YOLANDA

As you can imagine the past few days have been difficult to say the least. Regardless of the level of our faith our human nature takes over and we experience worry and doubt. I feel so blessed that we were fortunate to be able to receive conformation of Missionary Madi's safety especially with the knowledge that there are parents who still have not received that conformation. For all of you who do not use facebook or Instagram I thought I would send some of the crazy postings/happenings from the past few days with out trying to recreate. The most important thing is that Missionary Madi is safe as are all of the sisters who live in her apartment with her. They have food and supplies and will be fine. Forgive my crazy thoughts etc. But hey you should all be used to it by now. :)

Thursday, November 7, 2013:
Thanks to Scott's sisters Laura and Debi who inquired early on Thursday about the storm expressing fear that it may be near Missionary Madi. Otherwise who knows when we have know of the Typhoon.

Missionary Madi ️has more weather adventures to come! Praying for her and the people of the Philippines. Notification of Typhoon Haiyan headed for the Philippines right at our girl.

My sweet daughter Kara who is obviously in touch with the spirit posted this within minutes:
Hi all, as some of you may know my sister aka- Sister Madi Kramer is serving a mission in the Philippines. Typhoon Haiyan is headed towards the Philippines and meteorologists are stating "that it could be one of the worst storms that modern earth has seen." Please join me in a fast tomorrow to keep Sister Kramer and all the other missionaries safe through this storm. If you are unable to fast please send prayers and thoughts. Thank you so much! Kara

Friday, November 8, 2013
Fasting and Prayers - Thanks to all who participated. It was appreciated and needed.
Friday Night the final update from the Church in reference to the Missionaries serving in the Philippines. Sister Madison Kramer is serving in the Tacloban Philippines Mission.

All Mormon missionaries serving in the Church’s 21 Filipino missions are accounted for, with the exception of some serving in the Philippines Tacloban Mission. Before the typhoon, missionaries had been moved to areas where they would be adequately sheltered, and the Church is working to establish contact with Tacloban mission leaders.

“A Church Welfare Department employee is traveling to the island of Leyte with communication equipment to establish contact with the Tacloban mission president,” said Stephen B. Allen, Missionary Department managing director. "We plan to be in communication with those in Leyte by Saturday in the Philippines.”

Response to a loving friend who e-mailed in the wee hours of the night.
Holy crap is right. I am watching CNN like an addict trying to get any type of info. The storm is definitely right where Madi is. One of the sisters with her Sister Dumas is from Layton and her mom and I have been consoling each other. I know Madi will be protected too but it gets pretty freaky. Depending on what you read there is all sorts of stuff  but I am sticking with CNN for now. I have been updating her blog to keep my sanity. These kids are freaking amazing and I love them so much. They are beyond amazing.

Meanwhile in the Philippines......

Wind was blowing so hard Missionary Madi had to use an umbrella to make her hot coco

Wind and Rain as the storm begins to make landfall in Ormoc

Saturday Morning, November 9, 2013

Prayers for Missionary Madi and all of the missionaries serving in the Philippines Tacloban Mission! Praying we get news soon. Love her! ️ #momneedshugs

Oh! No! Don't Worry! I am just FREAKING OUT! Love my MISSIONARIES! I am reading Missionary Madi Kramer blog and it feels like she is speaking to me from its pages. Thanks Delaney for the reminder.
Words of Madi's Wisdom: (copied and pasted from one of her letters)
Heavenly Father knows us and loves us and is here for us. We have these one investigators that drive me crazy and are so hard to teach but I still love them. It's complicated. and they really are brilliant and ask bomb questions that are freaking hard so the last couple times we have gone there I am praying like cray cray that I will be able to help them and answer their pangutana and its amazing how much easier its gotten. I understand there tagolog and I can answer questions that are so hard. Heavenly Father really cares about every single one of us and wants to help us. just PRAY!! And read the Book Of Mormon erridayyy.

