News from Purcell, Oklahoma

We didn't receive an email from Elliot today, likely because of the Memorial Day holiday.  Maybe tomorrow.  So in lieu of news from Elliot, it might be fun to take a look at the headlines from the Purcell Register, the local newspaper where Elliot is currently assigned.

The top story today is a reminder that the Purcell Public Library will be closed Tuesday and Wednesday due to a resurfacing project at the Human Resources Center facility.  Due dates to return items will be extended and fines will not be imposed while the library is closed.

The next story, "Devastating," describes the local damage caused by last week's tornadoes.  The nearby communities of Washington and Goldsby were struck by two tornadoes, and homes were damaged in Dibble.  Thankfully, no lives were lost in McClain County, although there are reports of as many as 25 people injured, with two in critical condition (as of last Thursday).  The story describes what happened in Purcell:

Sirens wailed in Purcell starting about 5:26 [p.m.] with public shelters quickly filling to capacity. There was no damage or hail in Purcell and no measurable precipitation in Purcell or Lexington. Purcell’s unofficial rainfall out of the storm was .05.

Devastation statewide was immense after one of the biggest tornado outbreaks in state history.

Purcell City Manager Dale Bunn reported city crews were assisting personnel in the Dibble, Goldsby and Washington areas after multiple funnels moved through the area.

Bunn said as soon as Purcell Public Safety officials were sure Purcell was out of danger they starting lending assistance to neighbors.

I wonder if Elliot was in a shelter when all this was going on.

Next is a story on "Helping Joplin Victims," which tells local folks how they can help those suffering from the effects of the tornado that killed so many and caused massive destruction in Joplin.   The local chapter of the National Mission Disaster Response Team and the Lighthouse Worship Center are both providing assistance.

There is also a story listing all the tornado shelters available in Purcell.  I hope all the missionaries knew where to go!

There are a few other stories and editorials typical of a local, weekly newspaper.  It's fun to read to get a flavor of Elliot's experience in the area.

Oklahoma Tornadoes

We knew there would be days like this when we sent Elliot off to Oklahoma.  Days of worry about his safety, frantically hitting the refresh button to get the latest updates on the internet, listening to the local emergency weather radio channel, watching for news on CNN/Fox/msnbc.  It has definitely not been a happy day.  But as of late Tuesday evening, the storm systems have moved to the east and Elliot's immediate area does not appear to have been impacted by the worst of the weather, although there was one tornado near Washington that was too close for comfort.  Sadly, there were many parts of Oklahoma that were greatly impacted by tornadoes and other severe weather.  The news reports are frightening.  According to the most recent update from The Oklahoman:

At least five people were killed and dozens more injured after multiple tornadoes ripped through Oklahoma on Tuesday, including a massive twister that left a trail of damage 50 miles long.

Four of the deaths were in Canadian County, said Cherokee Ballard, a spokeswoman for the state medical examiner. A fifth person died in Chickasha when a tornado hit a mobile home park, fire Capt. Chris Calhoun said. An Edmond woman also died in a car wreck as she rushed home to seek shelter from the storms, authorities said.

Motorists seem to have borne the worst of the impacts:

At least three of the fatalities in Canadian County were on Interstate 40 near mile marker 113 where cars were blown off the highway, authorities said.

Oklahoma Highway Patrol Capt. Chris West said troopers still were working to identify the victims late Tuesday. He said some of the victims were found 300 to 400 yards from abandoned vehicles.

Four cars on I-40 were torn apart by the twister, and the highway was littered with car parts. A tractor-trailer also was severely damaged, but the driver survived.

The most destructive tornado struck in the vicinity of El Reno, Oklahoma:

Much of the damage Tuesday came from one large tornado that touched down north of Lookeba in Caddo County and moved northeast into Canadian County, where it killed people on I-40 and destroyed homes and businesses west and north of El Reno.

The twister destroyed more homes in the Piedmont area and caused serious injuries before it moved into southeastern Kingfisher County, damaging homes south of Cashion, and continued into Logan County, causing more damage. The storm continued to cause damage into Payne County near Stillwater.

The video footage is powerful:





The Oklahoman has posted a series of photos, some of which you can see after the jump.

We'll look forward to hearing from Elliot next Monday but we're confident he's fine.

