cleaning up the trash

i had some fun cleaning up trash and wood. I also had a lot of fun taking some inspirational and interesting pictures that i hope everyone will enjoy. I was a pro at using a chain saw. I also helped make a song. 

By Bennett Setzer

Four days in Alabama

For three days we cut up and removed downed trees from people's yard.  Those were the lucky ones who still had a home in which to live.  On day four we cleaned up dibree from a field, many houses in that area were completely destroyed.  But in the middle of all this destruction there were sighs for new life.  Houses were being rebuilt and people's lives were starting to be put back together.  In the middle of death there is new life.  This is a living example of the Christian message of resurrection.  God did not cause the tornadoes but God is active in rebuilding.  Church groups and other people from many other places have come to help people rebuild their lives.  Everyone we met is so grateful that we are here helping them.  By going on this mission trip we are bringing hope and love to people who have lost so much.  This is Christian life in action.

Thank you all for your support and prayers!  If you are able, consider joining the next trip in September.  It is an amazing experience and a way to live out our faith.

Fr. Alan Leonard

St. Margaret's Church

Boiling Springs, SC

Sometimes It Takes Muddy Sunglasses In Order To See Clearly

Finally--at last I found my $10 pair of sunglasses that I misplaced a few weeks ago.  I found them just in time to head off to Ft. Payne Alabama for the Piedmont Convocation’s mission trip (Number II).  Our team of 16 drove through some horrendously devastated areas to arrive at our first work site Monday morning.  And when we arrived, I must admit that I was a little disappointed.  Most of the trees were still up.  All the houses were in tact and we were clearing out a corner of someone’s grazing pasture.  

Very quickly I noticed that these trees that we were cutting up and moving to the road for the FEMA trucks to haul off were sitting in the middle of whole bunch of poison ivy.  This worried me as I am highly allergic.  Undaunted I soon found a spot that seemed to be ivy free.  As the day went on we cut and cleared and cut and cleared.  All the while I used my cheap sunglasses more for eye protection while running the chainsaw as we enjoyed a fairly cloudy first day.  With all the dust and grime from cutting and moving the logs, cleaning my sunglass with my shirt became a frequent chore. 

As the day went on the someone whose pasture we were clearing came out and worked with us.  His name was Buddy Mullins.  Buddy brought with him a jerry-rigged ridding lawnmower which allowed him to lift large logs and take them out to the road.  It wasn’t long before Ginny Georgion sweet talked him out of his ride and was doing all the tractor work herself.  It was awesome!  We learned a lot about Buddy this past Monday.  We learned that he had broken his back a while ago.  We learned how appreciative he was of all our help.  We learned that if we hadn’t come along to help him, those massive tree’s probably would have stayed there for years.

By the End of our work-day, my glasses were coved in mud.  I was so drenched in sweat that when I used my t-shirt to clean off the dust and grime, all it did was smear mud around those plastic lenses.  But a funny thing happened as the day went on…the mud built up and I began to see more clearly.  It took muck and mud and a little fatigue to do its work on me for the “scales to fall off my eyes.”  I was able to see that that someone whose home we were at had a name and a story.  And part of Buddy’s story was his thankfulness.  He was thankful to be alive.  He was thankful that the tornado just skimmed the treetops at his place.  And he was thankful because he knew the folks just 10 miles up the road who weren’t so lucky.

So yes, I can see clearly now.  All of the area that we are working in is influenced in one way or another by that tragic April 27^th day.  It seems that there were 7 or 8 tornados that bounced around this DeKalb County Alabama.  Some were F-1’s and some were f-5’s.  Some were on the ground for a while and some did their damage by not quite being on the ground.  Anyone driving by today could see some signs of the amazing power of Mother Nature in this region, but if you didn’t bother to stop and ask, you would never know the amazing stories that go along with the people who live here.  I’m able to see this clearly now after sweating away some of my judgment and preconceived notions.  It seems that the muddier my sunglasses get, the more clearly I’m able to see. 

By ~ Joseph Smith 

Buddy watching Ginny drive his "Tractor"

The things we have seen so far

So far we have cut down 3 trees in 1 place. The owner had 5 dogs, 2 donkeys, 1 cat, 1 turkey. The dogs were rescue and also the cat. The next day we cut down 2 trees. 1 of the trees was smart to use its limes as new roots. We also saw 3 praying mantes. Then the next place we went to we cut down 2 more trees. Some people say they saw a snake. I did see a lot of tornado damage.

By ~ Christen Harley

Team II, July 24-30

Team II finally learns to blog!  More to Come.

