Wow, seven days have already passed and I can't even believe it. It doesn't feel like seven days have gone already, but that also means that the next 3 will go by even faster. We all still have so much we want to accomplish while we're down here. Hopefully the Lord will give us 3 fun and goal accomplish filled days so we can go home feeling like we actually did a lot of good here in Mexico, not only with our physical deeds but also with the goods and clothing we brought, also with our love of God. We want to show the people of La Paz that God loves them, and we love them too.
This morning I woke up at 6 trying not to wake up my roommate, Andrea. As I was sneaking out of my room I also saw Austin and Mark up and moving around. Our plan was to go to Tecalote and do some hiking this morning in time to see the sunrise over the ocean. Marcus Shy and Alexis joined the three of us. It was a small up close and personal group. We were all in it for the experience, no matter what we had to go through to get it. The 6 of us sacrificed our beauty sleep, to the dismay of the rest of the group, to climb a mountain to witness the Lords glory in the purest way that I know possible. We all have pictures, but the pictures don't do the mountains and the oceans and the sunrise any glory at all. I've realized while on this trip that all of the photo's I always thought were products of photoshop, are actually the products of really good cameras, and God's amazingness.
We went back to the seminary today and finished up all of the projects we had started there. The humidity today was absolutely crazy. It was hard to concentrate on cleaning up dripping paint when you were dripping sweat. We painted 4 more walls and the trim on the inside of the English classroom. We also got a lot of work done on the cabinet doors, but that is a project that can be worked on tomorrow from any location including Casabuena. We brought the materials with us.
The day was very tiring so after we all finished working and took a dip in the pool to cool down we just relaxed and ate dinner. There are still 3 days left so plenty of time to do touristy things, right?
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Day 6
Today was pretty uneventful. I went to sleep at 9 and when I had to wake up, at 5:30, I felt like I had gotten about 2 hours of sleep and that a bus had hit me during the night. All of this hard work is swiftly catching up with me! Hopefully I'll be able to recoup at some point in the next two days. That's unlikely though because I have to wake up at the same time for the next two mornings. ughhhhh. We went up to Care for Kids La Paz again this morning. The kids had eggs with hot dogs in them for breakfast. I'd love it if this was normal in America. That's my dream breakfast. We were planning on giving out the extra clothes we brought with us out today but we decided to save it until Friday so the kids would have great lasting memories of us when we left. After breakfast for the kids, we finished cleanup in a fraction of the time and headed over to the seminary to continue painting. There was another job to tackle at the seminary today though as well. About 4 years ago there was a big break in, and the burglar ripped the doors off of the locker like bookshelves only to find Spanish bibles and other religious literature. Stealing nothing, the thief just did a lot of damage to the seminary. Our primary goal there today is to fix the damage that was done and try to prevent future damage from being able to happen. I don't have any good pictures of the seminary, but we did a lot of work today. We painted 3 outside walls and the interior of the classroom that had been broken into. There is still a whole lot to do though! Luckily we're coming back tomorrow to finish up :)
We ended up back at the Malahcon to watch the sunset and do a few touristy things. It's always nice to hang out as a group and be able to talk and get to know each other when we're all clean and not working.
We ended up back at the Malahcon to watch the sunset and do a few touristy things. It's always nice to hang out as a group and be able to talk and get to know each other when we're all clean and not working.
Day 5
Hola beautiful readers! As the days go by i'm attempting to use as much Spanish as I possibly can in regular conversation, unfortunately I don't know much Spanish at all. Today we returned to the burnt down house. When we arrived the whole landscape of the house had changed. There had been 3 piles of gravel, larger rock, and sand dumped in the backyard. 
We later found out that they were there to spread out and tamper down to later turn into concrete to create a new floor for additions to the house that would be added later. Our projects for the day were to knock down a big piece of concrete that had lost some structural integrity on the roof, sweep the roof and seal it with waterproof paint, and spread out all of the materials to make concrete. It was about a 7 hour work day. We started by climbing up on the roof and beginning to knock down the section that needed to be removed. This part took far too long, and during this time we broke one of the wooden (yeah wooden) ladders that we used to get on top of the roof.
