A Weekend to Remember

This weekend started out pretty uneventful but quickly turned into one that I will never forget.  It started when I got a call from my sister saying that an elderly woman in her ward was missing on Friday night.  By Saturday, she was still missing and everyone was getting really worried.  Apparently, she had been separated from her husband while out walking and no one had seen her since.  Saturday morning, Scott and I joined a search party of about 200 members of our church who had showed up to help search all over Reno for her.  We spent the morning knocking doors asking if anyone had seen her, with no luck.  By afternoon we had worked our way to downtown Reno and split up to talk to people on the street and in casinos.  We talked to some pretty sketchy people on the strip and 4th street (a pretty bad part of town).  I have to admit, I was pretty scared talking to some of them but I was humbled when everyone was so friendly and willing to help spread the word.

By Sunday she was still missing and church was canceled for the entire area so that we could look for her.  When we showed up at the meeting point, we were amazed at what we saw.  About 400 people were there and the leaders had organized a massive search party to cover the entire city.  Everyone was split into teams that covered a different area.  We split into our teams and quickly went to work searching.

After an hour of searching we weren't having any luck in our area and went back to find a new one.  By the time we got back we got the good news that she had been found!  She had walked into the bushes right behind where we were meeting and had been stuck there all weekend.  The searchers said they could see our cars from where they found her.   

The team that found her got all scratched up by bush whacking through thick brush

She had fallen through thick brush and was completely hidden.  The rescue team literally stumbled upon her when they found her.  

By the time she was found, she had been lying there for almost 48 hours without food or water!  She's really dehydrated and bruised but is doing okay. 

It was such an emotional and humbling experience coming together with the members of my church to search for Elaine.  I felt so much love from everyone and truly felt like we were all a family.  Finding her really was a modern day miracle and an answer to so many prayers; it's something I'll never forget.