Couldn't sleep so I thought I would write a little about the past few days. Hoping to see my sweetie walk through the door very soon! He called last night about 11:00 and said they had just got onto Vegas, so then they had the 5 hour drive ahead of them. This was after flying to Miami, 4 hour layover and then the 4 hour flight across the country. I'm sure he will be exhausted by the time he gets home.
I"m so excited to see him and have him home again. I've missed him so much. He surely is my better half and I don't feel complete without him. I hate to say that I'm needy, but I guess I am. I need him. But it's ok cause he needs me too. Kind of nice how that works out.
I got a cool text from him yesterday. He said that this is the rainy season for them now in Haiti, but it has been dry while they have been there. The people there put on a little program for them after they finished work on saturday to thank them for what they had done. Kelley said as soon as they finished, it started raining.
From what Kelley has told me, I know they have been watched over and blessed. I can't wait to see his pictures and hear all about his adventure.
Katie flew into town friday night. Her friend Ashley was getting married saturday. It's hard to describe the spectrum of emotions going on here, kind of a rough weekend.
I imagine all mothers feel like this, but watching your kids struggle through the trials and difficult times in their lives has got to be the worst. I think as mothers we are so closely bound (spiritually and emotionally) with each of our children that we can feel the pain they are going through. Want to take it away so much. Surely there must be a reason for the good and the bad things we experience in this life. I know it is all part of our own personal test here on earth. So along with sharing in the tears and lots of hugs, I guess the only thing I can do is to pray for my children and put it into the Lords hands.

These are some pictures Gail sent

Got a few more texts from Kelley...this was last night: So tired I can't sleep. Gail's snoring and the toilet is running. The music outside at the Jehova Shama bar is blaring. The hall light is shining through our curtain less window. How's your night going?
Then later; Apparently the rooster is on Moscow time. He's already at it!
Then this morning (4:48) he sent a sweet one to me thanking me for letting him go there. He said he was so glad that he went...Count your blessings
Later he said: "A good morning is if the water is on and you beat your roommate to the toilet because there's only enough water and pressure for one flush!
Then our daily "wakey, wakey...just had a bowl of ??????? I think it had raisins??"

Rough morning

After a fitful night of scary dreams and staring at the ceiling (got email from Gail last night that told a little more detail about what him and Kelley were really going through) I woke up this morning to a text from Katie telling me that I had been hacked again. Oh my heck! Are you kidding me????? I am so fired up. Ok. I need to settle down. I thought my head was going to explode earlier. My girls are great though...deep breaths mom..it's just email. Thank you for trying to calm me. What would I do without them?

So I spent the next 2 hours setting up a new account and trying to remember everyone that was on my contact list so I could let them know I wasn't stranded in England! Oh man I am so mad. But mostly at myself. I know where I made a mistake and feel like a real bone head.

Ok. I've done all I can do, so now I'll just try not to think too much about it anymore.

Then I got to go to the dentist! I started this dental implant process on October 22
and he told me today that by the middle of June we should be all done! Wooo Hoooo! Only 8 months?

I'm just so grateful that my mouth isn't numb anymore!!!...I was really starting to think that it may be permanent. But very gradually, I started to get the feeling back. It still feels tingly, but not numb.

So today he put the post back in that he had taken out before. He could tell I was pretty nervous and asked if I wanted the nitrous oxide. Are you kidding me? Crank it up to high! I know he just cringes when he sees me sitting in his chair. I am not easy and after what we have been through, well you could see that he was being VERY careful. He was telling me every thing that he was doing and kept taking xrays to make sure he wasn't getting too close to the nerve. By this point I was just like 'do whatever you want...hey can I take that laughing gas home with me?' While he was working on me, I got a text from Kelley that said something about him sitting under a coconut tree and a bird pooping on him. When I read it, Well I got the giggles. That's when they turned the gas down. Party poopers

I came home and took a bunch of ibuprofen. It's about un-numbed now and my head is throbbing but it's ok cause I can feel it!!!

I got a wonderful email from K.C. yesterday! And even pictures!!!
Date: Wed, 24 Feb 2010 15:28:24 +0300Subject: Re: It's me again!From: kelley.jensen@myldsmail.netTo: pjdaisy50@hotmail.com
Hey Mom!