Oh don’t worry though, the neighbor of the family Victor, and his hired help whom we call El Torro who had both been helping us out throughout the day, helped by fixing the ladder on the spot. . . with wire and a few nails. I waited until someone came with a real ladder to dismount the roof. We then enjoyed delicioso tuna fish sammy’s that our wonderful pastor made for us. It's amazing how delicious a tuna fish sandwich can be after a hard days rocking. After we finished lunch we went back to work for a few hours then headed back to Casabuena for the evening. We decided we weren't going to return to the burnt house because it would be using more of our time and resources for a project that will take years to finish. The family still has to decide what they really want to renovate and rebuild so we are going to devote the rest of our time here on the seminary.
After work we went straight to Casabuena and showered off and headed straight out for our evening activity. We got to witness the sea turtle release into the ocean! It was one of the most amazing experiences of my entire life. It really makes you think about how small we really are, but what a big impact we can have if we just use our efforts in the right ways.
We later found out that they were there to spread out and tamper down to later turn into concrete to create a new floor for additions to the house that would be added later. Our projects for the day were to knock down a big piece of concrete that had lost some structural integrity on the roof, sweep the roof and seal it with waterproof paint, and spread out all of the materials to make concrete. It was about a 7 hour work day. We started by climbing up on the roof and beginning to knock down the section that needed to be removed. This part took far too long, and during this time we broke one of the wooden (yeah wooden) ladders that we used to get on top of the roof.
Oh don’t worry though, the neighbor of the family Victor, and his hired help whom we call El Torro who had both been helping us out throughout the day, helped by fixing the ladder on the spot. . . with wire and a few nails. I waited until someone came with a real ladder to dismount the roof. We then enjoyed delicioso tuna fish sammy’s that our wonderful pastor made for us. It's amazing how delicious a tuna fish sandwich can be after a hard days rocking. After we finished lunch we went back to work for a few hours then headed back to Casabuena for the evening. We decided we weren't going to return to the burnt house because it would be using more of our time and resources for a project that will take years to finish. The family still has to decide what they really want to renovate and rebuild so we are going to devote the rest of our time here on the seminary.
After work we went straight to Casabuena and showered off and headed straight out for our evening activity. We got to witness the sea turtle release into the ocean! It was one of the most amazing experiences of my entire life. It really makes you think about how small we really are, but what a big impact we can have if we just use our efforts in the right ways.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
AHH I need to keep up on the updating!
Hello Readers!
Sorry I've been a negligent blog updater! We've been way too busy to not use any extra time for eating or sleeping. I have a few days to blog about, so i'm going to get straight to it!
Day 4
Today was our first day to go to the Care for Kids La Paz ministry and feed the hungry children. I'll tell you the best thing to be able to do in the world is see a need, and fill that need. The kids were just in need of some lovin, and (after we got over the sleep deprivation) we were fully capable of filling that need. To make it to the top of the mountain in time to feed the kids we had to be in the van at 6:10 am. This means that we arrived just in time to miss the sunrise because we were busy feeding the most adorable kids ever. We were all given an assignment, some of us were washing dishes or flipping pancakes while others were giving the kids melon and vitamins. Everything was extremely regulated, just because the resources are so scarce. It's remarkable that the ministry is able to reach all of the children it does. Over the course of the day I heard that Care for Kids La Paz feeds about 100 kids every MWF morning before school.
The kids are also given a snack for the school day, be that a yogurt or a piece of fruit. These kids were the most grateful and well behaved that I've ever experienced. It was so weird to see the older children stepping in to help their younger siblings, even if the older was only 5 years old.
After the breakfast we headed over to the Seminary to do some work there. Mostly the work at the seminary was surface work, painting and sanding and more painting. At first we thought this was a nice break from working at the burnt house, until the sun came out. Then we all just wished we were back in bed.
After a few hours we wrapped up the painting and headed back to Casabuena for dinner and to hang out. We were thinking about going down to the Machala but nobody had the energy for that so we hung out at the pulapa and watched monday night football until it was time for bed.
Sorry I've been a negligent blog updater! We've been way too busy to not use any extra time for eating or sleeping. I have a few days to blog about, so i'm going to get straight to it!
Day 4
Today was our first day to go to the Care for Kids La Paz ministry and feed the hungry children. I'll tell you the best thing to be able to do in the world is see a need, and fill that need. The kids were just in need of some lovin, and (after we got over the sleep deprivation) we were fully capable of filling that need. To make it to the top of the mountain in time to feed the kids we had to be in the van at 6:10 am. This means that we arrived just in time to miss the sunrise because we were busy feeding the most adorable kids ever. We were all given an assignment, some of us were washing dishes or flipping pancakes while others were giving the kids melon and vitamins. Everything was extremely regulated, just because the resources are so scarce. It's remarkable that the ministry is able to reach all of the children it does. Over the course of the day I heard that Care for Kids La Paz feeds about 100 kids every MWF morning before school.