Tornado in Joplin, Missouri

Oklahoma is the hotbed of tornado activity in the United States.  But this tornado season -- the deadliest in over 50 years -- has extended far beyond Oklahoma.  Most recently, a tornado struck Joplin, Missouri, just 10 miles from the northeastern corner of Oklahoma and about 250 miles from Purcell, Oklahoma, where Elliot is currently assigned.  By now, we've all seen the reports of the devastation caused by the Joplin tornado, killing over 100 people, injuring many hundreds more, and causing extensive property damage throughout the city.  Our thoughts and prayers go out to those who have been affected by this disaster.  I have added a pair video news reports of the tornado's impact, one before the jump and one after.

This evening, western Oklahoma was under a tornado watch.  Earlier, a pair of tornadoes was sighted in the northern part of the state, with no reports of injury or damage.  In Elliot's email today, he reported some severe storms last week but, thankfully, he has managed to avoid tornadoes.  We'll keep our fingers crossed that his luck continues.

Rain in Oklahoma

Oklahoma has been suffering from severe drought conditions for many months, as we reported a few weeks ago.  Thankfully, recent rain storms have eased the drought somewhat, including in the area where Elliot is currently assigned.  We'll see if he has anything to say about the rain in his upcoming email.  According to a recent news story,

The recent storms brought 2 to 4 inches of rain in general, with locally heavier amounts in southwestern Oklahoma. That was also the case up through Oklahoma County, [Gary] McManus [of the Oklahoma Climatological Survey] said. However, there were areas of western and northwestern Oklahoma, as well as the Panhandle, where rainfall totals were a half-inch or less.

The drought is not over but the heavy rain certainly helps.

"For those areas that had received good rains previously to this one, such as in central Oklahoma, [the recent rains] will go a long way toward lessening the drought conditions,” McManus said.

“For other areas, like extreme southwestern Oklahoma, it's a good start. As of midday Friday, much of western and northwestern Oklahoma still needed a good drink to even start thinking about drought relief. For most of western Oklahoma, it's a county-by-county process.”

The rain caused some flooding and property damage, as you can see in the pictures and a video after the jump.  Farmers and ranchers are undoubtedly thrilled to get some rain, despite the damage, although it may have come too late in the growing season to help everyone.

On the bad news side for wheat production in Oklahoma, it was too little too late, [Mark] Hodges [of Plains Grains Inc.] said. In many areas the drought led to little or no crops. And there's a risk that weeds may germinate in crops that are out there, he said.

“While the moisture is too little too late and there are potential problems, I don't think you will find the industry complaining, with the exception it came two months too late,” he said.

Check out the video and pictures after the jump.

"Parched" -- Drought in Oklahoma

For those of us who live in California, we have been blessed with a great deal of rain this year.  Our reservoirs are full or nearly so.  Our rivers are flowing and the snowpack in the Sierra Nevada is well above average.  Governor Brown recently declared an official end to California's three-year drought. 

Unfortunately, the same is not true in Oklahoma.  A recent feature story in the Purcell Register, where Elliot is currently assigned, tells the story of the terrible drought affecting Oklahoma:

Storm clouds usually darken the skies in the spring dropping inch after inch of rain on fertile farmland.

For the spring of 2011, those clouds have not been storm clouds, but clouds of smoke from wildfires blazing across the countryside.

McClain County and a huge section of central, south central and western Oklahoma are in a severe drought.

Another report confirms that virtually the entire state is affected:

The situation is most dire in southwestern Oklahoma, where Tillman and portions of Cotton and Jackson counties were classified as being in extreme drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, released Thursday. All but the northeastern corner of the state is experiencing some degree of drought.

The last good rain was in November, and the snow that fell in February was too dry to amount to much moisture.

Reservoir levels are low, crops are drying up, and the state has suffered the driest four months since the Dust Bowl.  Prayer has become one of the most used tools of Oklahoma farmers:

Zac [Harris, of Hobart, Oklahoma], a fourth-generation farmer and rancher said, “Rain is mentioned more toward the first in our prayers and again at the last.”

In neighboring Texas, Governor Perry has declared a weekend of prayer:

"I urge Texans of all faiths and traditions to offer prayers on that day for the healing of our land, the rebuilding of our communities and the restoration of our normal and robust way of life."

Oklahomans and Texans would undoubtedly invite all of us to join them in prayer in an effort to find relief from this drought.

