"Winds"day - June 1, 2015

Monday - June 1st

We had a big wind storm tonight.  It came in very quickly and suddenly.  It was so nice and sunny all day.  It's crazy how quickly it all changed.  Somebody posted this picture on Facebook of the storm as it was blowing in to Tremonton.

The missionaries came over tonight.  Alissa's friend Malaiyah is having the missionary discussions and since there are only girls living at her house, they came to our house for the discussion, so there is another male present.  I'm really glad that she is interested.  Since her and Alissa have been friends, Malaiyah has had a lot of questions about the church.  she was really curious and wanted to learn more.  Alissa and another friend of theirs have taught her what they could about the church.  Alissa invited her to go to Activity Days with her and after they turned 12, she invited her to come to some of her Young Women's activities.  She was never able to come, because her mom's boyfriend said no.  Malaiyah got the impression from the way he acted about the church stuff that he really didn't like it and he wanted her to stay away from it.  She had gone to Activity Days with a friend once before we met her and she said that he got really mad at her for that.  So, she was really afraid to ask even, because she knew he would say no.  anyway, so she was never able to go to anything with Alissa, but Alissa still asked.  Last year, we had the missionaries over and she was at our house when they came.  Malaiyah was so worried about her mom's boyfriend getting mad at her, that she insisted she would wait in the kitchen and play the computer or something until they left.  She was afraid that he would get mad at her if he found out that she had been talking to the missionaries.

About a month ago, missionaries I hadn't met yet, stopped by.  We talked for a little while and they asked if we knew anybody who might be interested.  I told them about Malaiyah.  I explained how her mom's boyfriend had been against it, but they broke up and she is with someone else now.  I hadn't met her new boyfriend, so I don't know what he's like, and I don't know how her mom feels about the church, but I thought maybe now they would be more open to it.

I was so excited when Malaiyah told us they had made an appointment with the missionaries.  It turns out her mom's new boyfriend is a member of the church.  It seems like Malaiyah is really excited to learn.  Alissa is really excited too! 

So Last night, the missionaries, Malaiyah, and her family came over.  We all enjoyed it and I definitely felt the spirit.

Back to the "Winds"day thing.  When everyone came over for the missionary discussion, it was nice and sunny outside.  In the middle of the discussion, it suddenly got darker and we could hear the wind.  It was crazy to look out and see how the weather had changed so drastically and so quickly.  It was kind of exciting.  The wind was blowing so hard.  When the discussion was over, we all had to go out and look at the weather.  It was fun to be out in the wind when it was blowing that hard.

I watched an episode of Storm Stories yesterday and it was really funny to me, because the lady they interviewed was like me in that she never thinks the worst or that something bad might happen.  This is a problem I have.  When something bad happens, my brain doesn't seem to realize or see that this situation is bad.  Examples:  I watched my neighbor's house get robbed when I was thirteen.  I walked by their house and waved to the robbers as they were carrying out the microwave and the tv.  It never dawned on me that anything bad could be happening.  I thought that they were my friend's uncles.  I stared at them for a while, thinking about how her uncle looks nothing like I would have expected.  Then I wondered about why they were borrow so much of their stuff.  I wondered how my friend's family was going to get by for a while without that stuff, but then I thought, maybe they are buying new stuff so they are giving this to their uncle.  Anyway, the bad guys nervously waved back and me and my little sisters skipped along the rest of the way to go play at the school playground.

Another example: I had a peeping tom when I was 22.  I always felt creeped out and like I was being watched at the apartments I was living in, but I thought it was my imagination.  One night, Roger was over and we were talking.  I happened to glance over at the window during our conversation and through the broken part of my blinds, I saw some eyes staring back at me.  I did a double take to make sure of what I was seeing.  The first thought that came to me was that one of my friends must be playing a joke, so I'm smiling and looking at the eyes, asking Roger who he thinks is out there.  I'm like, "What one of our friends is playing a joke on us?"  Then Roger looks over, sees the eyes and knows immediately that it is trouble.  He angrily jumps up, goes to the window, and flings open the blinds.  The guy outside jumps up.  Roger starts yelling at him through the window, then takes off running outside to chase him down.  The guy managed to get away.  I didn't realize anything was wrong until Roger jumped up and was angry.  My brain just never thinks the worse.  I have a lot of stories like that, where something bad is happening or I am in danger, but I don't realize it until somebody points it out or saves me.

So, the lady on storm stories, lives in Canada in an area that does not get tornadoes. She lives in a trailer park with her husband and 3 kids.  Her husband is at work and she is home with her kids.  It is a nice sunny day and they are outside playing.  The look up and see a storm moving in really fast, so she gets the kids inside, then she heads back out to put their bikes and the toys away.  While she's outside, she looks up and is in awe at how fast the clouds are moving.  She's never seen anything like it and she's thinking it is really cool.  The wind has picked up and is getting really strong.  She's surprised by how strong it's blowing.  A big gust blows her over and knocks her into the fence.  She laughs it off and is thinking, Wow!  that was crazy!  She not worried, she's just in awe and a little entertained by how different this storm is.  Then she sees the roof blow off of her neighbors trailer.  She said when she saw that she laughed a little and was thinking, wow, he is going to be quite surprised when he gets home.  She still didn't realize there was any danger.  She finished picking up the toys and went inside.  Her and her kids gathered by the window to watch the storm.  while they were watching, a trailer across the street got picked up and blown away.  That's when her brain finally realized that this was bad and they were in danger.  Her and the kids had no where to run, because they were in a trailer also.  She said they tried to climb into a closet, but it was too full and they couldn't get in, so they just huddled together in the closet doorway.  Then a neighboring trailer smashed into theirs.  When it was all over, they were okay.  Their trailer didn't fly away, because it was pinned down by the neighbor's trailer.  They were lucky to have survived with only a few cuts and bruises.  I just thought it was funny, that she was oblivious to the danger.  I've never met or heard of anybody else like that.  It makes me laugh and it was really funny to hear her tell it and her initial reaction to things.  She was a funny lady.

The kids and I were feeling really tired of living in this town house tonight.  I suggested we go for a walk, but it's not fun walking around near the townhouses, so we walked to the nearest "normal" neighborhood. A normal neighborhood in my opinion is a neighborhood filled with houses and no townhouses or apartments.
We had a nice walk.  I discovered a panorama setting on my phone camera, so we took some pictures.  The kids each took a turn trying it out.  Brinley's friend, Layla was out riding her bike around, so Brinley stopped and played with her for a little while.  It was a really nice, enjoyable walk.