Joplin

[This is a guest post from Stan McBride.]

The tornado that recent ravaged the Joplin area has brought a change in attitude and focus in this section of the country as we all realize how precious life is and how we really are not completely in charge of our lives. Our stake was asked to send a contingent of Mormon Helping Hands to Joplin the Saturday after the disaster. The Church has been on the ground caring for members and non-members alike since the day after the tornado. Our workforce was asked to complete several hundred work orders that had been created to help the clean up effort.

The tornado went right through the center of Joplin and decimated entire homes and business. For work orders in the center of the destruction there was little we could do besides console the family and help them move their personal belongs away. A Google map of the destruction shows how wide the path was. The path of destruction is about 1 mile wide and 7 miles long and that is the area of complete decimation. Beyond that area there is general destruction, but the homes could be rebuilt.


View Joplin, MO Tornado in a larger map


Our work team focused on the fringe of the complete destruction and helped those that could rebuild. The photos below show the before and after of our efforts.

We also observed the complete destruction of other areas of Joplin.

It truly reminds you that your life is not your own. One story shared with us comes from the owner of the home shown in the first before and after picture. (As you can see his home has no roof and it is no where nearby. His family took shelter in their basement, one of the few in the area. You can also see in that photo a blue dumpster. That dumpster came from some manufacturing plant at least 2 or 3 block away and fell from the sky perfectly between those two houses.) This homeowner told us that after the tornado had passed the family heard a three knocks inside the house. He through it was someone coming to check on the family and went upstairs. Inside the house a guy in a white ball-cap, white T-shirt, and jeans called him by name and asked if he and his family were OK. The homeowner responded yes. The visitor then turned and ran seemingly out of the house. The homeowner followed and could not find him. The debris piles outside of the home prevented any person from entering or exiting the home, but he was sure he talked with someone After the homeowner told this story we asked if he believes in guardian angels. He responded, "I do now."

While disaster and heartache are never a good thing, (and as one person share with me there) only God can make something good come out of something bad. The overwhelming response from the mid-west to help the people of Joplin literally cause FEMA to issue a statement that requested people do not send anymore goods or assistance. There are good people in the world, sometimes we just have to have a good cause to help prove it.

There has aslo been several great articles about the good that has come from the bad.
From lds.org: Mormon Helping Hands Pitch in to Aid Neighbors in Tornado-Ravaged Southern U.S.
From washingtonpost.com: Where is God (and the Mormon church) in a natural disaster?

I am grateful for all that God has given to my family and me. In the end it is a we read in Job 1:21 "the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord."