Stuff Happens

In the aftermath of the storms and floods people are wondering, "Why me?" And "Why didn't President Eyring command the storms and floods to abate--he was here in Laie?" I guess he could have. But what would we have learned? Stuff happens to everyone. The rain falls on the just and the unjust. Had we not had a house built up a little higher then the others, we would have flooded too.

So going back to my question, "What DID we learn?" We learned that here in our little community it feels good to help others. We got involved in helping others through their pain. There is nothing more rewarding than that. We had a "Soup Kitchen" the night after the flood with 6 or 7 families joining us to have dinner where they could sit in a dry, clean house. It was great to visit with each other while their kids watched TV and played in the loft (they loved the stairs--no one has stairs around here). We all thought that it was about time we got together. Sometimes disasters bring people together. They stop their busy lives and just appreciate the simple things. Some people had no way to wash all the towels, etc they used to mop up their houses. Their washers and dryers didn't work or they just had no energy to do the wash after all the work of pulling out carpet to be hauled away. So we opened the Gollaher laundromat. On Mutual night, Greg took Young Men around helping families move furniture, boxes, etc. I went with the Young women in the daytime to help clean, pack boxes and offer other assistance. The Relief Society and High priests organized dinner one night to be taken to each family in need in the ward. People were so generous.

And we learned that it is important to simplify your life and keep your homes organized. The people with the most work to do were the ones that had their houses and garages full of junk. The people who were organized, threw out unwanted items on a regular basis and kept their places neat and clean had far less problems digging out. We are definitely going to get all our photos digitized and on CD's this year. Our floors and spare beds were filled with our neighbor's photos laid out to dry. Yeah--we gotta do that this year.

I am REALLY grateful we didn't flood. And I am grateful that we could help. It was good to see the Gospel in Action!