One Week Finished

We worked the last three days in the field. To stay productive with the heat, we managed to motivate each other to get up at 5am each day. We were out in the field by 6:30 and stayed until noon each day. Luckily, we had a good breeze going most of the time.

When we left Thursday, we had two huge piles of debris piled up. The cows had sneaked their way back into the cleared pastures and were munching and mooing their merry way.

A farm dog befriended us in "his field" on the last day. "Bratwurst" followed us around as we worked, and kept us entertained.

In the late afternoons and evenings, we ventured out onto the streets of Joplin to explore, take pictures, talk to the locals, and listen to their stories. This was by far, the most touching part of our trip. While we were out one evening going through a neighborhood, we ran across a couple that had driven in and parked next to us. We shared stories with them and found out they used to live in the home across the street for 30 years (it was no longer there). All they had left were the memories. They were obviously very disturbed by this. They told us that a young mother and her son had lost their life a hundred yards down the street.

They went on and told us how the community had come together in the days after the tornado, and how people had helped each other. Sharing food, water, and helping out in any way possible. The woman was a retired nurse. Right after the tornado, a call for medically trained people went out. She worked several days in a temporary triage area that had been set up for the victims. They were very grateful for all the volunteers that had helped out. They thanked us for coming in and helping out too.

There will be more opportunities to help in Joplin!! Church of the Shepherd will be sending groups for weekend trip and full week trips in the next few months.

Do you want to help?