Tornado

We spent most of last night in the basement of the dorm waiting out tornadoes. Here, when the tornado siren goes off, one takes them seriously. No waiting outside, no waiting to see if it really gets worse, no waiting to see if the all-clear is announced; you head to shelter. Not all 22 of us were downstairs, some were elsewhere. There are some summer students here as well who spent that time downstairs. We sang hymns. How wonderful the music, four part harmony, only two had a hymnal with them, but we sang and sang. In worship service and in devotion in the morning class, we have been singing praise music, I spose cuz that's the more current music; but last night we sang traditional hymns. It is so good to hear the hymns, and to hear the voices raised to God in harmony. Such voices everyone has. We didn't even hear the hail falling, and the hail was huge, the size of tennis balls. When we had a chance to go out to see how the cars had fared, a couple had cracked windshields, one student's back window was completely broken out (this morning the interior of the truck was soaked from the rain), and many cars, including mine, had dimples and dents. There were towns surrounding Salina that had damage, some churches, some parishes, lots of homes were destroyed or damaged.

Of the 22 here studying for the License for Local Pastor, one is from MO, six of us are from SD. One lived in New Orleans and their home was destroyed in Hurricane Katrina. It has been interesting to talk with her, to hear from her how it was, and to know that our church has been serving on a mission to that area, in the same area that she lived. She is now living in a town just outside of Salina.