"Go in Peace to Love and Serve the Lord", by Rick Gilliam

The version of the dismissal used by my parish at the end of Eucharist charges us to “Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.” To me, this dismissal is a paraphrase of the first great commandment to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind”. Last week a group of us from four churches in our convocation followed that charge in the dismissal. We traveled to Ft. Payne, Alabama to sleep on the floor at St Philip’s Episcopal Church and to assist the surrounding community recover from the physical damage inflicted by the tornadoes of April 28th. We did not know the others from the other parishes well if at all, and some did not know their fellow parishioners well.

We did not know exactly what our duties would be except generally to assist in the clean up from the tornadoes. That storm and its impact on the Alabama countryside, especially the city of Tuscaloosa, had made the national news. I did not remember Ft. Payne being mentioned.

Our assignments came through the DeKalb County’s Roads Supervisor and were varied. We cut downed trees and brush and moved the remains of homes to the side of the road so the FEMA contractors could pick up the debris and take it to a landfill.

On the first day, most of us started out helping clear downed trees from an area behind a destroyed home. The home was pushed off of its foundation, the roof partially destroyed and siding had been ripped off of the home. We placed the limbs in a large pile and the logs from the tree trunks into another pile. When we left in the early afternoon we generally felt that we had assisted another person.

Our main party met up with the few that had been sent to help two sisters clean up around their family’s home place that had been destroyed. Debris had covered the yard, and the sisters and members of our group had moved a significant amount to the road. When an additional twenty plus descended on the site to assist in the clean up, the sisters were amazed. Our large and recombined group cleared the yard of debris including boards, glass, and metal roofing. I felt rewarded as the FEMA contractor working on the road moved his equipment to pick up the debris that we had moved to the roadside. Prior to leaving that site, the sisters had us join them in a circle on the road and join them in prayer and said thanks.

On the second day, we went to a small subdivision in which all homes had been destroyed. Our task was to move the remains of the home, which were in a pile, to the street so they could be picked up later by a FEMA contractor for disposal. We were there as the homeowner did not have insurance coverage to pay for debris removal. We moved; by hand, in a wheelbarrow, on sleds improvised from a carpet and a trampoline and on the tailgate of a pick up; a large pile of debris from the center of the lot to the roadside about 70 feet away. Early in our task, many commented that it would be easier if we had heavy equipment. However, during the deconstruction of the pile to move it, we found a baby spoon, a high school letter jacket and other personal mementos. We passed those mementoes onto Woody, the Roads Supervisor, hopefully to be reunited with the family. On the way out of the subdivision we noted a beautiful house, only a hundred yards from the edge of the subdivision. That home appeared not to be touched by the storm.

Our third day assignment presented us with a very different situation. A home that was intact; with the homeowner living in it. However, there were pines down all over the home site and the homeowner was a 70+ year old who was recovering from a broken back. Our chain saw operators cut the downed pines, and logs and brush were carried to the road. Our work was cut short by a hailstorm. (I cannot imagine how the residents of the area felt as a strong thunderstorm approached.) We came back on Thursday and finished our task there. The situation at this location appeared to be a low priority when we first arrived. Actually, it was very different if not for a large group with individuals who could operate chainsaws; the work would not be done. The tasks were being balanced with the available resources. God was sending us were we could be used.

We asked for a light assignment on Friday, and our request was honored. We went to a home whose yard needed “picking up”. When we arrived all looked in order. In the course of picking up, I noted a barbed wire fence with small limbs entangled in the wire and whose metal fence posts were tilted at a 45° angle. I surmised that the fence caught the branches blown by the wind and then caught the wind which pushed over the barbed wire fence. This is another example of the power of the storm that had hit.  The son-in-law to the homeowner stopped by. I found out that the house looked in order as the family and volunteers had previously logged 300 hours at the home. They had removed downed trees, removed the remnants of outbuildings, stabilized the home and performed other clean-up tasks. The home which was off of the foundation was missing a back porch, and most of the roof. The home was not repairable. That situations are not always what they first appear to be was re-emphasized by this location.  

Hopefully, we as a group strengthened the Body of Christ. I came away feeling that I had helped a few people. In helping others, we exhibited elements of the second great commandment to love thy neighbor as thyself. As we did that we are on the way to fulfill the first great commandment. We also developed a stronger relationship with others, some of whom we will see regularly, some not so regularly, and some possibly not again. But, at least for that week, we were one with one another, and hopefully were one with Christ.

God Provides, by Cathy Whitworth

As I prepared to go on my first mission trip, I worried about leaving behind my “four legged” children especially my dog who would have to go away to doggie day camp while the cats got to remain at home. Not only was it a disruption to their routine, but I would miss their companionship. However, God truly does know our needs and provides for us. 


At the work sites, we were greeted by a cat, dogs, and even an attack duck. In interacting with Snakes (a cat) and the dogs, we were able to take a needed break from the destruction all around us. Just spending a few minutes with one of the animals allowed me to go back to work with renewed energy and faith.

Philippians 4:19
But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.