Joplin, MO Disaster Relief - Day 2

Orientation for new volunteers with Samaritan's Purse would not begin until 1pm, so we were invited and encouraged to come early and join Forest Park Baptist Church for their worship service.  We arrived to a packed house that had almost standing room only.  We took a seat on the back wall and listened as the Pastor delivered a very simple, somber and basic message that at the same time was powerfully anointed.  Here is a link to that message:  http://joplin.fpbc.net/media/media_sermon_watch/the_heart_of_god?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=facebook

After service, we found out that the response for volunteers with Samaritan's Purse was so great that it would be a good idea to get our paperwork turned in by noon so we could make Orientation. (They were expecting about 200 volunteers on Saturday, but the number exceeded 800), 

Once we were teamed up with a group, where Stephan led us in prayer, we set out to the site where we were encouraged to just love on people, and offer them whatever help they needed.


(To the left is Pastor John with Franklin Graham)

When we reached 'Ground Zero', we found it hard to wrap our minds around what we were seeing.  For blocks, and in some places - miles, everything was totally leveled.  Everything was mowed down.  Houses, trees, cars - everything!  It looked like a bomb had gone off.

The first family that we met, who's rental house was almost totally gone, told us that the 5 of them, along with 3 kids from the neighborhood who were visiting, and 4 dogs all survived huddled in the bathroom.  They had pretty much scoured the area for the last week looking for salvageable and sentimental items, and we resolved to letting the rest go.  They would be staying with family locally, but would need a place to live.  A Pastor who was with us told them he had heard that the local radio station was giving out info on homes that were being donated or made available to families.  They welcomed our prayers and thanked us for the offer to help.

The next home we stopped at already had a team working that had been given permission to help out, so we joined them to go through the last of the rubble for precious keepsakes.  The home was owned by an 87 yr. old man who had been there around 57 yrs.  His daughter was over the day of the storm and he had just enough time to throw her against an inside wall and try to shelter her before it hit and took nearly 1/2 of their home (the 2nd story was totally gone).  They both survived with only minor scrapes and cuts.  As he sat on his front porch which was still standing with the volunteers, he recounted the memories of life there, and was thankful to God for his life and family.  Occasionally, a volunteer would find a picture or a piece of memorabilia and bring it to him which brought a brief smile.  I was surprised to find a page torn out of a coloring book of Snow White that was in perfect condition and colored by his Great-Granddaughter Allie.  It said, "I love you Grampa" on the bottom.  I think this may have meant more to him than the thousands of dollars worth of Baseball Card Collections, and other collectibles that he spent his entire life compiling.  We later heard that a baseball autographed by Babe Ruth was found several blocks away and brought to him.

This is now an 'outdoor' bathroom!

The last home we stopped at was owned by a lady named Josephine.  A group of young people, who joined SP after working with Convoy of Hope earlier in the week, were already hard at work moving what was left of Josephine's furniture and belongings out to some pickups that would later haul it a few blocks over to a home that she and her husband recently purchased to fix up and rent out.  Josephine was pretty feisty and was schooling our young men on church and prayer!

As we would walk the neighborhoods, and offering help, their were groups of volunteers and organizations who would drive around offering cold water and hot meals to the homeowners and volunteers.  At one point, the Red Cross came through and gave us a meal.
It was amazing to see so many who were willing to come and bring the skills and talents, whatever they may be. We saw one man offering to fix flat tires for free in the parking lot of a Dillon's that was totaled.  He had the equipment on a trailer to take the tires off the rims and repair them.  One family was there with their van that had the windows blown out, but were getting a tire fixed.  Another man was going around and sharpening chain saw blades.  The list goes on and on of "Good Samaritan's".  What a blessing to see and be a part of this!