Samar

MISSIONARY MADI IS SAFE! Best post I will ever make. Personal call from the Philippines letting us know she is safe. The area mission leader Elder Arden called at approximately 9:00 AM to pass on the good news. It will be a while before she can communicate with us and they do not have much other information other than she is safe. I told Elder Arden when he was done delivering the message "I don't know you but I love you!" He told me he loves us for sending our daughter to them. My world is right again. Feel blessed beyond measure. Heart filled with joy when this crazy phone number format lit up my cell phone 639-059-90423 (don't be calling it! It is a saints #)

Keep PRAYING there are still missionaries not accounted for! Fast & Prayer does bring about Miracles! The other 3 Sister who live and serve with Missionary Madi parents had not received the call and were still waiting for conformation. They finally received conformation around 4:00 PM Saturday afternoon. In speaking with them later they told me that when it took so long for them to be contacted their fears increased as time passed. We still do not know what the delay was other than at the time they were contacting us it was midnight in the Philippines. I have never prayed so diligently in my life. I love each one of these girls and they have become a part of the Kramer's lives over the past few months.
Nothing from Missionary Madi herself but I did receive a call this morning at 8:52 AM letting us know she is safe and that it will be some time before she will be able to communicate with us. The area and mission she is in was the hardest hit. She will likely spend the rest of her mission working to clean up the aftermath of Yolanda. It has been a very humbling experience. We are positive all missionaries are safe but the conformation is such a relief. Her mission presidents home was damaged by water and mud making it a difficult task to validate all the missionaries in the Tacloban mission. It is almost 5:00 AM in the morning there. Once it is day time we hope to get a little more information. Not from Madi directly but from others in the area.

Celebration snacks and a comfy bed (which I plan to collapse in)! So thankful to my Heavenly Father for Missionary Madi's and all the missionaries Safety. Thanks to friends & family for all of your love, support and PRAYERS! Now the hard work will start please keep the Philippines in your thoughts and prayers.

Saturday Evening

I am so thankful we were blessed enough to get notified today. Even knowing in your heart of hearts that they are safe the conformation that you are correct is beyond necessary.

But late Saturday night, the LDS Church issued a statement saying "approximately two-thirds of the missionaries in the Tacloban mission have been contacted and are well. We know that each missionary was provided a 72-hour kit, were moved to safe locations before the storm, and are in areas that were less impacted than the city of Tacloban."
"He informed me that basically, as of right now, there's 80 missionaries that are not yet accounted for in the Tacloban mission,"


Sunday Morning, November 10, 2013


Super excited! Got a call at 3:30 AM. The extent of the conversation was this "hell-o" "HELL-O" ( yes yelling from Madi) me " hell-o baby girl...." Madi "mom call us back ok". Zero luck getting through. Meanwhile some how they call back and Madi leaves me a message telling me call us back if you can we are all fine and that she needs me to call her companions moms. Then each of the 4 sisters tell me their moms phone number. Then they all start yelling and laughing like girls saying love you, love you. They all sounded great. So chatting with all the moms in the middle of the night. All of us trying to call the number back with no luck. So happy to hear Missionary Madi's voice she sounded awesome!

Attempted to call over and over. No luck here. I keep listening to the voice message. Cute little soldiers. Best part them all saying love you, love you.

Worst words in the English Dictionary - the subscriber cannot be reached! Please try your call later.

Dear Corry Webster, Stephanie Webster, Kara Follis, Perry Follis, Ryan Scott Webster, Rebecca Jackson Webster, Tyson Webster, and Kenzie Kramer, I love you. I am thankful I can talk to you any time I want even in you are near or far. As for you Madi Kramer I love you also and I am thankful for your love of the gospel and desire to share it. Not having the same luxury to simply talk to you when the opportunity presents itself (like at 3:25 AM) I am still beyond THANKFUL for a few simple words. Love all my babies and their babies and feeling incredibly blessed today!