Missionary: 'They were calling for us to help'
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Elder Josiah Dick of Spanish Fork, Utah, was just sitting down to teach a lesson at a member's house in Miyako, Japan, when the earthquake hit March 11.
"I thought his house was going to fall down, but it didn't," he recalled during a telephone interview with the Church News.
With his companion, Elder Dick helped the member out of the house.
Warning sirens were blaring.
"The voice was warning everyone to run away, to try to get to a safe place before the tsunami."
The missionaries tried to reach and help other members, but the streets started flooding and they were forced into an elementary school, which functioned as an evacuation center.
They waited inside until after the tsunami.
When Elder Dick stepped outside again, he discovered everything between the school and the ocean had been destroyed.
"The tsunami came so fast, a lot of people didn't have time to get out of their house to a safe place. People were trapped in their houses."
The missionaries left the school and began looking for people who were trapped.
"They were calling for us to help," Elder Dick said. "Nobody was around. We jumped in the water and helped. We carried them to the elementary school."
The elders then tried to reach their apartment, but the tsunami had picked up and shifted cars that blocked their path.
They stayed at the elementary school for three days before Church members gave them a ride to meet other missionaries.
A week after the disaster, Elder Dick arrived in the Japan Sapporo Mission, where he had been reassigned. He had worn the same clothes since the disaster hit.
"I wasn't scared for me," he said. "I was scared more for the members and the people in Miyako."
He hopes before the end of his mission, he will be able to return to the city.
"I did not want to leave," he said. "I wanted to stay and help out. I can't wait to go back and try to do whatever I can to help out."
