I spent time one morning rearranging Christmas decorations to try and get a good arrangement for a video my friend Jamie Jensen wanted us to do for her Relief Society lesson in our ward back home.
Glen was my guinea pig to see if this would be a good spot to make the video. We also need to video us, at some point in the near future, for our portion of the Christmas mission video.
Even though we didn't use this particular pose, and even though Jamie only used the video of me and not the one of Glen because I sent it later in the day and I don't think she saw it in time, I have decided I like having more red Christmas decorations in our formal living room--or the celestial room as we like to call it.
We had gotten notification of a fire burning near us and we could see the smoke moving in on us as we were driving to the mission office church building to have our second missionary follow-up meeting in the afternoon.
This is what the sky looked like when we pulled into the mission office parking lot.
I took this picture when we were halfway through our meeting.
At the end of the meeting, we had the missionaries pose for a photo on the steps like we usually do and then Glen broke the news to some of them that we had been notified they were in the mandatory evacuation area and they were to stay put in the building.
The fire was mainly in Fallbrook and some of Oceanside, but by bedtime Vista (where we were at the moment) was having mandatory evacuations as well. This included several of our senior missionary couples being uprooted late that night.
A carload of sisters and a companionship of elders had driven down from up north and the traffic was so bad and we didn't know if the road would eventually close for them, so we kept them at the building as well.
The fire was burning out of control and was headed our way.
We fed our ever-growing number of misplaced missionaries a pizza dinner before re-directing the elders to bunk up with other elders in safe areas.
I use the term "we" rather loosely as it was the assistants who were staying abreast of the road closures, the evacuation areas and assigning missionaries temporary places to go who had to evacuate all throughout the rest of the evening. They were cool, calm and collected manning "control central" as we were calling it.
They got this bunch of elders assigned out to stay with other elders and we sent the leftover pizza with each companionship to get them through the next day--or at least through breakfast if there happened to not be enough food where they would be staying.
We had the sisters come to our home. This was the group we initially thought was staying with us, but the numbers grew as the evening progressed.
A creative elder decided to illustrate what was going on in the Fallbrook area of our mission.
Our original group of sisters did not have anything with them except their study bag, so they went to the store to get toothbrushes, toothpaste and some even bought themselves pajamas.
The other sisters who joined us a little later in the evening had at least been put on alert to pack a bag and be ready for evacuation.
The sisters had been giggling and talking and having a great time for a while and then it got really quiet. When I walked by, I saw this scene which totally endeared all of them to me--which means they became even more dear to me as they were already extremely dear to me to begin with.
They were finding peace in the scriptures and enjoying the love and safety they felt being close to each other. Soon four more sisters joined in the slumber/scripture/prayer party before bedtime was upon us.
Here is the bonus of 14 sisters spending the night all crammed together in the mission president's house--FRENCH TOAST FOR BREAKFAST!!!!
We had the sisters who were shopping for toothbrushes pick up the necessary supplies to feed the whole bunch breakfast in the morning.
From the looks on their faces, I think they liked it.
The fire situation didn't look as bad in the morning since the winds had died down and it wasn't spreading our way any longer. Prayers were answered!!!
Looks like all the boxes of pass along cards and all the Christmas packages for the missionaries that are overflowing into Glen's office at the church are going to be safe. WHEW!!
We learned most of our missionaries could return to their apartments by that evening. There were two sets of missionaries right in Fallbrook which were affected the most. They were homeless for several days.
The good news is none of our apartments were affected. It was a huge relief to learn we would not have to find new apartments, replace furniture and re-wardrobe missionaries. Such a blessing!!!
Glen just keeps on repeating his favorite phrase (which one of the sister missionaries painted so beautifully on our bulletin board). Through thick and thin he has the same attitude...
Honestly, we are so thankful our paradise did not burn down. We are counting our blessings and naming them one by one...
- 160 missionaries were unharmed by the fire
- all our senior missionaries are safe and sound
- the huge, double chapel mission office church did not burn down
- no other churches in our mission were burned
- we lost no vehicles due to the fire
- our home was not in the evacuation area
- all companionships are now back in their own apartments
- etc., etc., etc.
We have even more than our usual allotment of blessings to be thankful for these days!!