This is K.C.'s new companion and the man they have been teaching

How are you doing? I hope your not worrying about Dad too much, he will be fine, he is serving there and blessing those people, God will protect him. He takes care of me real well too, so no worries. I had a really good experience this week, and it becames even more apparent to me that the Lord knows exactly how we feel and exactly how to solve each problem. Its amazing and im so grateful for the atonement and for all the knowledge that we enjoy as members of His church. I just want to thank you for that you have ever taught me and for the the things you still teach me. read my patriarchal blessing today and I realized how privileged i am to have such great parents and siblings, I really see how blessed I am here with all these people around me. I am just sending this email to you and the family, I will send a general one for you to send around in a sec. I love you so much.
Elder Jensen.

Date: Wed, 24 Feb 2010 15:40:20 +0300Subject: Re: It's me again!From: kelley.jensen@myldsmail.netTo: pjdaisy50@hotmail.com
Hey Guys, I had a really awesome experience that I want to share with you. On monday we had a few meeting set up but one cancled and the other just didnt show up, so it was kinda sad. but we went out and tried to find someone new to teach by talking to people on the street, and that didnt turn out so well either. So that day ended up being kind of a sad one, but it made me think a lot about my attitude towards talking to people on the street, I was discouraged and had the wrong attitude while doing it. but I changed some things in my mind and the next day we went out to talk to people again and we tryed to listen to the spirit about who to talk to, and eventually we came across a guy and I asked him if he studied english and he said no but I told him we could teach him for free and he was really interested in why we would do that and so i explained that we were missionaries and basically we taught him the first lesson while we walked around, and the cool thing was that he was just out taking a walk so he wanted us to walk with him and talk to him, so we did for a while and then he took us back to his house and we gave him a Book of Mormon and he told us he had been praying to find his way in life and we told him that the Book of Mormon would give it to him and he said he would read. we talked for a long time and he said lots of really cool stuff and it was apparent how the Lord had prepared him to meet us. He wanted to meet again today so we are meeting him at 5. Pray for us. But this made it obvious to me that the Lord knows how we feel and just how to help us feel better. He wants us to be successful. I know that he lives and loves us more that we know.
Elder Jensen.

I have started talking to the dog... a lot. Like...

"Good morning Lizzy! did you sleep well?"

"What shall we have for breakfast today?"

"Now you be a good girl while I am gone...I'll know if you get on the couch!"

"What have you been doing?"
"How do these shoes look with this dress?"

"Come here and sit down so I can brush your fur...why are you losing so much fur? Are you sick?" "Just look at all this fur in the vacuum cleaner!"

"Lizzy you smell really bad! what have you been rolling in?"

"I don't think I can eat any more of this potato salad...would you like some?"

"Did we remember to lock all the doors?"

"Did you hear that noise? Go see what it is!"

"Lizzy was that you?"

"Are you ready for bed?"

"Gosh I hope that's Kelley calling!"

"Lizzy, where are my glasses?"

" If I let you sleep right here by the bed will you try to not snore so loud?...Oh I don't care if you snore, you can sleep there anyway."

Hmmm I guess I'm ok as long as I don't expect her to answer me back.

Kelley did call last night! Yea! I hadn't talked to him since he arrived in the Dominican Republic, and it was so great to hear his voice!

I had been over to visit his dad earlier to help him get started with the new family search program and he had said that Kim had talked to Kelley on Sunday. I was kind of fired up when I heard that cause I figured if he could call somebody, it had better be his wife! So I mentioned that to Kelley. He said that Kim had called him and had been lucky to get through because he had tried and tried to call home and couldn't get through. The reception was really bad during our phone call so I didn't hear all he was saying.

He sounded tired but good. I don't think he has been getting much sleep and the malaria pills have given him headaches. He said they had slept out the first night, then the foundation had found a hotel for them to stay in. He was grateful to have a place to go. Said the water didn't work though so they were bathing in the swimming pool. He told me they were having earthquakes quite often. Had a bad one Monday afternoon and more lives were lost as the cement roofs on buildings would fall in on them. He said the people over there are just happy to be alive. He said he had taken a lot of pictures and videos so I can't wait to see them. I'll post some of his text messages:

The first night He sent me a message that just said "WOW"

I thought he must have gotten into Port-au-Prince, and asked where he was. His reply.."Hell"

The next day he sent this message: "4 hours sleep in 3 days. 95 degrees. Humidity at 80 percent. No bath since Thursday night. Questionable food. Experience Priceless!"

