SOUTH OGDEN, Utah — A Utah missionary missing since a cyclone slammed into New Zealand was found safe, according to his family.
Logan Williams had been serving in the town of Wairoa when Cyclone Gabrielle struck the country's northern island overnight Monday. At least four people have died in the storm and over 1,400 people are reported to be "uncontactable," according to the Associated Press.
Williams and a fellow missionary, Elder Park, were unable to evacuate before the storm hit.
On Thursday, Logan's mother, Amy, said her son had been found alive and safe. In a text to FOX 13 News, she said she had received a photo of Logan through the sister of the Bishop of Wairoa, although she had not spoken with him herself.
"We will probably not get to speak to Logan for a week, but I have received the 2 words I most desperately wanted to hear, 'He's alive!,' wrote Amy.
Even better, it appeared that the area where Logan is living and working was spared the worst of the storm.
"He has been doing as I imagined.... busy helping others. His home was not flooded. The Church building was not flooded. Too good to be true, but true!" Amy said.
Earlier in the day, a spokesperson with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said local church members in the area who are associated with police have been able to radio out and said they heard Williams and Park were alive.
Williams, a Bonneville High School graduate, has not been able to phone out on his own.
Church leadership said four missionaries were evacuated from a different area as part of a community evacuation and spent the night sheltering in the home of a local Latter-day Saint family.
“We expect that … the four elders will be back in their area and communications will begin to return to normal over the next few days,” Mission President David Thomson of the New Zealand Wellington Mission said.
As of Thursday, the church said it has no plans to bring Williams and others back to the U.S., but may move them out of particular area in New Zealand where they are serving.
Church leadership also reported that "several meetinghouses," especially in the north of the country and Hawke's Bay, suffered flooding and other damage.
