Tennessee Tornadoes! (Take 2)

Right now, I am on "exchanges" with Elder Hansen. Exchanges are where we swap our normal companion for another companion for a couple days to work in their area, and to see if everything is going alright. Well this morning I came over here to Elder Hansen's area and the first thing we did was we drove out to Big Rock, TN. There was an F2 tornado that hit the town on Monday and we went out there to see if we could help out in the relief efforts. We spent two hours unloading a HUGE semi trailer truck load into a tiny Church of Christ church building. There were many people there to make the work go quick and easy. It was nice to get outta the shirt and tie for a while and help out the people that I love. The people we helped were all the church members of that congregation. There were probably 20 of us in all that helped. We unloaded water, shoes, blankets, cleaning supplies, unperishable food, bleach, and a ton of other things to help out the clean-up efforts. We talked to the Preacher for a little while as we worked, and he found out we were Mormon. We were treated a little differently from that point on, but the people were still very nice to us. By the time we left, we were both soaked in sweat and had red faces, but it was all worth it because we got to help out, and we also got a free t-shirt and a hat! I'm grateful that I got to work shoulder to shoulder with those people, and if they didn't learn more about our church today, I hope that they did learn that we work hard, we love to help out others, and especially that we are NORMAL people! Here are a couple of pictures from the damage. Of course this morning I forgot my camera......but Elder Hansen snagged a couple.





I wish that yall could've seen the whole town. This whole tornado weather is completely foreign to me, and the destruction and the damage that they leave in their paths is terrible. This town was in shambles. It wasn't much of a town to begin with...don't get me wrong, it is backcountry Tennessee, but it has devasted many houses and families. There were a few fatalities, and a couple of injuries, but the town is recovering. I Stand All Amazed....at the power of God.