We all get a "wakey wakey" every morning. I told him that the Bishop may have announced in sacrament meeting where he was. His reply: I'll have to have a stern talk with him. I guess ya can't reverse that. Wish he hadn't said anything. Oh well, love you.

Sent this picture with the caption "This was the potty"

I asked him where they went to the bathroom. He said people just go where ever they want.

I asked him how his first day of work had gone. He said "I'll let you know at midnight" He had been told that they had a curfew there of 6:00 p.m. because of the crime and looting so I was surprised they could be out later. He said that was in Port-au-Prince and they were on the outskirts of the city. They had access to a generator and hooked up some lights so they could work as long as they could.

Text later Monday: "96 degrees 80 percent humidity"

Tuesday morning: "wakey wakey! not much sleep. several quakes during the night. I asked him to tell me about the earthquakes. His reply: We had earth quakes every day killing more people with collapsing roofs. They build their roofs out of concrete with substandard crap and so that's why all the death."

Tuesday night: "Hey not sure about the Internet tonight. I'll try to get through on Gails i phone. Tell him (K.C.) I love him." (When he called me last night he said he wasn't going to be able to get email sent to K.C.. Lucky to have gotten through for the call to me.)

Then this morning at 4:05: "The roosters start at 3 am.Ya gotta love it. Soggy cornflakes in water in a cup. Breakfast of chumps."

This afternoon: "98 degrees 82 percent humidity." I've died and gone to heaven! ( I think he means it too! He loves the heat!)

Candice asked him if there were any Rodents of unusual size there and he responded: Oh yea, the first day we were cleaning up debris and I felt something crawling up my pant leg, thinking it was a large spider, I shook my leg, and a big mouse ran out. Then she asked him if he screamed like a little girl and he said : I wanted to but there were a bunch of army guys there and I didn't want the kids teasing me in french.

Just got this one from him: " Gets funner every day. Almost like being on vacation. Wait a minute..no it's not Beats working!"

I need a snuggie!

Candice has been so great to come over and spend time with me while Kelley is gone.
She even let me wear her snuggie!
I am definitely a fan...thought they were super lame till she got me all tucked in with hers there on the couch. I don't know how it would work at the football game like they show on the commercial though. You'd be tripping all over yourself!
Anyway, we had a fun night watching food network and eating starburst jelly beans.
Went up to moms as soon as I dropped Kelley off at Gails. We had a nice weekend together. Just have to slow everything down a notch, and realize that it's going to take a little bit longer to get things done.
We are at least a good hour getting her in and out of the shower. First of all I have to convince her that she needs a shower. "I'm sure I had one yesterday!"
Anyway, once we get out to the bathroom, I turn on the water cause it takes about 10 minutes to regulate the temperature. Getting her undressed is a slow process. She will usually stop undressing and start putting her clothes back on. "Whatcha doing mom?" " Oh I'm just getting dressed" "But you haven't had your shower yet" " I don't need a shower!" "Yes you do!" "Oh your probably right...I do" Then she will start taking her clothes off again. I want to just do it for her, but I know if she doesn't do things for herself, she will lose any muscle she has. Her legs are so weak, it's really a miracle that she can make it up and down those stairs. After she is done in the shower, I help her get out and dried off and rub lotion on her poor feet. She has got some sad feet. She has had painful bunions all of her life and as she got older, her nails...oh her nails! She goes to a podiatrist every month to have him work on her nails. I like to take her to this appointment though because this Doctor is so good looking. I mean really handsome and very charming too. He is so sweet with mom and makes her feel like a princess as he is grinding away with his dumb and dumber nail file.
I do digress. Anyway, mom says it feels good when I rub lotion on her feet, so I always do. Next is the wrestling match with her support stockings. I seriously am sweating by the time I get them on her feet.
Then there is the issue of the depends. "I don't need to wear those anymore" " Ya you better mom" " I sure don't like to" "I know mom, I'm sorry but you need to " " Your right, I guess I better"
Man this is hard. I don't want to be the one to tell her what to do. I want her to tell me what to do. She has always been such a strength in my life. I have always felt the security of knowing that she was there for me and I could always call on her to help me through any problem, comfort me, calm me, listen to me, laugh or cry with me. Now it's more like I am the mother and she is my child. I guess this is God's way of preparing me to have to live without her.
Don't really like to think about that, but I know she tires of this life and her deteriorating body and mind, and the bordom and lonliness of the long days and mostly misses her sweetheart.
It's his birthday today. He would have been 95. I miss him too. Sometimes I just go stand in his den and look around at all the things on the walls and at his desk and breath in the smell of the room. It smells like him. I like to shut my eyes and picture him sitting there at his desk plunking away on his old typewritter, writing one more page for the diary.
He used to sit in there with Kelley while they cracked nuts and talk about his life. Kelley heard stories about his mission in Tahiti and his service in the war that I never did. They had a great relationship and I know Kelley loves him like his own dad. I often think of the last time I was at there at mom and dads before he had the heart attack. I had gone into his den to tell him we were leaving. We talked for a few minutes, then he got up and gave me a big hug and told me he loved me. That was not something he did. In fact, that is the only time he ever said that to me. I never had any doubt that he loved me, it just wasn't something he said. I got all choked up and told him I loved him too. I wondered if he had known that his time on this earth would soon be over and it was his way of saying goodbye. So grateful for those precious moments with him.

