Hi Everyone,

So it is like just another week here... another week of interesting occurrences. As you might know I did not get to email last week because of Juan the super typhoon so I will get you an update on what has taken place in my life.

As I left you last week I didn't know what was going to happen to my current companion and I was with the elders from Ilagan 2nd Ward. Tuesday morning our mission President called and informed me that my companion is coming back (that was the good news) then he told me that I had to get a hold of another elder that will take part in emergency transfers. So there I was trying to get ready to go to our district meeting and texting all of our contact numbers for that companionship so they would know to get bags packed before their district meeting. Thankfully that all got worked out and my companion was delivered at district meeting. His name is Elder Miller, he is from Utah, he has been here for one cycle more than me. When we got home after district meeting and a few surprise baptismal interviews we went straight to work. We rocked the day.

On Wednesday we returned to Cauayan for a meeting with our mission President and 12 other elders. That was a great meeting. It was a somber meeting concidering the circumstances that had just taken place in our mission, but we had a few great discussions and I really learned a lot. We also had an amazing American lunch. One of the Filipino elders was horrified when he saw that salad and that it was not cooked. He looked like they were trying to kill him with raw vegetables. He ended up liking it. Four of my batch mates and I were there and we took it on our selves to finish off the cheese cake as in do the dishes so none of the amazingness would get wasted. After the meeting we got the Assistants to the President to take us home because we still had elder's bags to take home - that was awesome because it was not public trasportation.

We then got home and rocked the work. Our week was amazing we were getting appointment after appointment. If there were no people we found more - it just worked it was awesome. Friday afternoon we got a call from the assistants that there was a super typhoon heading our way and we had to get our zone relocated to the safest apartments. We got a hold of everyone and got them relocated to the best apartments in our zone. The sisters were relocated to the mission home. My companion and I were to stay at our apartment. We also had lockdown starting Saturday night at 6 pm. Everyone then went to church in their relocated units and then were to go back to the safe apartments and wait for the storm. Few believed that there was an approaching storm because the weather was very nice. There was even a bishop from one of the wards that elders were pulled out from that called us upset that his elders were not at church. I tried to calm him down but he would not believe me that there was a storm coming and that President had pulled out the missionaries. Even with one full day in lockdown Elder Miller and I had my most productive week here in Ilagan.

Monday morning we wake up to see the weather looking like something was brewing. We knew it was going to be something big. It started just with rain but then the wind started picking up. Coconut trees were bending but that wasn't the shocking part. We noticed the roof beginning to come off of the Municipal building across the street. We watched as pieces would be pulled off and then drop to the ground and people would run out and grab the pieces. We watched this from our upstairs. Soon pieces were tossed into the road and then one whizzed by our window and we decided it was time to go downstairs where there is cement protection by the window. We continued to watch the roof fly off and we would laugh about how they spent more on the aesthetic appeal than good construction. At this time our phone network went dead.

We weren't very concerned at this time. Earlier we had cooked a breakfast and we were just sitting down eating some Dove chocholate when we noticed our apartement was starting to flood and we heard a crash from upstairs. We decided to see what the crash was but when we got upstairs the inside was fluctuating, we decided to just stay downstairs from that time on. We tried to mop up the water flooding it but the rain was coming through the windows and under the door. We just sat down to watch the storm and laughed at some of the outrageous Dove wrappers we got, example; "Some people walk in the rain, others just get wet." or "Make plans but allow for changes." At that time my comp decides that it is time to face the day and put his contacts in. I decided to get a drink. I noticed our neighbors roof looked more like a wave and was lifting up high in the gusts of wind. I told Elder to hurry up and watch it. As soon as he got his contacts in the roof flipped off the house - it was the whole roof frame included flying through the air. After the the attic framing was ripped off as well.

It was at that point that we realized that it was a strong storm and this was serious business. We also noticed that our apartment would shake. It was getting a little concerning but we felt safe until ... part of our house blew up. Some random part of our house (on later inspection it turned out to be a gab in the building that they just fixed up with plywood) imploded and branches and all other sorts of dirt blew in. Elder and I both headed strait to our study room (the safest room). We discussed what we should do and decided that it would be best to evacuate and head for the church. We grabbed our work bags and packed the essentials ... camera, gum, water filter bottle, cell phone and charger, money, and a change of clothes. We both donned our water tennis shoe things and our civilian gear. We prayed right before we left to make a run in the middle of a super typhoon. I prayed that the storm would abate and that we would be able to make a safe run to the church. We headed down and opened our front gate to stair straight into high winds that reportedly hit 225 kph or higher. We took a leap of faith and stepped outside and ran to the Municipal building thinking it would be a decent refuge before heading on towards the church.

Running into the building felt like running into I am Legend. The building had been hammered. The glass doors lay in pieces on the floor, the sky lights had also crashed on the floor. The internal decoration had been shredded. Some people heard us and came out of their closet hiding place. We informed them that we were making a run to the church and it was open for the public as a place of refuge. They declined to join and fell back into their closet. My comp and I decided to just go for it. As we ran down the Municipal steps the wind and rain died down to a drizzle and people began to make their way onto the street. People were frantically trying to grab roofing pieces and haul them into their houses. Power pols and lines hung in our path. But still we ran to reach the safety of the church.

We arrived at the church and had just enough time to help a member that lives next to the church grab some roof pieces before the wind picked back up. I had the feeling it was coming back and I was right. Elder and I booked it back to the church just as the wind returned suddenly in the opposite direction. For those of you meterologists you will know that we were in the eye of the storm. I think we were just on the edge and I believe that is because of our prayers for safety in our run to the church.

Inside the church we mopped up the leaks and waited out the storm. It finished and we went out to assess the damage. There was damage but we fared well. We cleaned up the church and then got a call from our mission President. He wasn't happy that his missionaries were going to be sleeping in the church so he sent some elders to get us.

I guess they are going to kill the generator so I will get this off and continue the story next week.

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Enjoy Life,

J. Tyler Bates