Sunday Evening, November 10, 2013:
After sitting on the motorcycle with a heavy bag for the most of the afternoon, I was glad to finally sit down at the mission home. Elder Oakes and I were the first missionaries to arrive from outside of the Tacloban Zone since the storm had hit, and the missionaries that were already waiting there were happy to see us. Most of the missionaries that had been at the mission home, however, had gone to the Tacloban City Hall to help with the relief effort there.
As we got to meet the missionaries that were waiting at the mission home, Elder Oakes and I were surprised, relieved, but also quite bothered to find that the two missing missionaries from Tanauan were among them. We reminded them that leaving without telling anyone was not the best thing to do in an emergency. They said that they had told a family in Tanauan that they were going to walk to Tacloban, but we pointed out that especially since that family apparently didn’t tell anyone else, it would have saved a lot of trouble if they had at least said something to their companions before they left.
As the sun was setting, Elder Oakes and I were asked to go and get some clean water from the Coca-Cola Plant down the street. Since the storm had hit, the Coca-Cola plant had donated the water there to the public, including a large amount stored rainwater from a tank that had been made to look like a giant can of Sprite. By the time we got to the plant with the containers that we had to fill, two days after the storm, they were running very low on stored water, and only let us in to fill the containers because they knew we represented the Church. Once we had filled the containers, they were very heavy and difficult to carry. More than once, as I was falling behind Elder Oakes, I had to remind him that we were no longer in a hurry to get anywhere since we were already in Tacloban, and that he didn’t have to walk so fast.
The mission home had been hit by a very deep storm surge during the typhoon that had filled most of the first floor, but had survived mostly intact. The roof has sustained slight damage, but it seemed to be mostly superficial damage apart from a few broken windows. All of the furniture on the inside had gotten wet, but since the couches had floated in the storm surge, we still had a dry place to sit. During the day, the missionaries that had stayed at the mission home had been busy cleaning up the home’s interior, and as we arrived, the furniture had been rearranged, and the floor had been wiped completely clean while everyone else was gone. I felt bad to be one of the first to track mud on the floor, and did the best I could to keep it relatively clean, but as the group that had been at the City Hall arrived, it didn’t make much of a difference in the end.
The missionaries that had gone with President Andaya to the City Hall were all very tired and sunburned. They were all wearing yellow Mormon Helping Hands vests, which they had been using to identify themselves as relief workers while they helped pack rice and distribute relief goods. After a rough day dealing with many panic-stricken individuals, they were very glad to see new faces at the mission home.
A group of missionaries had been informally organized into a team or committee involved in the rationing, planning, preparation, and distribution of food and water for the missionaries that had come to the mission home. After the storm, it had become clear that the supply of filtered water that had been prepared at the mission home would not be enough for everyone with no anticipated restoration of water utilities in Tacloban City. With the donation of supplies that were on-hand at the Coca-Cola facility, we had obtained a few more packs of bottled water, but it would still be insufficient, especially if more missionaries were going to be showing up. Glad that we had been prepared, Elder Oakes was able to offer his water filter to clean the unfiltered water supply on hand (water from the tank at the bottling facility, and if necessary, water from a covered well located behind the mission home). The filter was immediately put to good use, and ended up providing the mission home with clean water as long as we were there.
The same group of missionaries also ran into trouble with their plans to prepare fried chicken and rice that night, since no one had a lighter. That is, except for me. Unfortunately, however, two nights previous, while laying down to sleep with all of my belongings back in San Roque, I had accidentally broken the wand lighter in half. Recognizing its potential utility, I had brought it with me anyway. Now that it was needed, the time I had spent taking apart and reassembling lighters finally paid off. I was able to reconnect and reassemble the tubes and ignition circuit in the lighter, and we were able to use it so that we could light the stove to cook the chicken.
After dinner as President Andaya was preparing to leave to the northwest where he could call the Area Presidency, he made sleeping arrangements for the missionaries that had gathered at the mission home. Because there are rules about Elders and Sisters sleeping in the same house or apartment, and because the nearest missionary apartments were only a block away, he decided that except for those who were injured, the Elders would be sleeping at the apartment a block away, and the sisters would be sleeping at the mission home. The nearby apartment had received only moderate damage to the roof and windows during the storm, but had been abandoned early on in the storm when the missionaries there left to the mission office. None of us would be sleeping at another missionary house that was one mile away because walking there at nighttime might attract undue attention.
After President Andaya left, there was some division among the missionaries about whether or not leaving the mission home was a good idea. As we were standing in front of the mission home preparing to leave as a group, we heard the clatter of gunfire in the distance. Suddenly making the situation a lot more real for everyone, the shots were the first I had ever heard that were not fired for sport. Moving back inside the house as quickly and quietly as we could, we went back into the house to continue the discussion about the merits of leaving the walls of the mission home.