Well it's kind of hard to see(phone camera) but this is the bird feeded outside mom's kitchen window and there is the prettiest little red bird sitting there. We got out mom's bird books but couldnt find one that looked like this one. We decided he was a sure sign of spring!
I had a scary thing happen Saturday night. I woke up about 1:30 and was itching all over. My eyes were super itchy and my throat felt like it was swelling up. I got up and started looking through mom's medicine cabinet to see if she had any benedril. Nothing! I usually keep some with me but had changed purses and didn't put my bag of pills into this purse. Then I got sick to my stomach and spent a while in the bathroom. I didn't know what to do...didn't think their walmart was open all night. I sure felt alone and scared. Couldn't wake mom up...what was she going to do? I haven't had this happen for quite a while, but when it does, it's awful. I think the soup mix I made for supper must have had some msg or some kind of preservative in it. I was getting pretty frantic at this point, so I just started praying for some help. I got a big drink of water, and went and laid down and tried to be calm. That's hard when you are so itchy! It seemed like within a few minutes, I started to feel better. I could breath easier and the itching stopped. I felt warm and calm and knew that I was not alone. Before too long I was asleep. When I woke up the next morning, I thought, 'I wonder if I just dreamed that whole thing," but when i got up and looked in the mirror, my right eye was still swollen about half way shut so I knew it was real.
It's pretty scary when this happens, I've had to get a shot of benedril at the emergency room a few times when my throat has swollen up so tight I could hardly breath, and I have always had to get some allergy medecine to get through it, so I was sure grateful that my prayers were heard and answered that night.

Don't know where to really start here. This last month has been pretty crazy but really wonderful.

Ever since this terrible earthquake in January, we have been watching the heartbreaking scenes on the news and in the paper and reading about the unbelievably horrific circumstances the people there are living in and wishing there was something we could do.

Well, the last day I was in Arizona at Camille's , Kelley called me and said he had gotten a call from Gail. He said that Gail had been contacted from a mutual friend and had asked if he would want to go to Haiti and help rebuild an orphanage. Gail said yes and then called Kelley and Kelley told him he would love to go.

They were going to be leaving on the 19 of February and staying about 10 days. When we would think about it logically, it seemed pretty crazy and impossible. The way things have been with Kelley's work, (bad weather shutting them down, or having to stop work for inspections and other problems) well, it just wasn't a good time to take another week and a half off.

We kept putting it off but time after time, we had little signs given to both of us that he should go. We had been praying that we would know what was the right thing to do.

