We were abruptly awakened by a phone call at 4:10 this morning. The evening before we had visited and taught Christine Peterson and she kindly called to warn us of an approaching tsunami. Christine lives on the block next to the ocean only about 15 feet above sea level. She was preparing to pack up and drive to the local high school that was serving as a shelter. We quickly turned on the TV and sure enough there was a tsunami warning for our area, but our apartment is on higher ground (approx. 60 ft above sea level.) While we were processing this new information and thinking about other missionaries who were also living in low lying areas, President Wade called to alert us. Both he and Tom were concerned about the missionaries who live in Half Moon Bay. President Wade had been unsuccesful in reaching them by phone so he requested that Tom and I drive to their apartment to check on them.
We quickly dressed and headed for Half Moon Bay. We took the route called "Devil's Slide" because it is high above the water even if it is windy. When we arrived at the address Pres. Wade had given us, there were no missionaries. So we called Elder Mayo, the senior missionary in charge of housing for the mission. Apparently, Pres. Wade had the address where the monthly rent check is sent, not the location of the missionaries. Once we had the correct address, it was a piece of cake to find the missionaries. Tom went in and they quickly came out with him and we headed back to our apartment. By this time the roadways in Half Moon Bay were lined with police directing traffic away from the roads nearest the ocean.
So once more we went over Devil's Slide and back to our place. We watched the updates on TV and ate hash browns, scrambled eggs, toast, jam, fruit and juice and counted our many blessings. The water crested at 8:09 am and was really a non-event, thank goodness! The ocean just looked like a normal winter storm day...a little rough and larger than normal waves.
Once we knew the worse was over, we reported in to President Wade and drove the missionaries back to their place. When we returned home, both Tom and I were exhausted. We must have been more anxious than we had realized. Karen, Susan and David each called to check on us. It was great to talk with each of them.
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