INTERESTING TIMES WE LIVE IN

Tuesday’s earthquake and subsequent tsunami in American Samoa hit too close to home for one Brentwood family.

Elliott Miller, a 2007 Brentwood High School graduate, arrived in the country about a month and a half ago to begin his two-year mission with the Church of (Jesus Christ of) Latter-Day Saints.

It took five hours after she first learned the news for Angie Miller, Elliott’s mother, to learn he was accounted for. “The next morning I got a message saying that he had been on the southeast side of the island and he was safe,” she said Wednesday night.

It was a full 24 hours later before she actually talked to Elliott, who attended one year at Brigham Young University's Hawaii campus.

After determining that he was OK, if still in shock, she asked how the village he had been serving was.

“He said, ‘Where I was, it is gone,’” she relayed. Elliott, along with almost everyone there, lost everything.

Offers of help started pouring in immediately, Angie said. “People are calling, wanting to help. We want to help all the missionaries who have lost everything.”

The government and the Mormon church are bringing in relief supplies, and the Red Cross and FEMA were due to arrive Wednesday, she said.

Elliot Miller told his mother he will go on to Pongo Pongo today as planned. Conditions there are bad and the church will put him to work on relief.

Mom uses Facebook to share son’s tale

When he left Brentwood in July, Elliott Miller created a Facebook page to share his journey with friends and family. On Wednesday, his mother posted the following:

“Elliott just called from Samoa still in shock but safe. He relayed what just took place during the tsunami and I wanted to pass the info along while it is fresh. …

“Yesterday morning at 6:48 Elliott was in the shower when the 8.3 quake hit. He said it was strong but not destructive. He and his companion got a laugh at the thought of him in the shower during an earthquake. They were staying in the home of another family in the village of Malaela on the southeast coast of Upolu.

“Just as he was drying off and getting his underwear on, a family member from the house was up working on a hill and called down that a tsunami was coming. Elliott didn't think it was serious but threw on some shorts and his white mission shirt. He went outside to see what was going on and saw people running and screaming toward the forest. He grabbed some sneakers and started running too.

“He picked up some kids and started running with them. His companion turned around and the water was right behind them. There was no high ground to go to so they ran to some trees and climbed them. As he got up in the tree the water hit the tree and started rising quickly. He said the water came up about 5 feet and started pulling on the tree. He was afraid the tree would be pulled out and taken out to sea. Pretty soon the water receded and they got down from the tree and ran deeper into the woods.

“His companion thought they should stay in the woods through the day and not go down to the beach which made Elliott mad. He thought they should go into the village and try to help. Finally later in the afternoon they went down to their village and the whole village including their home (which was made of cinder block and wood) and all their belongings were swept out to sea….

“There were people in the distance picking up dead bodies. Around 4:00, two other missionaries happened to be going by and saw Elliott and his companion. They were able to help some and then took Elliott and his companion to Apia to the mission home which is where he is now. They were able to shower and eat and he is borrowing some clothing.

“He is still getting transferred in 2 days to Pago Pago as was planned. The day of the quake was transfer day meaning missionaries change locations and companions. His friend Elder Larsen was coming in on a ferry from Western Samoa during the quake and when the ferry got to the port they saw the water emptying out and the ferry was able to back out and avoid the shore.

“Elliott said from the time of the quake until the tsunami hit was 6 minutes. The patriarch and his wife perished in the tsunami. The temple was not damaged but the trumpet fell off of the angel Moroni.

Elliott noted that had the man on the hill not called to warn them or had the earthquake been in the middle of the night the situation would have been much different for him.

During the drive to Apia another alarm went off and people were running and screaming so they floored the car to get out of the area but it was a false alarm.

“He is sunburned and tired. He's lost his clothing, camera, journal, scriptures, notes, study material, toiletries and travel documents.

“He wanted to know if it was on the news here and I told him it was and that friends and family have been calling from all over to make sure he was OK. I told him to be strong and that we love him and for him to help in the recovery.

“I can't believe how close we came to losing him. I wasn't worried when I heard about the quake but then when I heard about the tsunami and knowing that his last location had been on the southeast coast, I was very, very scared. He said he and his companion got the worst of it but noted another set of missionaries were driving and a wave hit their car and tossed them but they are fine…"

Elliott will be in American Samoa for two years until June 2011. He is allowed two calls home per year to his family, at Christmas and Mother’s Day. Angie says this event gave him a third call this year.

Ironically, before Elliott left on his mission, the family watched a movie about a Tonga Mormon Missionary from the’50s who was in American Samoa during a tsunami. The movie is called The Other Side of Heaven. The true story account of this missionary showed his life after the island was destroyed and the efforts for recovery.

It looks like Elliott is going to see a 2009 version of the movie and he’s re-writing the script.

“We wish you luck young man.”

D&C 88:90
And also cometh the testimony of the voice of thunderings, and the voice of lightnings, and the voice of tempests, and the voice of the waves of the sea heaving themselves beyond their bounds.