Then at our stake temple night, they were in the prayer circle and almost as an after thought the last thing he said was that if there was anything that we could do to help the people of Haiti, we should do it. So I guess the spirit was getting tired of whispering to us and decided to holler at us to get the point across. It was pretty cool in the celestial room, we just smiled at each other and were like "did that just happen?" OK then!

So then there was a few things to take care of before he could go. He had to get a bunch of shots, mostly the same that K.C. had to get to go to Russia, but a few extra ones. He had to get a prescription for Malaria pills and also one for diarrhea. They said malaria is bad there because they have a lot of mosquito's that carry the disease. They were told to bring a mosquito net for sleeping and a good repellent to wear during the day. They also said there is a lot of rats and spiders so they should bring a sheet that is sewn like a big pocket to sleep in so they can keep their feet away from the critters. They said they would be sleeping outside so to bring a tent too. They took their own tools and said the airline would work with them on the weight.

They told them that water would be available but to only buy it from actual stores because people were getting used water bottles and filling them from their tap and then super gluing the lid on to make it look new. I guess a lot of people have gotten sick from drinking their water. (hence the diarrhea and dehydration) They told them not to eat any food prepared by the people over there because they would have used the water to cook with. They told them to only eat packaged food. So we got a bunch of bars and nuts and jerky (thanks Tye!) and other stuff that could keep him going.

Well before we knew it, it was time to go. Kelley hadn't really told very many people that he was going. Just his boss and the bishop , his dad and a few other people. That's just how he is.

They were flying out of Las Vegas, so Friday, the four other masons and a few contractors met out at Gails house and headed down. Gail and Kelley stayed at Chris's house, then he took them to the airport early Saturday morning.

Kelley called me from the airport in Miami. They had a three hour lay over there before they got on the plane to the Dominican Republic. He called me when they got there and said there were nine of them getting on this little bus that was going to take them to Haiti. It was a ten hour ride. He said it was really hot and humid!

I got a text from him about 12:30 a.m. and he just said " WOW" I asked him where he was and his reply was "hell!" Great! I guess they had just got into Port-au-Prince. He sent another text this morning that said "4 hours sleep in 3 days, 95 degrees. Humidity at 80 percent. No bath since Thursday night. Questionable food. Experience priceless!"

People in the ward and friends and family have been so kind. Lots of offers to help me out if I need anything while Kelley is gone. Sure do appreciate it!

I'm just feeling really grateful for this opportunity that has been given to Kelley. I'm at peace with him being there and know he will be fine. I have been reading an email Colleen sent me written by Maurine and Scott Proctor, who have been in Haiti and have written about what they have witnessed. I don't know how you couldn't come home a different and a better person after spending time with these amazing people. Their strength, courage and faith is unbelievable!

