Puerto Rico's "SNOW DAY"?

January 12, 2020

On Tuesday the 7th of January, 2020, 4:24 a.m. the bed was shaking and I thought Kyle was itching his legs desperately from all the mosquito bites he had encountered the night before. I finally opened my eyes and to my surprise he wasn't in bed. Then he came thorough the bedroom door and said, "Did you feel that?"

The condo's generator outside had already kicked on (no help to us) and even though I was surprised, I basically rolled over and went back to sleep. A second one came about 7 a.m. At this point, I was more awake and decided that I better cancel my early classes with VIPkids. Again, not being too concerned, I went back to bed, grateful for the "SNOW DAY" in Puerto Rico and that I could sleep and get some extra rest. Kyle went outside to check for a tsunami and talk to the neighbors who were already packing up to leave. Within hours, our condominium was a ghost town and everyone had left except for about three of us.

When I finally got up, I was wondering what to do on this "SNOW DAY". We would be home with no power/lights, so our options seemed limited. I got the idea to clean and varnish the doors to our pantry closets. They needed to be done in the summer when we cleaned this place, but it was on the low-priority list. So we just hung out and waited for the power to come back on. Finally about 8 p.m. we realized that the power wasn't going to come back on and that we should probably start figuring out what was going on in Puerto Rico. I was trying to conserve the power on my phone. We didn't have any gas for our generator. We had bought the generator in the summer when we didn't have any power and when we were trying to electric sand and power paint this place. Kyle tried a few times to go get gas, but the lines were too long and when we he went that evening, there was no gas left. Talk about a lesson on the parable of the Ten Virgins! Right?

I believe one reason we were so nonchalant about the situation was because we had lived here without power for over a week in the summer when we were waiting for the power company to bring a meter and turn the power on. We learned to adapt pretty quickly. You work with the sun and the moon. It's like getting back to ancient times. The sun and the moon directs your day. Anyway, we decided to just go to bed early and hope for a better tomorrow.

On Wednesday morning the 8th of January we left super early to our other Condo hoping that we would be able to teach our classes online. VIPkid only gives you six absences and I was already at five. I was hoping that my contract would not be terminated. Besides that, I had the Outschool classes to teach that day too. Luckily, we had power at Castillos. We learned that our area was ONE of only a few that had power. We felt spoiled rotten and blessed to be able to work.

Thursday was an eye opener as we traveled down south where the earthquakes had been the strongest. Kyle has families that he baptized in the eighties who live in Guayanilla. We wanted to check on them; plus, we were invited by Light Up Puerto Rico, a non-profit organization, to help set up tents (casetas) for people in the church who could not go inside their house. We worked all day, unfortunately in the blazing sun, for which I paid for later. Although there were places of devastation, it was better shape than I had thought it would be. We were able to see Kyle's mission "Dad" who is in bed in his eighties after a stroke. Little children were running around as happy as could be.

Guayanilla Pueblo

Setting up Casetas (tents) in Guayanilla.

Kids at the Torres Family's Home

Brother Torres - Kyle's mission "DAD"

Taking time to play - Torres home

First time I have worn one of these!

We have felt more earthquakes everyday including another strong one 6.1, which happened Saturday morning. I was teaching a student and all the sudden my desk and my computer started shaking. Even though it was only seconds long, it felt like minutes. I told my student, "Wow, I am experiencing another earthquake right now!" with a smile on my face like I was enjoying it. I was actually just hoping the power would stay, because I knew it was a big one.

I hit a low on Saturday (keeping it real) when we moved back from Castillos to our regular condo Cala. Everything was left in a mess after living in the dark for the first few days. I don't do well in clutter. I would say I am allergic to it. It makes me hyperventilate, have a headache, and very grouchy. Paquita, a sweet lady from the ward had invited us over on Tuesday (SNOW DAY)and when it didn't happen, she had rescheduled for Saturday. I forced myself to go and asked Kyle to help keep the visit short.

Paquita was the just the medicine I needed. With her sweet, upbeat personality she shared her cooking skills, her beautiful house, and her amazing garden-like yard with me. It soothed my spirits (and my headache) and gave me that boost I needed to go forward. When I got home and I was able to clean up all the messes and prepare for Sunday. I thought... " to me, that is ministering. I just needed sisterly time, someone to pull me out of the dumps and Paquita did it."

She gave us some starfruit, which is AMAZING, two kinds of bananas, and some starter plants. I don't think she knows how much I needed that. I don't think she'll ever know how much it meant to me. Please, love the people you minister to (including your family) even if it is a simple act, phone call, or smile, they need you!