am writing this in my apartment so I can just hit send in Walmart haha!

Also funny fact is that because of this lockdown we were in our apartment for 74 hours straight haha! But I am doing safe! We are doing good and we are in a very lucky situation where the storm is not affecting us very much! The saddest part of this weekend was because of the lockdown we were unable to watch General Conference. But I am grateful for the gift of technology so I will be able to read and watch it later! So yay technology! I hope y'all have a blessed a safe week! Love y'all!

Love always, Sister Amy Bennett :)

Walmart shelves are empty for Sugar, chips and bananas

Boiling water!!!!  Lock down excitement!


Sister Bennett and Sister Harvey in front of their new apartment before the storm!

Package from Laura arrived just before the lockdown!

 The Package that saved us during Lock down

Lock down button creatures!