The kids are also given a snack for the school day, be that a yogurt or a piece of fruit. These kids were the most grateful and well behaved that I've ever experienced. It was so weird to see the older children stepping in to help their younger siblings, even if the older was only 5 years old.
After the breakfast we headed over to the Seminary to do some work there. Mostly the work at the seminary was surface work, painting and sanding and more painting. At first we thought this was a nice break from working at the burnt house, until the sun came out. Then we all just wished we were back in bed.
After a few hours we wrapped up the painting and headed back to Casabuena for dinner and to hang out. We were thinking about going down to the Machala but nobody had the energy for that so we hung out at the pulapa and watched monday night football until it was time for bed.
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Day 3
Hey everybody! Thanks for tuning in :)
Today was our last down day before the intense labour starts tomorrow . . . morning. . . at 6:00 am. I hope they know i'm in college. I schedule my classes so that I won't have to wake up before noon. Good luck getting me up Andrea ;)
This morning we woke up, got all dressed up in our Sunday clothes, and headed over to church. The Crossroads Community Church is actually connected to Casabuena, so it wasn't much of a trip over. Yesterday Alexis, Shy and I were asked to teach the Sunday school at CCF so we walked over a little earlier in order to straighten out the lesson plan and tour the church a bit, just to see what we were getting ourselves into. The church service was amazing. Led by Ruben, a friend of everyone, we sang a lot of music that we were all familiar with. The cool thing was that he integrated Spanish into the choruses, a nice introduction to the language. After worship Mark stood up to preach and we girls split for the Sunday school room. The kids were learning Jeremiah 29:13, a verse that says "you will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart". It's so cool that was their verse for this week. I really feel like we as a mission team are learning to seek God with all of our hearts during this trip and I've seen the Lord work in amazing ways that blow my mind already. And it's only day 3.
After church we all packed into the van and headed over to the Caffe El Triunfo, an Italian restaurant owned by one of the church members. After lunch we went back to Casabuena for down time. At 7 we went to the First Baptist Church of La Paz. FBCLP is an exclusively Spanish speaking church which was a super cool experience. It was so amazing to hear the praise for our Lord in an unfamiliar tongue. The pastor taught the story of Shadrach Meshach and Abednego. The only reason I know this is that David and Joyce sent around a piece of paper explaining what was going on. At this point we, me, were all once again starving so we headed back to Casabuena heated up some leftovers and chit chatted in the palapo until we remembered we had to be awake at 5:45 the next morning for Care for Kids La Paz. We all bid our adieus and made way for bed.
Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers while we're all down here. I know it doesn't sound or look like we've done much yet but Milton was fixing my camera so pictures will come, and over the next few days you can count on the Lord showing his love through us in many more ways.
Thanks again, you are all amazing!
Hannah
Hannah
Today was our last down day before the intense labour starts tomorrow . . . morning. . . at 6:00 am. I hope they know i'm in college. I schedule my classes so that I won't have to wake up before noon. Good luck getting me up Andrea ;)
This morning we woke up, got all dressed up in our Sunday clothes, and headed over to church. The Crossroads Community Church is actually connected to Casabuena, so it wasn't much of a trip over. Yesterday Alexis, Shy and I were asked to teach the Sunday school at CCF so we walked over a little earlier in order to straighten out the lesson plan and tour the church a bit, just to see what we were getting ourselves into. The church service was amazing. Led by Ruben, a friend of everyone, we sang a lot of music that we were all familiar with. The cool thing was that he integrated Spanish into the choruses, a nice introduction to the language. After worship Mark stood up to preach and we girls split for the Sunday school room. The kids were learning Jeremiah 29:13, a verse that says "you will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart". It's so cool that was their verse for this week. I really feel like we as a mission team are learning to seek God with all of our hearts during this trip and I've seen the Lord work in amazing ways that blow my mind already. And it's only day 3.
