Sister Kenidee Sylvester TONGA NUKU' ALOFA: The days after Cyclone Gita

Malo e lelei!

I don't even know where to start with this email but first I want to say I am okay and alive :)

Sunday evening we had a meeting with President and discussed the upcoming cyclone. Every year Tonga has cyclone warnings but over the past like 5 years they haven't had one. So we were praying for a miracle. The cyclone first hit Samoa and after that was headed straight for us. When it hit Samoa it was a class 2 but as it was heading for us it picked up speed and was around a class 4-5. Monday day we spent all day preparing for the cyclone to come. We bought over 100 cases of water, stocked up on food from Costlow, made sure all of the missionaries were in the chapels because thats where they would be sleeping that night. Every hour we were texting the missionaries to make sure they were okay. We were able to keep in contact for awhile until the power went out. My companion and i stayed at the mission home with President and his family. Their house was safe we just had some water come inside through the windows and doors. They also have a generator so we were able to have power and water. We had so much to do that day to prepare! It helped me understand the importance of food storage and why we should have it.

During the Storm: The storm started at like 7 o'clock in the evening. By 5 the radio announced that everyone should be home and no one should be on the road. It started to get really windy and as time went on the wind picked up and it started raining like crazy! We just sat inside eating snacks and talking trying to keep our minds off of it, but I could tell President was stressed thinking about all of the missionaries. At about 11:00 I looked outside and it was so dark and scary. It was weird though because I could see the wind, like white air was just everywhere. Hahah I don't really know how to explain it but man it was crazy! Around like 1 in the morning we were in the middle of the Cyclone. Everything was moving the wind was SO loud, water everywhere! I finally was able to fall asleep at like 2 and i didn't wake up until the morning.

After the Storm: Man I woke up at like 6 in the morning and I cant even explain what it felt like to look outside. My heart just hurt. Big mango tree's on the ground, leaves, trees, roofs from houses, all over the ground! We got up with president and the Ap's to go around and try to visit the missionaries. As we started to drive i just wanted to cry. Seeing a place you have come to love so much and people you have come to love and everything was just so different over one night it was just hard to see. The roads were covered with trees and leaves and power lines so it was really hard to go see the missionaries. We eventually got a flat tire and so then we were stranded for a little bit hahah. We were able to hear from all of the missionaries and they were all accounted for and they were all safe that night. They all said how nice it was to sleep at the chapel not only with members but with non-members as well.

These past couple of days have just been cleaning, cleaning and cleaning. We wake up everyday and go find a house to work on. We didn't have power or water for like 4 days. Some areas are just now starting to get power and water. Our MQ has water but no power so we have little flashlights all over the house. Also our MQ survived hahah but our back door got ripped off by GITA so we had some flooding and leaves everywhere. Thankfully we put all of our stuff up! Last night we finally slept at home and it felt good. I feel like i'm at girls camp but just a little more extreme!....Shower when you can, eat when theres food haha but I love it! Im learning so much from this experience. They said that in the next two months we will start to experience a "honge" which is a famine. We are slowly running out of drinking water and gas for the cars, all of their crops were ruined so a lot of the food is gone. But we are surviving! There are people here from Australia and New Zealand to help us :)

Cyclone Gita is the biggest Cyclone ever recorded in Tonga's history. I honestly feel so blessed to be here at this time. One thing I love is how positive the Tongan people are. The day after the cyclone they were all outside with a smile cleaning, laughing, and just making the best of it. They have all come together to help rebuild buildings, homes and roads. I have a feeling the next half of my mission will be lots of service projects.

Thank you all for your love and support. I can feel your prayers and I have felt so comforted. I know Heavenly Father is so aware of us. Especially the people here in Tonga. I have seen little miracles this week, and i know that when we do whats right He will bless us. We've done a couple of service projects in our area already and things are slowly starting to be cleaned up. Im not sure how often I will have power so there could be weeks that you might not hear from me. But just know i'm okay and I love being a missionary :) Keep praying for the people here in Tonga. Ofa lahi atu!!!!

Sista Silivesita

Stocking up on water for all the missionaries