JOPLIN: A NEW BEGINNING

We arrived in Joplin today around 11:00. We spent last night in Branson, after the recommendation of Andy's Parent's to take Gracey to see the musical Noah. I had not had any luck finding a motel within 35 miles of Joplin for Friday night anyway, so we decided why not. It was a great show, and Gracey really liked it.
          When we arrived this morning the first place we went was to a park where we knew there were free meals being prepared. A group from Louisiana was there to cook Cajun food. They had started yesterday, and would be cooking through tomorrow. They wanted to show their appreciation for what had been done for them when a hurricane hit their town. We hoped to find some families there. We met a lady named Debbie, who had not been affected by the tornado but gave us the name of a church that she knew had been canvasing neighborhoods and evaluating needs. We went to Grace Baptist Church and talked to the person in charge and left some of our flyers. This church was providing meals for volunteers and anyone who needed them. After that we went to College Heights Christian Church. That's where I took a picture of the sign saying "SHOPPING". They had several tents set up on their parking lot where people come and get whatever they need. Again, there were dozens of volunteers there helping people "shop". After that we went to the third church, which is also a disaster relief station, with dozens of volunteers. When I say volunteers I am not talking about volunteers from these churches only, but there are volunteers from other states coming to these churches to help the members out. It's really unbelievable the volunteers that are here, and what they are doing.
        We talked to several people at these disaster relief locations and gave out our flyers. Some cried and hugged us when they learned what we were doing. Still some seemed skeptical. We talked to two different gentlemen that we met when we were driving through the neighborhoods. They were very interested, both had daughters that they wanted pictures of. One of the men had an adopted daughter from China and had lost every picture of her that he had. Hopefully we will be able to get back in contact with these families and get them some pictures.
      The pictures that I post do very little to convey to you what we are seeing. I have never seen anything like it in my life. The hospital is just........well I don't know how to describe it. The high school was leveled on the very night that the high school graduation was taking place............across town at another location.
     Pray for us that God will give us opportunity to love on and meet some more families and minister to them and give them the gifts that we would like to give them. Pray that God will direct our paths to the people that we need to meet who need to be ministered to. Pray for Gracey that she will learn how to love on people and minister to others.
Blessing to all of you,
  Gina