Elliot's April 18 email and pictures of his apartment in Purcell

Here's the latest email from Elliot.  We're glad to hear that the recent tornadoes were not a problem where he is, although a flying kiddie pool must have been quite a sight!  He describes where his current apartment is so I have included a couple of screen shots of the complex.  He's living in the north end of Purcell, just off the main road (Green Avenue) that runs through town.  Check out the pictures after the jump.

Hola!

Como estan?

Our apartments are at the corner of 9th and Hallmark Blvd in Purcell. I think they're called Wind Ridge. It is terribly windy. The other day it was so windy that we couldn't even bike, so we walked, but it was crazy. One of those kiddie pools that you fill up with a hose flew past us in the air and rolled down the street like a half mile. Only in Oklahoma. I'm pretty sure that was the day where all of the other storms happened. We were just fine though here in Purcell. We're just hoping for some rain to because it's pretty bad out here.

Things are going really well out here actually. The members are super active in missionary work, and it's great. In fact, everyone that we're teaching right now has come from a member referral. And even though our teaching pool isn't super huge, we're seeing success and I'm really excited for what these next few transfers might bring. We've taught some awesome people these past few days, and I can really see how the work of members sharing the Gospel is paying off! The members even come out teaching with us quite a bit, and it's been mega awesome.

Well, I gotta run, sorry for the short email, but know that I'm happy and healthy and grateful for everything!

Love you!

Elder Elliot Adair

Elliot's new area: Noble-Purcell, Oklahoma

In his last email, Elliot told us that he was being transferred from Clinton, Oklahoma, to Noble-Purcell, Oklahoma, as part of the regular process of missionaries being transferred within their mission area, as I previously described on the blog.  I did a little checking to see what I could find about Elliot's new area and will share some of that here. 

Noble and Purcell are two separate towns south of Oklahoma City.  Noble is about 28 miles south of OKC, with Purcell another 11 miles further south.  Noble has 5,260 residents (as of the 2000 census), and Purcell has 5,571.  Both border the Canadian River and fall along the I-35/Highway 77 corridor. 

After the jump, check out some pictures, videos, and fun facts about Noble and Purcell, Oklahoma.

New pictures of Elliot and other OKC missionaries

I ran across the blog of another missionary in the Oklahoma City mission, Elder Philip Woolley.  Elder Woolley is currently in Elk City.  That's in the same district as Clinton, where Elliot was assigned until today's tranfer to Noble-Purcell.  Elder Woolley was companions with Elder Phillips, who was Elliot's MTC companion.  I found a couple of pictures of Elliot from Elder Woolley's blog.  It's great to see some new pictures of Elliot and other OKC missionaries.  You can see them after the jump.

Elliot's March 28 email and pictures

Here's the latest message from Elliot, along with some pictures.  He's getting transferred to a new area (more on that later) as a senior companion.  You can see the pictures after the jump.

Hola!

So I'm getting transferred! I'm gonna head to the Noble-Purcell area as senior companion. It should be an interesting new challenge but I'm looking forward to it. My new companion will be Elder Endicott. My companion right now, Elder Stephen McCord Kimber, is going to be training out in Clinton, which would be a very exciting greenie area. I love Clinton. It's so fun and the members are way awesome, but a change of pace will be nice. Besides I hear the work is going really well in Noble! It'll be hard to head out I think, but it's fun to get into new areas.

We've been teaching a lot lately and having a lot of fun doing it. A lot of our investigators are progressing well, especially "Bob," who I told you about last week. Apparently he's about to go camping for a few weeks though, so that could make things interesting. One funny thing that happened this past week was that we went and taught a family in "The Flats," the allegedly ghetto part of town. There were like 7 kids all 10 and under while we were trying to teach, which was a little crazy. After a few minutes the kids got a hold of paper and markers and all started to draw. Next thing you know they had given us a total of 38 drawings which we then went and put on the wall of our apartment! It was so fun. And the lesson went really well too I would say. It was just so funny because they were drawing us, trying to draw crosses, and gave us at least 5 pictures that say "I love Jesus." It was awesome. I'm loving the work and those I'm working around so everything's going good!

I gotta be heading out here in a minute, but I'm gonna attach a few pictures first! I got a new roll developed.

I love you all and hope everything's great! Except that all of a sudden OK decided to get cold and stormy. Oh well.

Love,

Elder Elliot Adair