"Count your many blessings name them one by one". "Count your many blessings see what God has done."
Maurine and Scot Proctor, Meridian's editor and publisher, are currently in Haiti with 125 LDS medical, construction and translation volunteers from Utah.
Much of Haiti lies in rubble. Collapsed roofs lie at angles, smashed against the floor below them. Cinder blocks slant in heaps along the roads. Some streets in Port-au-Prince look like old pictures of bombed-out Berlin after World War II. It's a horror, an apocalypse, yet, amidst a shoddy neighborhood stands a jewel, the Croix-des-Missions LDS church and sounding through the air is a hymn: How Firm a Foundation.
It is a particularly well-chosen song in a land whose physical foundations could not stand the earth's tremors, but whose Latter-day Saints have proven to be remarkably resilient. They know that though all but a handful have lost their homes, their foundation is in the gospel of Jesus Christ and that is firm.
Attending the 3-hour church block on Sunday felt remarkably normal to us. There were the Saints dressed well, many in crisp, white shirts that looked newly ironed. The deacons wore their white shirts and ties as they reverently passed the sacrament.
How can this be? Without homes, they are living on the street in hastily-assembled, makeshift shelters on any flat land that is available. Their walls may be sheets hung over ropes or pieces of cardboard. Their beds are concrete or hard earth. Everything they owned-and that already wasn't much-has been stripped from them by an initial quake that lasted about 45 seconds and after shocks that continued for days.
We asked member after member, how can you be so beautifully groomed on Sunday, given your conditions? They answered that because most everyone is now living in the street, they are indeed dirty during the week, plagued by all the ills that befalls a newly-made street person, but, they added that though they had no water to drink, they had water good enough to wash their clothes.
The sacrament meeting began with strains of "Come, come ye Saints, no toil, nor labor fear, but with joy wend your way." For most of us who come from other nations, we would be hard-pressed to find joy in impoverished and broken Haiti before the earthquake, let alone now, but they sang like they meant it, "Happy day, all is well."
They prayed, "We are all thankful to be counted among the living. We are grateful to know of thy truth. There are many outside the walls of this church who do not have this truth to sustain them through the trials. We know we were kept alive because we have a mission to complete. Bless us all that we can be strong and take care of each other."
We listened tearfully. The sacrament was passed and each of the seven children sitting on the row next to us took not a single piece of bread but a scoop each. They are hungry.
Then we heard a talk, a surprising, enriching talk from France Nathalie Desir-so beautifully done.She told the audience:"For some of the adversity we face, we can place the weight on our own shoulders because we are not obeying God's laws. That adversity we can control, but there are some kinds of adversity we can't control like the earthquake. We didn't do anything to attract it. We all had friends and families who were killed. A lot of people are discouraged and have lost faith, but we as members of the Church now have a mission.
We know why we have adversities. They are to make us stronger. We have the freedom to either let them overcome us or to make us strong. Just as we send little children to school, the Lord has sent us here for a school.
"Our big enemy is our pride that keeps us from loving our neighbour and obeying the commandments.Since January 12, we all have experienced sleeping outside. As I was lying in the courtyard looking up at the stars, I knew this was the time to manifest charity and mourn with those who mourn, give food to those who need food.
"We have a certain joy, and the joy is knowing these things are temporary. The trials we are given on earth are for us, and the Lord knows everything we are going through and they are to augment our faith and bring us to God."
Francy Saint-Preux, the High Priest group leader for the ward, said doing home teaching is ten times harder than it used to be because people are no longer in their homes and sleeping somewhere on the street, but after the quake they made every effort to assure that everyone was safe. Temporal needs are difficult to meet because they are so overwhelming and every priesthood leader is inundated. They'll do anything to help, but there are some things they just can't do.Francy said, "The island is in disarray from top to bottom."He noted, "One of the first things I had to do as a leader in the high priests is to restore confidence in the members. I remind them that the important things are still intact. Your kids are safe. You have the gospel. I encourage people to focus on staying close to God. "What we teach the members is the gospel," he said. Our gospel is simple--pray, read your scriptures, pay your tithing and work. Do everything you can to work. Even the solution to a temporal problem is a spiritual one. Get back to the basics."
Guerby Pierre is one of those exceptional people in Haiti who actually has a job. He is well-educated and has a job as an accountant with a billboard company. He tells what happened to him when the earthquake hit:"The things I saw during the earthquake are forever engraved on my memory. You see things in disaster movies, but it is nothing like when it happens in real life, and I cannot ever forget it.
"I was inside at my work, working at my computer, at what seemed like a normal day. Then, all of a sudden with a roaring noise, it seemed like a giant beast had taken the building in his arms and was twisting and shaking it back and forth. My screen fell off my desk; bookshelves started falling, and I ran for the door, but could hardly keep my footing with the shaking. As I stood at the door, the wall I had been leaning against before completely collapsed. "It is so different when you experience this in real life. People think of the great earthquakes in 3rd Nephi. People outside thought it was the Second Coming.
