I finally found some time to blog, so I'm going to try and portray some of the things that happened on our trip. I keep going through it over and over again in my head, trying to find the best way to describe what we saw, what we experienced, some of it being very personal with no words to explain the impact of seeing some a tragedy first hand. You see pictures of the ruins of what used to be a person's home and town and it is nothing compared to seeing people searching through rubble for anything salvageable that they can find, anything that they can hold on to that will be a remnant from their life that so quickly turned upside down. The site, the smell, the air of despair and then hope, is very hard to express.
This trip was definitely not what we planned. We had decided we wanted to go to Missouri when nothing was going on (i.e. baptisms, weddings, holidays) because we have always gone when there is a reason to and we wanted to just go and spend as much quality time as we could with Scott’s parents. But when planning a vacation, you never say “How will my plans be affected if a natural disaster hits?” So here is part the story:
Let's start at the beginning...
Scott and I left for Missouri on a Friday night around 10 p.m. He had to work until then and we were anxious to leave, so we packed up and left. We drove through the night and after going through Vail, we started up Vail pass. Lo and behold, we hit snow. Bad snow. Scary snow. There were semis stuck in the slow lane, and farther up there was a car stuck in the passing lane. We felt really bad because we didn't feel like we could stop the car to help, not knowing if we could get going again, so we continued on.
Last time we drove to Missouri was in the month of November and we had no problems with snow, go figure.
We were able to stop in Kansas City and see the Kansas City temple which is being constructed. This will really nice for my in-laws who currently have to drive to Oklahoma City or St. Louis to attend the temple which is about 4 hours away from their home. Currently they live about 2 hours south of Kansas City.
The following day was Sunday. This was the day that the tornado tore through Joplin. Many lost their lives, but miracles happened that day. It was a miracle that we were at a fireside (an evening church meeting) an hour north of Joplin, when that fireside could have been in the Joplin Stake Center that demolished. It was a miracle that the 7 people in the Stake Center ran to the woman’s bathroom and it was one of the only rooms still standing. One of Scott’s cousins who lives in Joplin was home alone, her husband was gone, and she got in her bathtub with a mattress over her, I can’t imagine the horror. Scott’s other cousin and his wife gathered their children into the bathroom in their house, the only room without windows and they were lucky enough to be a little bit outside where the tornado hit.
Scott, his brother Matt, and his dad went into Joplin that night. Scott’s dad and mom own some apartments in Joplin and the residents had called to let them know that there was some damage to the buildings. Of course you can imagine the hesitation I had in letting Scott go into the city at this time. The news was telling of the chaos going on in the city. People were trying to get out, there were live electrical wires on the ground, in some places it smelled heavily of gas, and there was debri everywhere. Matt’s wife Christine was trying really hard to talk them out of going down there but I knew whether I fought it or not, nothing could keep Scott from going in to help. Luckily the properties only had minimal structural damage and they were able to board up the windows and get some water and candles to the tenants since the water had been contaminated and the electricity was out.
That week the LDS church came in and had a plan set forth to help the people of Joplin. Saturday we were able to go into Joplin and help people with their yards, and in cutting down limbs that were broken, put tarps on damaged roofs, and anything else that they might need help with. Scott’s aunt and I went door to door and filled out request forms for those that wanted help and a crew of about 30 people came behind us doing the work orders. I can’t even begin to express what an amazing experience this was. The first house that we went to, there was a little old man out in his yard trying to cut down a limb on his tree. (We were in a section of Joplin about 2 blocks away from the part where houses were gone, but most of the people we helped that day still had their homes and were able to live in them.) Anyway… this little old man has a saw in one hand and a pipe in the other, and he was trying really hard to cut this limb down. So we go up and start talking to him and his wife comes out of the house and we tell them who we are and what we would like to do for them, and this little old lady starts telling us that her husband is 95 and he’s trying to do this all by himself but she doesn’t want him to get hurt. She was more than willing to let us help her clean up her yard. After they gave us permission, the little old man came up and gave me this great big hug and told me thank you. His wife was so appreciative, she told us that if we needed a bathroom or water while we were working in that area that we could come on over. When I went back later to use the bathroom, she didn’t recognize me as the one that spoke to her first, but she said “You guys are guardian angels sent to us. I don't know what we would have done if you hadn't come.” Nothing can describe what we felt that day. We may have helped that day but the impact of others on us will never be forgotten.
One of my favorite things about this is experience was the sense of unity in the community. We bumped into other religious groups out helping people, and then other religious groups out in golf carts or trucks with food for those working. One truck stopped and fed our whole group hamburgers and drinks. Every corner on Main street had some organization that was giving away free food. I’ve never seen such a unified group with one purpose.
There are so many other stories to tell but the post is long enough. We did get to spent time with family and friends which was great. We did have some good times, and even got away for a day and went to Branson (which was beautiful, and quirky, and fun). But I’ll have to post about that later.
Here is a short video of Joplin that depicts what it was like a whole lot better than pictures. I have another video that's even better but it won't load.
Soon to come, "Missouri part 2" which will show the other parts of our trip.
Then I put a layer of softened pineapple sherbert over the layer of lime sherbert (about a pint) and put it in the freezer to harden.
