What a welcome to my new area!!!

I got moved this last Wednesday to an area south of Fort Worth.

On our first night we had a lesson with two part-member families and it went really well. After the closing prayer we were chatting a little before we left and all of a sudden our phone starts making a really creepy beeping noise. Turns out there is a tornado warning in the area!!! The first warning came at about 8.

Elder Duncan was really excited because he has always wanted to see a tornado, but I just kind of started to get a little creeped out. Especially when we keep getting the warnings. The sky got really dark and it was a weird color in some places. The member that was with us noticed there were clouds moving in different directions and that the trees were all still. At that point it was about 8:15 and we had gotten about 5 tornado warnings on our phone. That was when the member and I made an executive decision that we were calling it a night and heading back to take shelter.  He dropped us off at the apartment at 8:30, right when it started raining.

By 9, the wind was blowing pretty hard and it was hailing pretty big pieces of hail. By 9:30 we were ready for bed and basically just watching the wind and rain and hail buffeting the apartment complex.  (My bed is right next to the window and I pulled it to the other side of the room... just in case.) We didn't actually hear the tornado, but that night a tornado a mile wide hit the town I am living in and left some neighborhoods pretty badly damaged. Some houses were leveled and many were missing roofs and fences.

The tornado here made me think of a few things. I was actually pretty scared. It made me fear a little bit for the lives of the people in the area and for our own well-being. But Elder Duncan was calm. He didn't seem to be worried at all. When we prayed as a companionship before bed, Elder Duncan prayed that the "tormenta" (storm) would pass. It immediately made me think of the story of when Christ calmed the raging tempest, and it gave me comfort. I knew that He is the Master of nature and what would happen would be what he wanted. Afterwards, I thought of the Mormon Message from Elder Nelson "Men's hearts shall fail them" I think my heart failed me a bit, and it reminds me of my weaknesses. However, that moment of comfort reminds me that the Lord is always there to build me up.

God Bless Texas! I am Elder Black. Thus I end mine epistle.