Quest

 

About two and a half hours later, we arrived at Carterville Christian Church. The church, heavily involved in the relief effort, was relieved to have a team make today’s lunch meal, giving their weary volunteers the morning off. We were greeted with warm smiles and appreciation. The church kitchen was large and well equipped. We chopped sautéed, stirred, crumbled and mixed our ingredients into a three course lunch.

The church had us assemble 75 lunches which we packed into boxes to take into Joplin.

The remaining food was left behind for volunteers who were coming back to the church for lunch. All in all, we served about 100 people.

The van packed with lunches and coolers filled with drinks, we set out for the heart of Joplin. The devastation was overwhelming. Some of us had worked in New Orleans after Katrina, and it was a very similar site and feeling. It seemed to stretch out forever.

We arrived at our assigned neighborhood and were greeted with such appreciation. The volunteers we met were from many places around Missouri and also Arkansas.

We walked around the area a bit, just staring in disbelief at how mangled the cars and trees and homes were. A few of us came upon a Grandmother and her son who shared that they were at the home of another son trying to find whatever they could salvage. Later in the afternoon, they were going to a memorial service for her other son’s wife and toddler. She kept repeating her son’s name, David Vanderhoofven. He was not at home when the tornado hit, but arrived shortly after. Dee, his wife and Joshua his little boy didn’t make it. It was heart-wrenching. David’s mother was so grateful for all the volunteers and those who prayed for them and with them.

We returned to the church and had lunch ourselves. We told them we wanted to come back. They suggested waiting a month. As people get on with their lives, fewer will be volunteering, but volunteers will be needed for a very long time.

As always, these trips are life-changing for those who take part. We felt what we had done was so small. At Quest we often refer to this quote by Mother Theresa “ We cannot do great things on this Earth, only small things with great love.”  That is just what we did, and hopefully will continue to do in Joplin and wherever we are called to serve.