SNOWBOUND IN RUIDOSO

We are SNOWBOUND!!!! It started snowing on Monday afternoon and kept snowing all night long. We woke up to snow covered driveways and roads all over Ruidoso. The mission president said, "Do not drive in the snow"! So we stayed home all day being thankful for heat, a place to stay, water and food. On Wednesay, the snow was so deep that we couldn't get up our steep driveway so we had to stay home again. However, the heat was off when we woke up. It was so cold I thought my hair was cold. We piled on all the blankets we had to keep as much heat as possible. Then we realized we had no water! Oh my, that was a wake up call. We began to assess the food we had and the water, because we have to buy our water in large 3 gallon jugs because the water here is no drinkable. Four hours later the heat came on. Thank goodness!!!! I cooked some hot muffins for us and the missionaries. They were eternally greatful because they don't keep much at the apartment. But no water. One of the members brought over a large 5 gallon jug to help keep the toilets drained. Yuck! Thursday, we still couldn't get up the driveway and everyone in Ruidoso says they are snowed in unless you have chains. Most of them don't have water either or the pipes are freezing and breaking. We got a call from a member asking for a blessing for her husband who was in the hospital so we shoveled ourselves out and pushed ourselves up the driveway to the highway. Dad gave a blessing to Wade Kinzumah who was happy to see us. Then we called Priscilla, who is a grandmother who just got custody of her two grandchildren because her daughgter was put in jail and was almost out of gas. So we drove her to Tullarosa to get money to pay for her heat. We thanked the Lord for blessing us and keeping us safe. Still no water. The next day we woke to no water but we had to leave for Albuquerque so we filled up all the water bottles for the missionaires and headed out of town. We were looking forward to getting to a motel to get a shower!!! It made me think how vunerable we were and very unprepared. Think HARD about how you would do in a situation like this!!! I am posting some pictures of our snow. Notice the snow that has piled up on the roof and hanging over the edge. We noticed it and thought how dangerous it would be if it fell on us. Of course, the fearless missionaries, knocked it down in a hurry. We left some oranges in our car and when we returned we had our own homemade frozen orange juice. The oranges were so hard they bounced like croquett balls, very hard! We are safe so don't worry, but they are expecting more snow and the wind is so cold it get 30 degrees below zero. Ooooohhhh! Freezing.