Post from Jackson Mississippi Mission Blog regarding Tornados:

Just saw this on the Mississippi Jackson Mission Blog, which is to the right.  But here's the link...just updated today.  http://presidenttucker.blogspot.com/2011/04/mississippi-tornados.html

Tornados....April 28, 2011

The South has taken a huge hit with tornados the past week.  We got an email from Hank on Monday (sorry, I haven't updated for a few weeks...).  We had expressed concern about the weather there, and Hank confirmed the weather has been pretty stormy where he is, but no tornados in Vicksburg.  Jackson, Mississippi was hit on the 15th of April, .  It was pretty overwhelming to see...and was grateful that Hank was no where near it.  But then the following Monday we got an email from and he told us that he had been in Jackson the day before the tornado, getting a bike fixed.  I had no idea he drove into Jackson sometimes. I guess it's good I didn't know!
Anyhow, yesterday another series of storms and tornados formed and have pounded the South again, starting in Mississippi.  We've been watching the weather channel and news the past 24 hours, and it looks pretty bad.  John's parents live in Winfield, Alabama, and his sister lives in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and their city took a terrible beating.  Although thankfully they're all ok.

We hadn't heard anything, good or bad from Hank's Mission President, so all I could think was "He's ok.  If he wasn't, we would have been told something."  Still...I've wondered how Hank is, and wondered if he's involved in any cleanup or anything.   Yazoo City, on the other hand,  a place that was hit a year ago, and that Hank went to visit last month, was hit again yesterday, very hard, with fatalities.  Very, very sad.

Today, we did get a nice, short but very sweet note from Pres. Tucker:
Re: All is well is Mississippi
Brother and Sister Jackson,
We know that you may concerned about your missionary here in the Mississippi Jackson Mission, due to the recent rain and wind storms we have been experiencing. I am happy to report that all missionaries in this mission are just fine and we have once again been protected by the Lord.
We appreciate serving with your missionary and appreciate you sharing him with us. We are truly blessed to serve together in this important work. Please do not hesitate to contact us here at the mission office if you have any questions or concerns.
With Warmest Regards,
President Tom R. Tucker

This made my day...and brought our family some more peace and relief. I had to drop Pres. Tucker a quick reply...just thanking him for the information.



This is on display in our foyer...All the missionaries from our ward currently serving.



April 4, 2011

hey mom whats up?! ...

...well this week was good, as you know this week was conference and it was good. on Saturday we went to the church to watch it but it was just us and like 2 other people, it was so empty. after the 2nd session we went to subway before the priesthood session. priesthood session ended at like 9:00! and i was tired so we went to bed. the next day we went to the p______ to watch it, we watched the whole thing except the last hour of conference, the p_____ had to go somewhere so we left. so i didn't get to see the last hour of conference. anyway that was like the big highlight this week. oh yesterday at the p_____ they made us menudo again and it was good. so me and  Elder A are really working with the Spanish people, and its great. i don't understand everything they say but its fun to just listen. the more i go over there the more i can get the jist of what there saying. its great and I'm looking forward to keep doing it. well its cool that I'm i only have 2 more conferences left! wow!

Ok, so you got stung by a scorpion?! wow! crazy! are you alright?! i knew there were scorpions there, and the shed too! be very careful of the shed there's spiders and black widows and scorpions there! let me know how everything is going! and also i didn't know that A.J. went to Texas! that's awesome, I'm sure he'll talk about it next time i talk with him. well that's it for now ill talk to you next week! bye!

love hank

Email to John:

 Well another conference is over, and i only have 2 more to go. wow, that's cool. haha i really enjoyed conference this weekend, it was much different than watching it at the mtc. here it was more relaxed while watching it, i really enjoyed priesthood session i was totally thinking of you guys at our old church building sitting in the same spot watching priesthood session. and i was totally thinking of you at red lobster also, haha! priesthood session ended at 9:00 for us so we didn't have time to get something to eat. before it started me and A______ went to subway, i wanted to go to red lobster but the closest one is out in the Clinton/Jackson area. well this week was mostly just us getting ready for conference. it was good, i really enjoyed the priesthood session also. well right now me and elder A_____ are working with the Spanish alot more, the r_____and the p______ is who we are working with the most now. the p_____ are members and the r_____ are a part member family. it great always going over to them. even though i don't speak Spanish, the more we go over there i can sometimes get the jist of what there talking about. its been great so far! well this week nothing really happened other than conference. oh and by the way I'm in the Clinton zone, there are 7 zones in our mission, the Shreveport zone, the Monroe zone, the Clinton zone, the Jackson zone the Hattiesburg zone, the Gulfport zone and the Slidell zone. Clinton and Jackson zone is the Jackson stake, and the gulfport and slidell zone is the gulfport stake. so anyway that's or zones. i didn't hear about the bus accident, do you know what city is was? I'm just wondering. and i haven't listened to the second CD you sent yet, our CD player is out of batteries and I'm going to get some more this week to listen to it. well that's is for now, thanks for everything! ill talk to you next week, bye!

love hank

March 28, 2011

hey mom! this week has been pretty good, I'm with elder A______right now and hes a cool guy, he speaks Spanish (because he was assigned Spanish speaking). so this transfer were going to work alot with the Spanish people in the area and ward. hes from Huntington Beach, California. do you know where that is? anyway i think were going to get along great this transfer and have a good time. this week has mostly been just me showing him around Vicksburg. its really hard to do that still because I'm still new to the area, haha! so i hope that he is patient enough for that haha, but its been good. well this week is general conference. six months ago was the last general conference and i think its crazy to think that i only will have 2 left for the mission! and i get to call on may 8th! I'm pretty excited about that as well. I'm glad that things back home are going good, and that youth conference was good. i always actually liked going to youth conference for the most part, it was just fun to see everybody. I'm glad that Jeri and Addie did good on their talks, I've always hated talks haha but i think you already know that. oh and off topic i did like getting dropped off at school in the dark, haha! it was just so much more quiet and relaxing. anyway yah summers coming and i wonder how its going to be. anyway that's about it for now ill talk to you next week, thanks for all the letters bye!

love hank

oh wait, i totally forgot to mention i listened to the tape you guys sent and i loved it! it was so good to hear everybody! and by the way i guessed the soarin over California song in 19.52 seconds! haha i had the fastest time i bet! anyway yah it was good, thanks again bye!

Email to John:

well this week is over now, and its been a good one. elder A____ is a cool guy he speaks Spanish and we are going to work alot with the Spanish people this transfer. mostly this week has been just showing him around the area. i think were going to get along good this transfer. elder mc____ is now home. I'm sure he is having the time of his life right now, haha. well this week is general conference and we watch it at the church building. on Saturday were going to get something to eat, definitely I'm probably going to be thinking about you and aj eating at red lobster, haha. were probably going to whataburger or burger king or something haha. that's so cool that i got mission plague thing! i didn't know it took this long for it to come, I'm really excited to see the picture of it. Addie was telling me that she was the first one to see it! Brother Clark was telling me something about yazoo city, he was telling me that that was in one of his areas! its a very interesting place i cant wait to get his letter, haha! well I'm glad that things are going good back home...well that's about it for now, thanks for the letters and ill talk to you next week, bye!

love hank