My work is destroyed. That was my livelihood. I went to my house and it is completely gone, but I was able to go in and get the things that really mattered to me-my temple recommend, my passport, some clothes and my scriptures."He held up his battered scriptures at that moment, the gilt-edged pages long ago worn away, and we asked him, "Did that happen to your scriptures during the earthquake?"He just smiled back and said, "No, I really love my scriptures and I use them all the time."The day before the earthquake a tune started wafting through Guerby's mind. Again and again it came and stayed with him through the day. He realized that the words were "The Lord my pasture will prepare, and guard me with a shepherd's care."He was so impressed with the message that returned again and again to him, that he wrote down the words to the hymn and sent them in a note to his sweetheart. The next day the meaning was still in his soul as his world was hurled apart, and he knew that no matter what happened, the Lord had already sent him a message of comfort.Now, Guerby is sleeping outside in a tent every night. The way he looks at it is his first job is to take care of his friends and other members of the Church. Even if he doesn't have a lot of money he can strengthen them. His second job as an accountant is gone, so he has more time for his first job.Some things are really hard. It is hard to think that after working hard to become college-educated that he might be back to shining shoes to get enough money to live on. And it's hard not to have a home. He misses the feeling of something comfortable and recognizable to come back to at night.He's holding on. He had saved a little money. He got some food and shoes from the bishop. Each night as he lays under the stars, it reminds him of what is really important in life. He said, "In one sense I have nothing, but in another, I have everything because I have the gospel, and this earthquake has only augmented my testimony. My life is changed. The earthquake simplified it. Since the earthquake, I could all of a suddenly think clearly." Gone are certain things he thought were really important. Instead, he is hoping to find a way to take his best friend and sweetheart to the temple to be married."Life can be hard sometimes," he says, "but it will be OK."
Charles Marie Murielle"When the earthquake happened, I was inside my house. I had just come from school because I am studying to be a nurse. There was a professor who was absent, so I came home early."I was just taking off my uniform when the earthquake started. I heard the noise and felt the earthquake and thought to myself, this is an earthquake.
"After it stopped, I found myself, I was yelling, but I had a strong feeling I shouldn't leave my house. I should just stay there. I went to open my door to go out, and my door was blocked, I couldn't open it. "I said a sincere prayer. I told the Lord that I was not ready to die. I don't have a family, yet, and I haven't been to the temple. With a lot of strategy I was able to open the door by myself.
Outside, everyone was crying and screaming out to God, 'What is going on?' The farther I got out, I saw that churches had fallen and people had been killed. "My school which is four stories tall had collapsed and all the students and teachers had been killed. I would have been there if my teacher had not shown up. "All communications were cut off. No radio. No telephone. No one knew what was going on. We were all trying to find an open space. We kept hearing instructions, "Don't go inside. Don't go inside.""From time to time the earth would shake again. I was continually scared. I was the only member of the Church nearby, and I felt like I was alone. People from other religions were making a lot of noise and were screaming. I found myself in silence because the Spirit told me exactly what to do. I knew it was not the end of the world. "I prayed, 'Give me strength so that I can hold on.' I found the strength to help a few people who were injured. I found a lot of people who were in shock. The next day I met a brother from the church who came to my house to see if I was OK. He told me I needed to come to the church that all of the members were meeting there. That gave me strength.We asked her what the future holds for her without money or a house or a school. She said she is determined to find a way to finish her nursing, but for now, she lives at the church and she's scared to go back to her house. Maybe she will make cookies to sell.
Erick Goimbert Erick had just picked his son up from school and gone home when the house started hurling back and forth with roaring, pounding, confusing noises. A dresser hit the wall and whipped around and hit him in the eye. Then pieces of the roof began crashing down, and he ran into the other room to get his son.
They didn't try to get out, as it was hard to stand, impossible to walk. They just started praying. He did not know it was an earthquake as he had never experienced anything so overwhelming before.When they finally made their lurching way out of the house, he saw that all the houses around him were completely destroyed and his neighbors had been killed.
Now, he and his family are sleeping wherever they can find a spot at night, mostly in the road by their house. He'd like to come and sleep at the church, but his home is too far away.He has no tent, but sleeps under some corrugated tin cover. Every morning he doesn't know where to get food. He just waits day to day for help. Like most Haitians, he doesn't have a job, and his wife just sells things in the street.Among his slim possessions are a few Tylenol pills for when his back, hit by the dresser in the quake, hurts too much.
He says with some good cheer, "Everybody is praying. There is definitely a feeling of unity and my testimony has been strengthened. You drive through my neighbourhood and mine was the only house that is not completely destroyed.What for the future? He sees no possibilities to rebuild a house. He has no money and can't see where he could possibly get any.
Polycarpe MackingThe day of the earthquake, two of his children had just come home from school and were watching television. He was out in the front yard feeding the chickens, their main source of livelihood.
About 4:45, he started to feel the shaking movement. Immediately his children ran outside as the roaring, pitching earth got worse. As soon as they ran outside, the house collapsed. They knelt down and, crying, said a prayer for his wife and other daughter, asking that they would be safe. They found her quickly for which he was grateful.
Now, he doesn't know what he's going to do. "God must have a plan for me," he said, "and I'm just going to have to see what it is."
The scriptures are his life and he loves to read.A vibrant young man, he still hasn't had a job for seven years, and the few chickens they had were crushed or scattered in the earthquake. For now, they are sleeping in their yard. They have no money to rebuild
We couldn't help ourselves in wanting to show the amazing light and joy in the faces of the Haitian Saints here in the Croix-des-Missions Ward in Port-au-Prince.
This is a glimpse of the members of the Croix-des-Missions ward after the earthquake. It's good they can sing "Happy day, all is well," because like the handcart pioneers of old they have nothing but God's help and the help of his children to see them through.