After church we all packed into the van and headed over to the Caffe El Triunfo, an Italian restaurant owned by one of the church members. After lunch we went back to Casabuena for down time. At 7 we went to the First Baptist Church of La Paz. FBCLP is an exclusively Spanish speaking church which was a super cool experience. It was so amazing to hear the praise for our Lord in an unfamiliar tongue. The pastor taught the story of Shadrach Meshach and Abednego. The only reason I know this is that David and Joyce sent around a piece of paper explaining what was going on. At this point we, me, were all once again starving so we headed back to Casabuena heated up some leftovers and chit chatted in the palapo until we remembered we had to be awake at 5:45 the next morning for Care for Kids La Paz. We all bid our adieus and made way for bed.
Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers while we're all down here. I know it doesn't sound or look like we've done much yet but Milton was fixing my camera so pictures will come, and over the next few days you can count on the Lord showing his love through us in many more ways.
Thanks again, you are all amazing!
Hannah
Hannah
Saturday, October 15, 2011
La Paz
Mission La Paz
Crossway Community Church 2011
October 14-24
The All-Star Team:
Mark Larimer, Susan Larimer, Emma Larimer, Jackson Larimer, Marcus Tyree, Christel Tyree, Alexis Tyree, Cheyenee Collins, Hannah Smith, Austin Moore, Andrea West, and Mike Creech
Hey Everybody! This is Hannah Smith typing. I've been sent to report on days 1 and 2 of the 2011 La Paz Crossway mission trip.
DAY 1
Day one started out wayyy too early for most of us. Everyone except Andrea and Austin, who drove up to Indianapolis early, met at 3:00 am to get on a 21 seat charter bus and drive an hour and a half to the Indianapolis airport. Our flight left at 5:30. We made it to the airport and through all of the security in plenty of time, boarded around 5:00, and settled in for a 2 hour nap. The plane arrived a half hour early, adding 30 minutes to the pre-existing 2 hours of awesome layover in Houston Texas. We were only a little bit bored.
After this we boarded a plane direct to Cabo. This was a slightly longer flight, but most of us finagled our way into getting seats all together. Not me, I was stuck by myself, in the last row, by the toilets. Thanks guys :)
When we got to Cabo it was a huge shock. Here I was in my sweats and a t-shirt, and it was 95 degrees when I stepped off the plane! The line to get through customs was about as long as the flight to Cabo, but we made it through without a single hitch. David and Joyce Reed, local missionaries and friends of the Larimer family, met us at the airport with a rental van. We loaded all of our stuff into the van and we were on the last leg of our trip to La Paz!
Somebody, Mark, choose the shorter, more hilly road to La Paz instead of taking the scenic route which resulted in a few cases of motion sickness. It didn't phase the teens though, they spent the trip playing tic-tac-toe in the back of the bus.
We all stopped for sandwiches on the way to Casabuena, the B&B at which we were staying (owned by Miltuna and SuSu, also friends of the Larimer family and local missionaries). When we arrived at Casabuena we were all exhausted from the long travels and the lack of sleep from the previous evening. We unpacked and had some much needed down time for the rest of the night. We were told that the next day of work wouldn't be too strenuous so some of us stayed up too late listening to podcasts and wishing for poptarts.
DAY 2
I never understood how farmers could wake up to the sound of the rooster crow every morning. Now I get it. Roosters are relentless, loud, and they mean business. If they have to be up, you have to be up too. This is why I spent my morning trying to figure out what to do for the next 2 hours instead of sleeping like I should have been. David Reed met us at Casabuena at 9:00 am to take us to the work site for the day. A few weeks ago, the house of a local family burnt down. Our mission for the day was to clean out the debris, 2 hour job at the max. It was supposed to be our light day. When we arrived we were informed that there was more work to do in the cleaning out than we thought. We ended up working for 4 hours, intense labour in intense heat. But we all performed wonderfully. We kept hearing the family call us something we didn't recognize, afraid of what they were calling us David was called for assistance. To our surprise they were actually saying that we were working as hard as the locals, which is an outstanding compliment coming from the actual locals. After 4 hours of intense labour, breathing in concrete and soot, and learning small snippets of Spanish we were finally finished with clearing the area out. In the words of Sir Reed, this is really when we were able to show the physical love of Jesus. And although we were all sore and dirty, the family had seen the love of Christ and that's the only thing that matters in the end. After we returned back to Casabuena and hosed off we headed out to see the rest of La Paz. It was nice to become acquainted with the level of poverty and the kinds of people we were going to be working for during the next 8 days. Then we returned back home again, scarfed down some quesadillas and headed off to bed. We have church in the morning :)
Crossway Community Church 2011
October 14-24
The All-Star Team:
Mark Larimer, Susan Larimer, Emma Larimer, Jackson Larimer, Marcus Tyree, Christel Tyree, Alexis Tyree, Cheyenee Collins, Hannah Smith, Austin Moore, Andrea West, and Mike Creech
Hey Everybody! This is Hannah Smith typing. I've been sent to report on days 1 and 2 of the 2011 La Paz Crossway mission trip.
