Thursday, July 14, 2011
Another day has begun. John had to run his nephew to the emergency room early this morning. He got kneed in the check Tuesday night in the pool and it was a tooth that he had had a root canal in. It had a small chip in it and was very swollen. They gave him a shot and a perscription for pain medicine. Denice is going to try to get him in to a dentist today. The rest of the youth went over to check out the damage at the school today. Kegan found a Bible outside one of the school buildings. We gave it to the Children's ministry leader. She said she thought she knew who it belonged to. We served several from the community and thos working in the community again today. A crew working on a Habitat house came over to eat and several other crews that are working to rebuild Hackleburg. The Hackleburg Community Church youth kids gave our youth kids bracelets that say "Hackleburg Helping Hands.com" and "Rebuild" on the other side. Our youth gave them friendship bracelets that they had made for them. We've had some come from the community that we have given clothes, toys and bicycles to. We started with 10 belts and we have one left. After a visit to the dentist, Jake is oblivious to everything that is going on. When the dentist found out what we were doing and why we were here, he only charged $60 for the all the x-rays and work he did. The other day Pastor Johnny had to get a new tire for Jack's trailer. It had lost the tread on the way here. The place he went gave him 2 tires when they found out what we were doing. The hospitality down here is outstanding. We have gotten the opportunity to talk to some of the people of Hackleburg and hear the stories of their losses. Tina Raper is over the children's ministery at the church. She is also a 6th grade teacher at Hackleburg Elementary. She said you see pictures and hear stories of tornados and hurricanes and other disasters. Shortly after the tornado, they called her and told her she had 30 minutes to get whatever she wanted out of her classroom. As she drove thru town and saw the damage that was done, it wasn't on TV, it wasn't pictures, it wasn't a story, it was real, it was her hometown. She walked into her room and walked out 3 times and asked someone what do I take. They told her to just grab something. The third time she turned around and there was a group of people there and they told her to grab what was personal to her and they would do the rest. Within 30 minutes her room was cleared out. Her daughter's classroom, (the room in the pictures with the tree on the wall) was destroyed and there wasn't much to save. She said she didn't know who any of the people were except one lady but they were such a help. The day after the tornado there were thousands of people in Hackleburg.