The rest of the story...

Once again my heart is full of gratitude for a loving Heavenly Father who is watching over my son.
Re: What in the world?‏
From:
Kelley Carson Jensen (kelley.jensen@myldsmail.net)
Sent:
Wed 2/17/10 7:06 AM
To:
Paula Jensen (pjdaisy50@hotmail.com)
Hey, so sorry about last week, I totally didn't mean to do that, just ran out of time. So to finish that story, So I was a little mixed up on my times it wasn’t quite as late as I thought, but any way, I walked passed that woman and then without even thinking about it I said "Can you help me?", I had no intention of asking her but it just came out, the Lord wasn’t going to let us get any more lost, so she said yes and she started taking us down this little tiny packed down snow path, and we walked on that for about 5 minutes and then we crossed a bridge and were at a train station where we took a bus home. Man when I sat down on the bus I had honestly never been so happy or grateful to the Lord in my whole life, I just felt his love beaming down on me. It was incredible, I don’t know what I would have done if I hadn’t been prompted to talk to her, I certainly would never have gone down that little path myself. Just incredible how the Lord really does know where we are and what we need all the time. I really know that that it true. I just wish I had realized how much he loved me before he saved me and my companion from that situation. Any way, I got a new email account this week so we shouldn’t have anymore email problems, the church teamed up with Google. Its sweet. so you’ll get my new address with this email and you can share it with everyone. We had a good week this week, we didn’t have tons of meetings but I finished part of this huge project where I had to visit a bunch of homes and find out if these members really lived there or not and knock on the neighbors doors and see if they knew them. It was a project and a half but it was satisfying to finish. So now we have more time to focus on finding more people to teach.

didn’t mean to send that yet, whoops. I cant believe that Dad is really going to Haiti! That’s so awesome, it sounds exactly like something he would do. I hope he loves it, he will have to take pictures and send them. What a great opportunity for him. We had a meeting with the man whose wife is a member and he said that he still hadn’t prayed to find out if the Book OF Mormon is true so that was disappointing but he said he would that night. So we are looking forward to hearing what he has to say. We also met with our baptismal candidate a couple times, I think he will be ready, its only a month away now. I am way excited for him. I haven’t seen any valentine package, but i haven’t got the mail today so we'll see. That’s so great to hear about our ward, we are going to have like 6 missionaries out at once, way cool! I really love missionary work, there nothing more satisfying that teaching by the spirit and having someone receive it by the spirit. I know that this really is the Lords work. Thanks for all your love and prayers. I love you. I will try to send a bunch of pics today :)
Elder Jensen


Re: funny‏
From:
Kelley Carson Jensen (kelley.jensen@myldsmail.net)
Sent:
Wed 2/17/10 7:22 AM
To:
Kelley Jensen (jkj51156@hotmail.com)
Wow! your going to Haiti? That’s sooo awesome! I’m way excited for you. This sounds exactly like something that you would do too. What a great opportunity. That story about the temple was way cool. Look for chances to share the gospel there too, maybe you could pick up a Haitian Book of Mormon at the distribution center. The people are probably really humble and looking for something to give them strength right now and the gospel will help. I love you so much Dad, I think about you often and try to do this work well enough to make you proud. Good luck in Haiti, be super careful.
Love your Son.