One melan in a cornfield: Sister Lamb Weathers her First Tornado and Goes Gas Green

April 14 Rain in Omaha

Dearest Family,

Love you!
So, I don’t know about you, but this last week has gone by very slowly for me. I am looking back through my planner for a week ago and last Monday just seems like forever ago. I think that this is mainly caused by not being able to do a whole lot this last week. Through a series of circumstances, we were only able to spend a few hours in our area this last week, and the time in between has just slowed right down.

On Tuesday night, after p-day ended, we had a few hours to knock on some doors before the end of the day. We went up and down a few streets only finding homes with no one home, or where the people were not interested, or where they only wanted to argue with us about our beliefs. So, it wasn't going too well. Right as we were going to head for home, Sister Bergeson and I looked at each other and said "one more." We surveyed the area and both of us settled on a house across the street with a maroon door. We knocked on the door and a twenty-something year old named Savannah answered the door. She lives in South Omaha but was visiting her mom for the evening when we knocked. She told us that she had been in Boys Town a few years ago (the kids are required to go to church while they are there) but had not been to church either before or after that. She had been having a terrible day and as we talked about the joy of the gospel and knowing that we have a Heavenly Father that knows and loves us each individually, she told us "I am so glad that you stopped by here tonight. I really needed that." She is interested in learning more about faith and we are excited to go back and teach her again soon. Like I have said before, it is always the last house, the last person, the last try, that always ends up being the one that you were looking for. We have to prove our faith and our commitment before we can reap the reward. Not always the most fun, but the most rewarding.

On Wednesday, I was on exchanges with another sister when she started feeling sick and needed to lie down. We had the Elmwood Sister's car for the day while they were working in the Trail Center. We realized that we were only a little ways away from Elmwood's apartment and the keys to their apartment were attached to their car keys. What a miracle! We were able to head over to their apartment, get her some rest, and make it back to Oakview that evening for an appointment without using up too many miles. It just really reminded me how inspired everything about missionary work is, down to what car we are using.

Friday and Saturday were the most exciting days of the week, and probably the ones that you are looking to hear about as you read this email. On Friday morning, we got a call from one of the Trail Center leaders in a panic that there was a tornado on its way towards Omaha. We were not really sure what to do about that, and headed up to the Trail Center for interviews with President Kunz. While we were there, Elder Watson told us that any tornado would not be expected until Saturday evening (the next day). So, the rest of the day we spent at the temple and weekly planning, but that night, we received a text instructing us to make sure that we had water, food, a change of clothes, sturdy shoes and anything that we could not live without together, in case the tornado watch was raised to a tornado warning and we would need to get quickly to a shelter (aka the basement of the Trail Center). It was a weird feeling. I have always heard stories about people having to grab what they could or what was most important to them in just a few minute before running to avoid a fire or some other natural disaster and have been asked the question "What would be the most important to you to take with you?", but I have never actually been in the situation of having to seriously think about what "I couldn't live without." I quickly realized that there were only a few of those things. As much as I like a lot of my stuff, most of it is not that significant. I would be sad to loose it, but in the end, it really wouldn't be a big deal. So, in the end, I packed up my mission blanket, an Obi Wan Kenobi that Ryan sent me for my birthday, my camera and flash drives, some pictures, a couple of notebooks, a box of letters, my scriptures and my journal. Fortunately, it didn't really matter in the end. They kept us all cooped up in the Trail Center all day Saturday. All we saw was a lot of rain, but no tornado came anywhere near to Omaha. Maybe another day. I keep hearing that because we didn't have a very cold winter this last year, we are going to be seeing more tornados. But maybe I shouldn't be saying that :).
Well, that's all for this week!

Love you!
Sister Melan