DAY 1
Day one started out wayyy too early for most of us. Everyone except Andrea and Austin, who drove up to Indianapolis early, met at 3:00 am to get on a 21 seat charter bus and drive an hour and a half to the Indianapolis airport. Our flight left at 5:30. We made it to the airport and through all of the security in plenty of time, boarded around 5:00, and settled in for a 2 hour nap. The plane arrived a half hour early, adding 30 minutes to the pre-existing 2 hours of awesome layover in Houston Texas. We were only a little bit bored.
After this we boarded a plane direct to Cabo. This was a slightly longer flight, but most of us finagled our way into getting seats all together. Not me, I was stuck by myself, in the last row, by the toilets. Thanks guys :)
When we got to Cabo it was a huge shock. Here I was in my sweats and a t-shirt, and it was 95 degrees when I stepped off the plane! The line to get through customs was about as long as the flight to Cabo, but we made it through without a single hitch. David and Joyce Reed, local missionaries and friends of the Larimer family, met us at the airport with a rental van. We loaded all of our stuff into the van and we were on the last leg of our trip to La Paz!
Somebody, Mark, choose the shorter, more hilly road to La Paz instead of taking the scenic route which resulted in a few cases of motion sickness. It didn't phase the teens though, they spent the trip playing tic-tac-toe in the back of the bus.
We all stopped for sandwiches on the way to Casabuena, the B&B at which we were staying (owned by Miltuna and SuSu, also friends of the Larimer family and local missionaries). When we arrived at Casabuena we were all exhausted from the long travels and the lack of sleep from the previous evening. We unpacked and had some much needed down time for the rest of the night. We were told that the next day of work wouldn't be too strenuous so some of us stayed up too late listening to podcasts and wishing for poptarts. DAY 2
I never understood how farmers could wake up to the sound of the rooster crow every morning. Now I get it. Roosters are relentless, loud, and they mean business. If they have to be up, you have to be up too. This is why I spent my morning trying to figure out what to do for the next 2 hours instead of sleeping like I should have been. David Reed met us at Casabuena at 9:00 am to take us to the work site for the day. A few weeks ago, the house of a local family burnt down. Our mission for the day was to clean out the debris, 2 hour job at the max. It was supposed to be our light day. When we arrived we were informed that there was more work to do in the cleaning out than we thought. We ended up working for 4 hours, intense labour in intense heat. But we all performed wonderfully. We kept hearing the family call us something we didn't recognize, afraid of what they were calling us David was called for assistance. To our surprise they were actually saying that we were working as hard as the locals, which is an outstanding compliment coming from the actual locals. After 4 hours of intense labour, breathing in concrete and soot, and learning small snippets of Spanish we were finally finished with clearing the area out. In the words of Sir Reed, this is really when we were able to show the physical love of Jesus. And although we were all sore and dirty, the family had seen the love of Christ and that's the only thing that matters in the end. After we returned back to Casabuena and hosed off we headed out to see the rest of La Paz. It was nice to become acquainted with the level of poverty and the kinds of people we were going to be working for during the next 8 days. Then we returned back home again, scarfed down some quesadillas and headed off to bed. We have church in the morning :)
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
The Body of Christ in Action
Checking in with Karen by telephone on Sunday evening, I found she was distressed by what she'd heard on a morning news program. In reporting on the tragic bombing and shooting in Norway, the report identified the perpetrator as a "right-wing fundamentalist Christian," associating his heinous act with his supposed association with Christianity. Segments of our society seem to grasp at any opportunity to associate the bad and the awful with Christ and His followers. I believe we have seen what Christianity is really about this week in Tuscaloosa . . .
Our group is from an American Baptist Church, along with members of a Cincinnati Christian businessmen's group who happen to attend Roman Catholic, Independent Baptist, and Vineyard churches. We are being graciously housed by the Hopewell Baptist Church, a Southern Baptist Congregation. Behind the church is a trailer where we can shower and do laundry, provided by the Southern Baptist Convention and an SBC church in South Carolina. As we drive to our work site, blue tarps with the insignia of Samaritan's Purse provide short-term protection from the weather for damaged homes. A World Vision tractor-trailer is set up in front of an elementary school.
