Thursday, May 1, 2014

Activate Emergency Plan – Email 4/5/14

Well I would just like to start out by saying that this week one day i was allowed to sleep in until 1:00 in the afternoon. Want to know why? Splendid! I would love to tell you. It felt fantastic, by the way. I am genuinely nervous for coming home based on how good it felt to sleep in.

So....Tuesday. Hey by the way did you guys hear there was an earthquake in chile? No? Oh wait you did and all started freaking out and DAD CALLED CHURCH HEADQUARTERS?! Hahaha seriously?! C'mon guys! Im fine! First of all lets review chilean geography, the earthquake happened in Iquique, thats like saying "Hey i heard there was a hurricane in florida, HOW IS YOUR HOUSE IN SAN DIEGO?!" Okay maybe not quite that dramatic, but it was pretty far away. but yes, there was a 8.2 or something like that and it did some damage up there. Down here we had no idea and we felt nothing. But because chile has the shape of a giant noodle the coast was all put on evacuation. We were actually in los angeles which is about 2 hours south of Concepcion and isn't even close to the coast, so i was fine. But then i remembered SHOOT President isn't even here right now because he is in Santiago. So Elder White and i were next in line and it wasn't exactly fit that we just chill in Los Angeles. So we called the zone leaders on the coast and had them go into the "Plan of Emergency"  (side note, i felt very  cool saying "ACTIVATE EMERGENCY PLAN" like i was so important. Emergency plan consisted of running to the hills for the chileans. Thats what they do. THey grab whatever they can and physically run to the hills to avoid the waves. Its got to be hilarious seeing. But the missionaries went to some members houses int he hills and other ones went to the stake center. In my zone up here in Concepcion we all went to the stake center. So they all get there, people are all over the streets, the line in the gas stations are like 50 cars long, people are starting to burn tires in the street to keep warm (totally unnecessary) and its just hilarious. So elder white and i drive from 11:00 at night til 1:00 am to try and get there and calm people down. i made a video and it was quite fun. I really enjoy adventure, you know that? I regret that our familys idea of adventure was going to the Courtyard Marriott and having me sleep on the rollaway (just kidding, we did some fun adventure) because i find myself an adventurous person. Heck, i like adventure. Anyway, we get there and the missionaries are all huddled up in the church, everyone is in pajamas (not a fan of seeing all the zone in pajamas, very odd) and people have random things. one missionary brought a piece of bread and a HOT DOG. Like thats literally all he brought. not a blanket, not anything. But  a hot dog. Reminded me of dad when he brought the empty photo album or when Kelly Burt brought his golf clubs as they were evacuating from the fires. So funny. So anyway we gave away the blankets we had packed for our weekly travel to everyone, we stayed up til 6 talking to the zone leaders on the coast and making sure everything was fine, calling president in the north to make sure we were where he wanted us to be, and all that jazz. Finally the alert was lifted for the tsunami and we were all safe back in our homes by 6:30 am. Hence, since we had not slept at all (speaking of which, why in the world did i put MYSELF through that intentionally?! Staying up late is awful. 11:00 so much better.) But then we got to sleep in til 1 and i loved it and it was a great week.

Anyway, nothing happened. Don't worry, don't call any more offices, and just stay calm everyone. Haha i am alright, i love you all, and i wish i had more time but conference is about to start and ill try to respond later after the first session! We are watching it here in the office and i am so dang excited. I just love it and i cant wait to receive answers to so many questions that i have. I love it so dang much. Thanks for all you do and for your love and worries! 

Cool thing is 3 weeks ago president made us review our emergency plan as a mission and made a huge deal about how everyone had to read it, and everyone had to make their emergency backpacks and everything. Those who did it were blessed, those who didn't weren't. God talks to his servants. Literally! If we listen to what they say (aka CONFERENCE) we will be blessed. How lucky are we to have a heavenly father who loves us enough to talk to us and give us direction!

Elder Tengberg

#IsurvivedTsunami2014

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