So, we had an AMAZING week, it was memorable for so many reasons. Since it was the "week the world ended" I will base all of the events that happened around some of the signs that proceed the end of the world, so this week was the week of "tempests" and "floods" and "ice" and "fire" and "false prophets" and to just make everything more fun and interesting we can add that it was the week before Christmas. So the week began with "tempests", we had a MAJOR storm come through with driving winds and huge amounts of rain. We realized that it was more then just a thunder storm when the whole city was filled with the sounds of the tornado sirens blasting! Meaning a tornado had touched down within 15 miles. So we opened the door and admired the powerful storm pounding our house to the backdrop of the ominous tornado siren... that lasted all afternoon, making for some very wet and cold missionaries. The second sign that it was the end of the world was "floods". With that huge storm and several others this week, what we have nicknamed "the floods of Noah" returned to our backyard. The creek rose 10ft and flooded out big time, but we were untouched because of our 2nd floor apartment, so with these floods we realized yet another sign had come, lol. The next was "ice". Yes I realize that ice is not mentioned as a sign of the end of the world, BUT storms and extreme weather are, and for two days here in Alabama we had "extreme" weather causing it to freeze over, in SOUTHERN ALABAMA!!! That definitely qualifies as extreme. With these three signs now behind us we wondered what else could possible happen during this, the last week of the earth, and it came in the form of "false-prophets". We were sent to meet a man that we were told "would love to talk to us", we got there and we were promptly invited in and then... BOOM! We were instantly under the rage-filled attack of this man raising his voice in anger and frustration about everything under the sun having to do with our church. Every single bit of our faith was torn apart, Joseph Smiths name was slandered and our faith in "the devil" was presented to us. The man would not allow us to say even a single word, so I finally got the chance to bear testimony when he paused to catch his breath after a particularly long and profane attack on our own personal sanity and mental capacity. To which he responded with a long winded explanation of how his church (Catholic) was the only true and living church established by Christ himself, etc... At that point we prepared to leave and I subtly started an audio recording of about the last 5 minutes of this conversation, I will attach it below.

And now with those four signs of the times behind us we thought for sure, "now the world can truly end!" But we never expected the final sign to hit us first thing in the morning... "FIRE!" We awoke to quite the commotion outside and I tore open the blinds only to be greeted by the flashing lights of an ambulance, cops, a Pumper Ladder and 5 Rigs stuffed in the parking lot in front of our door. The building across the parking slots from us (about 50 ft from our door) had gone up in flames early that morning, the laundromat and the two adjoining apartments had been nearly completely destroyed and the whole building suffered smoke and water damage. Luckily no-one was killed, one lady suffered burns to her leg but nothing to serious. Once it was all put out and the dust had settled a much more somber spirit hit us when we realized that for these two particular ladies living in the lower apartment they had lost so much just 3 days before Christmas. We volunteered our time to help retrieve what could be saved of their possessions, we had to avoid the back room where the ceiling and the above apartment had burned all the through to the roof and was in danger of collapse, but we along with some of the staff moved them into a vacant apartment in a different building, there was no coverage for their possessions because they had no insurance so all that was destroyed was a complete loss. We felt so sorry for them as we moved in soaked papers, furniture and electronics and loaded 12 bags (55 gallon trash bags) full of clothes, some were burnt, all were soaked, and most suffered heavy smoke and soot damage. All of these clothes were going to be a complete loss by the end of the day once the mold damage set in, and for these two ladies it was a hopeless prospect. They had no transportation and no money and no place to clean clothes (the laundromat had been completely destroyed in the blaze). Realizing that we could be a blessing to these two poor women who were so overwhelmed by their loss we made a few calls and in about 30 minutes our Relief Society president was on scene with a pick-up truck, we put about 9 bags in the bed, filling it up, and took 3 back to our apartment to start sorting and washing and drying with our own machines. She then took them around to different sisters in the ward and delivered the nearly destroyed clothes and then hit the nearest laundromat herself. We sorted and rinsed and washed and even ran a few loads of hangers and other stuff through the dishwasher. By the end of the night (and many loads of filthy clothes later) all of the clothes (with a few exceptions) had been saved. We continued working into Sunday with the sacks we had taken and then after church filled our car with all of the now clean and folded clothes all the sisters had cleaned. Our living room is now full of all the clothes and it is wonderful to see them all saved from being a total loss to these two women. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity to offer that service and sacrifice to these women right before the day we celebrate the birth of our savior and to see the service networks of the church come to their aid at the drop of a hat, just like he himself would have dropped everything to relieve their suffering and loss. We all felt a powerful spirit of love and gratitude in serving this Christmas season, and I can personal understand now why so much of the direction we receive through our church leaders calls us to service. It truly is a wonderful memory and I am grateful that I got to be a part of it. Merry Christmas everyone!!!