Tornado on the night of the Memorial in Oklahoma

by whereami 8 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  whereami

  Quite an experience...What trust they showed in Jehovah. Mena is located right at the Oklahoma state line...USA. I have been in contact with a Brother, he says they are all fine.

  Just wanted to let you know that everything is OK here after the tornado that hit Mena last Thursday during the Memorial. We had just passed the bead and Brother Tilton was just getting ready to read Pauls words concerning the passing of the wine. Your brother, Richard who was watching the weather as well as trying to focus on the Memorial came up to the front and whispered into one of the passer’s ears that there was a tornado headed our way. Well what were we going to do? We had no shelter to go into. I kinda laughed and leaned over to the brother and said I wished he hadn’t said anything. About that time , the lights went out.There was a deafening noise then it got quiet. Brother Tilton paused, but the Emergency lights at the side of the Hall came on. What else could we do but go on. Brother Tilton went on with the reading of the scripture and then said the prayer over the wine (he is of the Anointed) and said lets have the passing of the wine. Parts of the Hall were dark since we only had one emergency light. So the emblems were passed with the aid of flashlights. The meeting was continued as if nothing had happened. By the time Brother Tilton had read the scripture, before the passing of the wine, things had begun to calm down outside.

  While the conclusion of the meeting was going on, an unbelieving husband of one of the sisters came running in, and even I (I was sitting at the front of the Hall) heard him yell out, Lisa! She came running over to him and he said, Your meeting saved our lives. If we had been home, we would all be dead. She put her hand over his mouth before he could utter an expletive. Sure enough, the next day Eric (my son-in -law and I went out to their place and the house, although it was still standing, had been moved about 20 feet off its foundation and everything inside was destroyed. His life was saved because when he realized that the storm was headed for Mena he left for the Hall to get his wife. He witnessed the tornado hitting his house from a safe distance.

  After the meeting one of the brothers who was keeping an eye on things outside said that he saw the tornado heading right for the Hall and as he was getting ready to duck inside and warn us, he said the tornado suddenly veered north of the Hall and passed us by. The next day, Inspecting revealed very slight damage to the Hall and our outbuilding.

  There is a couple who I am priveleged to study with that was there and who have been attending regularly for several months. At our last study, their granddaughter (about 15 years old) was there. She started participating in the study and was thrilled that she was included in reading the paragraphs and reading scriptures. At the Memorial that night when things were getting rough she later told her grandparents that even though things were looking bad she felt so calm and safe. She told them that she wants to be one of Jehovah's Witnesses. You can imagine how that made me feel as well as her grandparents.

  Well I would like to share more about our activity since the storm but I am here at work helping to get the building back in shape so I'll get back to you later
• 

  John Doe

  There is no Mena in OK. Mena is in AR.
• 

  whereami

  Sorry, i forgot to mention that this was another feel good email going around J-DUB land.
• 

  purplesofa

  Mena, Arkansas: Tornado Kills Three

  • Posted by Alex Ion in Weather

  Friday
  Apr 10,2009

  A tornado that just hit the western Arkansas city of Mena, on Thursday night, caused three deaths, injured 22 and serious damage to more than 100 homes (some of which where there since the Civil War).

  After being hit “like a bomb” at around 8.10 in the morning with 100-year-old trees being uprooted from the ground, a curfew is now in effect for the people from Mena who are now waiting for local authorities and the National Guard to deal with ruptured gas lines and downed power lines.

  “There were sirens that went off,” Roger Susanin (reporter for KATV) said. “There were some tornado warnings earlier in the night, but it was not supposed to hit ground level. No one really had too much time to shutter their homes.”

  Does it mean that the tornado season has arrived and we’ll get to see more and more of these things? Weather is becoming a big factor of our lives …
• 

  WTWizard

  I hope they at least had the sense to cancel the party.
• 

  undercover

  About that time , the lights went out.There was a deafening noise then it got quiet. Brother Tilton paused, but the Emergency lights at the side of the Hall came on. What else could we do but go on. ... The meeting was continued as if nothing had happened. By the time Brother Tilton had read the scripture, before the passing of the wine, things had begun to calm down outside.

  While the conclusion of the meeting was going on, an unbelieving husband of one of the sisters came running in, and even I (I was sitting at the front of the Hall) heard him yell out, Lisa! She came running over to him and he said, Your meeting saved our lives. If we had been home, we would all be dead. She put her hand over his mouth before he could utter an expletive. Sure enough, the next day Eric (my son-in -law and I went out to their place and the house, although it was still standing, had been moved about 20 feet off its foundation and everything inside was destroyed. His life was saved because when he realized that the storm was headed for Mena he left for the Hall to get his wife. He witnessed the tornado hitting his house from a safe distance.

  After the meeting one of the brothers who was keeping an eye on things outside said that he saw the tornado heading right for the Hall and as he was getting ready to duck inside and warn us, he said the tornado suddenly veered north of the Hall and passed us by. The next day, Inspecting revealed very slight damage to the Hall and our outbuilding.

  Give me a fucking break...

  These bunch of dumbasses sat around passing bread and wine by flashlight while a tornado roarded around them and because they were lucky enough to not get killed, they'll proclaim it as divine intervention. You can already see the hint of it in this letter.

  By the time the conventions come around in that area, they'll line up all sorts of witnesses to describe the horror but how they put trust in Joe Hober first and he saved them through the tornado.

  Fucking cult dipshits
• 

  purplesofa

  After being hit “like a bomb” at around 8.10 in the morning

  The article I posted is wrong when it said the tornado hit in the am, it did hit at night. It has conflicting info in the article

  I was wondering if this unbelieving husband knows about witnesses that lost their lives in the NY plane crash and why Jehovah did not step in and spare them.

  I remember getting these kinds of mails when I was a JW and fell under the same spell.

  Last year a tornado hit the apt complex my daughter lived in, All the buildings were hit with damage except the one my daughter was in. Trees fell and crushed two cars only yards from her front door.

  A tornado came through this town I live in last Fall, was in our path but veered off before hitting here, doing damage about a mile away.

  A tornado hit where my ex-husband had lived obliterating his house and a business next to it. He had moved about 6 months earlier.

  I wonder why all of us were spared!!!!!

  purps
• 

  detective

  Ah yes, the meeting saved their lives. Similarly, had they been at a Walmart, the god of discount goods would have been credited. Or at a Yanni concert- maybe a McDonald's- Or at the Unitarian Church down the way? I can see it now... "Hooters saved our lives..."

  You mustn't dim that sort of brilliance with a logical argument.
• 

  undercover

  Thanks for the memory jog, detective...

  I rode out a tornado in a pizza shop many years ago, while I was still an active JW. The place was full of mostly college kids. I never gave thought to crediting Jehovah for saving us. I never bought into type of thing. I accepted the scripture that says unforeseen occurances befall all men.

  Or, maybe God just likes pepperoni