Sunday, May 29, 2011

Serving in Joplin

At church a friend said that they were taking their family to Joplin to help serve at a shelter. Ryan and I decided to join them. Joplin is only 1 1/2 hours away so we followed them out.

This was the main area where we worked. We were sorting and putting together hygiene kits for men/women which included; toothpaste, toothbrush, deodorant, razor, soap, shampoo, hand lotion, and a few other extras for each bag.

Some friends we went with.

This was the baby supply room with diapers stacked to the ceiling.


I had Ryan take pictures as we drove in/out of town to get to the church facility where we helped. We drove in to town and everything looked normal . . . then suddenly there was nothing but devastation. Everything on both sides was just wiped out. After quite awhile it was just your typical city street again. So weird and hard to explain. Ryan did a good job taking pictures. I just kept saying "take pictures, take pictures" while trying to concentrate on the road and traffic. It was overwhelming! There are no words . . . the pictures speak for themselves.










They had us all stop work and gathered everyone outside under one of the tents for a moment of silence and then prayer, at the exact time that the tornado had hit the city.

I showed this to Ryan before posting it and his comment is too true. He said "it's like the kind of thing you only see in pictures, but we were there". It truly is hard to imagine, even when you see it with your own eyes. At least 139 people were killed and over 2,000 buildings destroyed. Our prayers are with them! I wish we could do more.

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