Joplin

Metal twisted around trees. Street guards contorted into balls on the side of the road. Tonka trucks, dolls, and board games mingled among unending piles of uprooted trees, dry wall, shingles, insulation, and 2×4’s. Cars and school buses flipped and contorted in all directions. Clothes hanging from what was left of the trees. Medical records from St. John’s dispersed among the neighborhoods miles away.

This is Joplin’s reality.

On May 22, 2011, an EF-5 tornado hit Joplin, MO, destroying mostly everything in its path. Less than 48 hours later, a group of people from Sunnybrook traveled to Joplin to help in whatever way we could. Upon arriving in Joplin, we went to the Bridge to gather supplies so hand out to the people who needed them. I had no idea what I was about to see; never, in all my life, have I seen anything like that.. not even in movies. We ended up passing out items like toiletries, toys, socks, baby items, self-care products, and water to people who had been affected by the tornado. We also picked up debris from yards that belonged to people whose houses were still liveable, dug keepsakes and anything else that was salvageable out of piles that were once houses, and some of the men on our team who specialized in more difficult projects helped with tarping a man’s roof and cutting down trees. It was an eye-opening experience to say the least. A group of college-age people from Sunnybrook went to Joplin again on June 2 & 3. That trip consisted of mostly sorting debris into piles so the city could come pick it up–greenery/trees, house parts (shingles, wood, etc.), metal, and trash.

As with most things, words can’t really describe it as well as pictures can…

The walls of this house were ripped off, but the dining room set & the picture on the wall were untouched.

Joplin High School

The building in the background is St. John's Regional Medical Center; medical records were found in the neighborhood where this picture was taken.

Police officers looking for bodies.

Kenny & Virginia's house.

It was such a blessing to see how thankful Kenny was when this little pig was found in the debris.

Kenny & Virginia's house from the back.

This is Nado (as in tornado); one of the girls on our team found him in a hole under a fallen tree.

The news taping a segment on Kenny & Virginia; this is the back of their house. The white door is to their basement where they hid during the tornado.

Inside another house we helped with.

Amazing faith on display.

The Bridge basically turned into a free shopping center for tornado victims.

Some baby kittens our college group found in a loveseat.

Some people still had a great sense of humor despite the circumstances 🙂

One of the most surprising things about the trip was how calm everyone seemed to be. One woman was angry and another was visibly overwhelmed; other than that, people were calmly going through their houses and trying to salvage anything they could. I suppose most people were still in shock, or perhaps they just felt lucky to have survived. We kept hearing that more people should have died because of the nature and strength of the tornado. There were also many astonishing stories of both people who survived and those who didn’t…

– A woman who was hiding in her basement during the tornado thought she lost her dog when it got sucked out of her arms only to find it still alive in the upstairs kitchen cabinet.
– A 300-lb man got sucked out of a window of St. John’s hospital.
– A couple who was trying to find shelter arrived at a grocery store to find the door was locked; they didn’t have time to drive anywhere else so they crawled under their car, the husband laid over his wife, and they both survived.
– A son driving home with his dad from high school graduation got pulled out of the sunroof of their SUV.
– A couple (Kenny & Virginia) reached their basement 30 seconds before the tornado hit, and when it did, the door wouldn’t stay closed; Kenny laid over his grandchild with his feet pressed against the door, keeping it shut. After the storm was over, they had to rip parts of the door off to get out because of all the debris blocking the door.

Looking at this tragedy in light of my faith in Jesus doesn’t make it any easier to understand; I know God has reasons for letting this happen, and I know He’s using this for good and working in people’s lives already. However, it still doesn’t make sense to me. Could the good that comes out of this really outweigh the lives that were lost? Possibly. But then I think, “What if those people who died weren’t following Jesus..” I don’t like to think about that.

In a way, I’m glad I don’t understand because none of us are meant to understand on this side of Heaven. On the other hand, my human nature wants to take over and cry out, “GOD, WHY??” I know this is no different than any other life circumstance; I will have to pray about it in order to have peace and trust that God knows what He’s doing better than I do.

Please pray for the people of Joplin; the process of cleaning up is going to take months, possibly years, and the hearts of those who lost loved ones as a result of the tornado will most likely never be the same.