The Sunday evening, we had all the warnings from the local authorities. We knew a storm was coming; we didn't know what magnitude.
Before we came here we were told that it would not be easy and we would have adversity, we would have challenges, we would have experiences. And I think that the recovering from natural disasters is part of that life experience.
As it went through, we realized that things were a lot worse than what we had thought they might be. It's been interesting to see how wards and stakes, communities, have rallied with each other to come together to do what's necessary to protect one another.
Disasters are probably more important for the salvation of those who are givers than those who are necessarily the recipients. We spent the better part of that night just trying to collect the data that we could of who was damaged, if everybody was OK.
We just relied on the Spirit, and there was a member of our ward that we knew had been hit really hard. And so we all just went there; let's just start there. And then it branched out from there. Japan has been an interesting study of people's intense desire to help one another.
Local priesthood leaders have keys to the priesthood. Those keys entitle them to inspiration as they direct the affairs of assisting their members in whatever ways that are needed. It's critical and important. You recognize very quickly, if you didn't already know that, how reliant you are on the Heavenly Father for answers.
If we are good disciples of Jesus Christ, we would do what He would do if He were here. And obviously that is to reach out and love and help and be very respectful of our fellowman.
