Last week Jamaica was hit hard by Tropical Storm Nicole. It started raining on Tuesday and didn't let up until Saturday. Nicole drenched the entire island, destroying infrastructure, property, and crops that will likely amount to millions of dollars in losses. Power was out, roads, schools, and businesses were closed. Houses were swept away and lives were lost. Some of the streets turned into raging rivers and several of the mountain roads were washed out stranding many people. I have never seen so much rain. The mission was on lock down for a day and a half on the whole island, which means no one is to leave their apartment. Some of the Jamaicans said that it was the worse storm that has hit the island in many years. There were not a lot of high winds, like they get with a hurricane, but just so much water. Our patio flooded twice but no water came into our house. We pretty much just stayed home for four days. Where we live we were only with out power for one day but many places on the island were with out power for several days. Things are gradually getting back to normal. I took a few pictures when it first started to rain just outside of our patio. I was trying to get a picture of how hard it was raining, but it is hard to really tell. This went on for about three days pretty steady.
We were able to watch the General Conference broadcast on Saturday and Sunday at our church over satellite. On Saturday there were only about three members other than the sister missionaries and us to watch conference. I think many were still suffering from the flood waters and were unable to get in. On Sunday there were a few more in attendance, but not as many as I thought there would be. It was nice to see such a large gathering of white people. We are used to being in a congregation where we are the only white people. This reminds me of a family we go visit and their little girl calls us "white people".
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