NOT ONE BUT TWO!

Not one but two hurricanes so far for us and all in one year!  Hurricane season is June 1 ~ November 30 and we have been here for 2 years and have not had any hurricanes.  Come the start of our third year and we have now had 2 hurricanes! Crazy!!

Hurricane Helene was the fifth hurricane, and second major hurricane (after Beryl) of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season. Helene developed gradually and on September 24 become a tropical storm as it approached the Yucatan Peninsulas. 

On Sunday September 22 Presidente received a phone call from our Area Security team making us aware of the potential hurricane heading towards our mission.  On Monday morning we received another call letting us know it might be wise to move our missionaries off the islands. (Cozumel and Isla Mujeres). We had felt during the night that we needed to move our missionaries off the islands so luckily we had already had this plan in motion. On Tuesday morning, September 24, we felt we should move a few missionaries in Cancun as we could have major flooding and we were concerned their homes would flood a little more than we wanted. We also received another call from church security in the early afternoon telling us that the storm had shifted and now was coming more directly towards Cancun and to brace for major flooding. By this time we had all the missionaries moved who needed to be moved. On Tuesday evening we had a mission wide zoom call and Presidente left a blessing on our mission. We then told our 3 Cancun zones they were to stay in their homes until they received notice from Presidente or I that it was safe to leave.  

Wednesday, September 25 around 8:00am tropical storm Helene turned to a category 1 hurricane and was now brushing by Cancun (meaning it did not hit land). Strangely enough even though it didn't hit land and was only a category 1 hurricane it did major damage here in Cancun. Much of the city was without power and we had a few missionary homes starting to flood. Fortunately after communicating with those missionaries we were able to control the flooding and they remained safe. Cancun was on Red Alert (extreme danger) all day Wednesday and so our missionaries were not able to leave their homes until Thursday morning. 

We are very blessed and know the Lord is always watching over us. We have felt this many times but especially when we are faced with danger and worry over our missionaries safety. We still have 2 months left of the hurricane season so who knows if we will have more come our way!