Alabama

I learned a huge lesson last weekend. On Friday night, a bunch of the men from our Stake drove up to Berry, Alabama (just outside Tuscaloosa) to help with the tornado damage. Jacob had work on Saturday, so we ended up driving up LATE on Saturday night. It was quite an adventure, and to be honest, I had a terrible attitude. I got us SUPER lost in the first half hour of the drive, I was feeling sick, and we left way later than we should have, so I knew I'd be driving in the pitch black, I had no idea where I was going (and road maps down here are just not reliable-besides, most streets don't have signs, so you have no idea when you're on the right one anyway), and Jacob was no help-he just wanted to watch King Kong with head phones in... so, I'm sitting in the drivers seat, nervous, sick, frustrated, lost, and tempted to look over at the movie, but that would get us killed, and I was exhausted from my run that day-6 miles in the BLAZING heat.

Ok, so I wasn't in a good mood. We got it. Then, we finally got to the hotel in Tuscaloosa around 1 am. We crawled in bed, and at 4 am, we wake up to this alarm going off. Neither one of us can find where it's coming from, and we eventually realize it's the room next door! So, we're pounding on the walls... nothing. Jakey goes out and knocks on his door... still nothing. We call the front desk and finally get them to break into the guy's room... needless to say, it was a rough night.

Then, we wake up a few hours later, brush our teeth, and jump in the car to get a full day's work in. (Yes, this is a SUNDAY, and usually we don't do things like this. However, in special circumstances like natural disaster clean-up crews, the Church authorizes the group to hold a special, 30 minute sacrament meeting, and then get out there and help the people! Cool, huh?) Anyway, we're driving along and everything is beautiful and green. I was thinking "This is a gorgeous place to live! I want property out here someday!" And, then you turn the corner, and there's just

nothing.

Literally, the house that was standing there isn't just ripped up really bad or missing the roof-the WHOLE THING is literally GONE. The gorgeous thick greenery that usually lines the road just stops and all you can see are brown, dead, logs that look like pixie sticks in a blender-hideously bare. The winds were so strong that all of the bark from the trees was sucked off! I can't really describe it aptly... it blew my mind. And then, there's a shirt hanging way up high in one of the only standing trees left, a mattress all twisted underneath huge pieces of tin blown off of the roof and sides of the home, a bunch of torn up, wet papers from cookbooks, pictures, the Bible, letters, and anything else imaginable, you can see a refrigerator with the door ripped off laying on the side of the hill across the little ravine, handles from the dresser, twisted up pots and pans from the kitchen, the remains of a reclining chair-completely unrecognizable, etc. I got out my gloves and trashbag, ready to jump in and help. But I just stood there for a good 3 minutes in shock. Where do you even begin??? How can you fix it? You can't. You can't just pick up a trashbag and fill it with stuff and say "wow, I made a difference. That looks so much better." You can't even chain saw a huge tree or 5 or 10, and say "All better!" This is someone's home, someone's memories, someone's life that will never, ever be "all better." The 60 year old couple that used to live there, was found dead on the hillside across the ravine, and now their sweet daughter, Casey, is left to plan a funeral, clean up the property, and figure out how to cope without her parents. And then you look at the house next door, where not one blade of grass is out of place, not one window pane is cracked, not one shingle is missing from the roof... and you realize that it could have happened to anyone. This could have been me and my family. Why was I so lucky? I still get to keep my nice home, my piano, my clothes, a kitchen full of food, scrapbooks, a comfortable bed, clean laundry, my dogs, my pool, my music, my TV, my oven, my bathtub, my computer and camera...AND my family! And some people didn't even have that to begin with. It just doesn't make sense.

Talking to their daughter, we both had a good cry. She's going to be alright, but she's still in shock... which is completely understandable. She acknowledged God's hand in all things and told me about the little miracles of this whole process-finding the key to the safety box, finding Mama's wedding ring, God allowing them to be taken together, the way the Church volunteers found her and have helped clear the land, and many other "tender mercies". I couldn't help but feel so ashamed that I had such a bad attitude coming up the night before. It reminded me of that poem "Oh, God, forgive me when I whine, I'm blessed indeed, the world is mine."

After a long day's work, I took just a few pictures: The first one is of the roadside where we piled the debris we were able to cut and clear away. A lot of it is also pushed down into the ravine, where they'll burn it, but the county will send trucks to pick up what we brought out to the road.

This is what most of the area looked like... pixie sticks in a blender, right?

This is me and Dad infront of a big pile of tin we (all the volunteers) pulled together throughout the day. In the back ground you can see, there's a lot of work left to do, but I forgot to take a picture of the area we cleared. It looks really good! You'll have to take my word for it...

I know I'm not a good photographer, and I don't even know if my writing makes sense, but it was such a powerful experience-there aren't words or pictures that can really do it justice. All I can say is that I am so, so glad I had the opportunity to go serve in Alabama, even though it wasn't much. I feel so blessed-so, so very blessed.