The recovery work in the Holt area in which we are working is coordinated by the Soma Church. In front of the church are tents and a huge mobile kitchen from ACTS world relief and the Northland Church in Orlando. Every day lunch is cooked and provided for volunteers and others in the community by volunteer groups, including a team from the Covenant Church in Gainesville, FL which has joined us staying at Hopewell Baptist.
In the neighborhood where we are working, two new houses are already under construction -- by Habitat for Humanity and their volunteers. At our work site, we work alongside a couple from a Lutheran church in Iowa, and were joined one day by a team from a Roman Catholic church in Milwaukee and an Episcopal church in Maryland. Some of our team members spent the day today serving at a distribution center run by the Salvation Army.
This, I believe, is the real face of Christianity. FEMA is providing some important overall coordination, but a tremendous amount of the work on the ground is being provided by people who love the Lord Jesus and take seriously his call to love and to serve others. This is the Body of Christ in action.
". . . in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others . . . Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality . . . Rejoice with those who rejoice, mourn wiht those who mourn . . . " (Romans 12:5, 9-15, NIV)
Our group is from an American Baptist Church, along with members of a Cincinnati Christian businessmen's group who happen to attend Roman Catholic, Independent Baptist, and Vineyard churches. We are being graciously housed by the Hopewell Baptist Church, a Southern Baptist Congregation. Behind the church is a trailer where we can shower and do laundry, provided by the Southern Baptist Convention and an SBC church in South Carolina. As we drive to our work site, blue tarps with the insignia of Samaritan's Purse provide short-term protection from the weather for damaged homes. A World Vision tractor-trailer is set up in front of an elementary school.
The recovery work in the Holt area in which we are working is coordinated by the Soma Church. In front of the church are tents and a huge mobile kitchen from ACTS world relief and the Northland Church in Orlando. Every day lunch is cooked and provided for volunteers and others in the community by volunteer groups, including a team from the Covenant Church in Gainesville, FL which has joined us staying at Hopewell Baptist.
In the neighborhood where we are working, two new houses are already under construction -- by Habitat for Humanity and their volunteers. At our work site, we work alongside a couple from a Lutheran church in Iowa, and were joined one day by a team from a Roman Catholic church in Milwaukee and an Episcopal church in Maryland. Some of our team members spent the day today serving at a distribution center run by the Salvation Army.
This, I believe, is the real face of Christianity. FEMA is providing some important overall coordination, but a tremendous amount of the work on the ground is being provided by people who love the Lord Jesus and take seriously his call to love and to serve others. This is the Body of Christ in action.
". . . in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others . . . Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality . . . Rejoice with those who rejoice, mourn wiht those who mourn . . . " (Romans 12:5, 9-15, NIV)
Jesus is the Master Even in the Disaster
Walking through a nearby neighborhood, I came across a wooden sign which read, "Jesus is the Master Even in the Disaster". How true!
Work continued yesterday and today as we continue to clear out some lots in the small city of Holt, Alabama. Although we continue to find pictures and a few personal items, we are mostly down to the debris left over from trees and fences. Trees, branches, fence posts, and barbed wire have become one as a result of the tornado, and we are using pitch forks, hard rakes, clippers, sawzalls, and chain saws to separate them.
The weather is HOT!!! Today was in the lower 90's with 65% humidity. We started working at 7am and were spent after 6 hrs. I drank 5 16oz water bottles by lunchtime, and I am usually not a good water drinker.
At lunch, I had the opportunity to meet a woman named Kenya. Kenya had just delivered her newborn baby girl Sykya on Good Friday, 5 days before the tornado. The baby arrived prematurely and was kept at the hospital while Kenya was allowed to go home. You can imagine the anxiety and emotions she was feeling as she and her older daughter and husband rode out the storm in a hallway in their home, not knowing if the hospital where their 5 day old baby was being taken care of would be a victim of the tornado. She said her husband was watching the tornado approach their home as it appeared to split into 2 funnels, one heading in one direction, and the other heading in the opposite direction. Amazingly, their home only suffered some roof damage while their neighborhood was completely anihalated. Even after the tornado passed, all phone lines were down including cell phones, and she had no way of contacting the hospital, no way of knowing whether or not her baby was safe. Praise God, within a day, she was able to contact the NICU and confirmed that her little Sykya was absolutely fine. God is good! She is still amazed that she can see from one end of the city of Holt to the other - few trees, and few homes remain.
Just a reminder, the tornado was 26 miles long (that's a marathon for all you runners!), and 1 mile wide. We encourage you to go outside, take a one mile long walk and reflect on how destructive this tornado was.
Work continued yesterday and today as we continue to clear out some lots in the small city of Holt, Alabama. Although we continue to find pictures and a few personal items, we are mostly down to the debris left over from trees and fences. Trees, branches, fence posts, and barbed wire have become one as a result of the tornado, and we are using pitch forks, hard rakes, clippers, sawzalls, and chain saws to separate them.
The weather is HOT!!! Today was in the lower 90's with 65% humidity. We started working at 7am and were spent after 6 hrs. I drank 5 16oz water bottles by lunchtime, and I am usually not a good water drinker.
At lunch, I had the opportunity to meet a woman named Kenya. Kenya had just delivered her newborn baby girl Sykya on Good Friday, 5 days before the tornado. The baby arrived prematurely and was kept at the hospital while Kenya was allowed to go home. You can imagine the anxiety and emotions she was feeling as she and her older daughter and husband rode out the storm in a hallway in their home, not knowing if the hospital where their 5 day old baby was being taken care of would be a victim of the tornado. She said her husband was watching the tornado approach their home as it appeared to split into 2 funnels, one heading in one direction, and the other heading in the opposite direction. Amazingly, their home only suffered some roof damage while their neighborhood was completely anihalated. Even after the tornado passed, all phone lines were down including cell phones, and she had no way of contacting the hospital, no way of knowing whether or not her baby was safe. Praise God, within a day, she was able to contact the NICU and confirmed that her little Sykya was absolutely fine. God is good! She is still amazed that she can see from one end of the city of Holt to the other - few trees, and few homes remain.
Just a reminder, the tornado was 26 miles long (that's a marathon for all you runners!), and 1 mile wide. We encourage you to go outside, take a one mile long walk and reflect on how destructive this tornado was.
Monday, July 25, 2011
Just some background information: There were actually 3 tornadoes that went through Tuscaloosa on April 27th, but the largest one which tore up the city at 5pm stretched 26 miles long and was 1 mile wide. It was on the ground for 30 minutes - unheard of! Today was our first day on the debris field. After a brief orientation, we drove the 3 miles to the work site and were instantly overwhelmed with our task. Our instructions were to clear the fields and to carry all the debris to within 8 feet of the road where work crews will eventually pick it up and carry it to the landfill.
We cleared branches and trees that the tornado had twisted together, tore down a chicken coop that had been crushed by a large tree and then cut down the tree. Although it was a very physically demanding day, it was also a very emotionally draining day.
I know the pictures can't begin to represent what we've seen - kind of like looking at the grand canyon through pictures vs. experiencing it with your own eyes. As we went through the debris we came across personal items, some of which broke my heart. A water stained picture of a dad holding his newborn baby, a white baby shoe covered in mud, baby teething rings, a gold ring that had a heart with the word "Mom" inside", and the same Capri Sun juice packs that my kids drink. In addition to silverware, shampoo, canned goods, and pillows. Somebody lived here. Somebody experienced a tornado and lost everything. I just pray that they survived and are stronger for having gone through such a tragedy.
We also found out that some of the debris from this tornado was found 180 miles away towards the boarder of Georgia. Sentimental items such as family heirloom quilts were found and amazingly returned to their rightful owners after the winds carried them almost 200 miles away.
The emotional state of the city is a mix of sadness and hope. It's only been 3 months, so people are obviously still dealing with grief from losing loved ones, neighbors, and homes. But people are already rebuilding too. Roll Tide Roll! Alabamans are filled with hope and encouragement. They have truly come together to rebuild and recover together. Everywhere we go we are thanked and blessed by the locals. We are humbled and thankful for the opportunity to serve them.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Hope
Elementary School
Apartment Complex
Neighborhood
By the grace of God, people have opened up to each other in the communities, at church, and the entire city for that matter. No one is surviving alone right now, which brings a sense of God into the picture. No one could survive, if it were not for God. As of now, God has blessed people with buildings, supplies, and food needed to help the city recover. Our mission trip is just a small part of His plan, and I know he will use us to our full capacity. I hope that we may show the grace of God, I hope, that everyone will be blessed by the work that goes on here. I pray, that we can share our hope.
-Jonathan Bell
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