All forty-four team members converged on Henagar, Alabama Sunday night arriving safely inspite of heavy rain and snow. The West End Baptist Team took the southern route through Charlotte, NC and Atlanta, GA to avoid the snows arriving in east Tennessee and western and central Virginia. Nonetheless, the team traveled through rain most of the day. After a good night's rest, teams were assigned to one of two projects.
Project coordinators assigned the West End Team along with 15 other volunteers to put a roof on a house that had been framed by previous workers. At the left is what it looked like when we arrived. On Monday, we added framing for a garage and added sheeting and overhang boxing for the gable ends.
On Tuesday we were able to set most of the trusses. This is a 12/12 pitch roof so it involves some very high trusses and a very steep roof slope. Randy Davis, pictured on the right sitting atop the trusses, proved to be a tremendous asset. Work today was complicated by fairly high winds. When the first gable truss was being set, wind spun around like a great sail. Sheeting the roof tomorrow should be real "fun" as the winds are once again predicted to be quite high and we have a 50% chance of rain and thunderstorms.
Whether we are cutting and hammering or carrying materials, all of our volunteers find something to do. At times we catch up and there is a bit of sitting around waiting for the next task. The rest of our Shiloh volunteers worked hard raising another house from the foundation up. They've made great progress and that house should be ready for trusses tomorrow.
We've certainly not hurt for food. About half dozen of our volunteers, including LeRoy Adams, work pretty much full-time providing three very generous meals each day. I don't think we will lose any weight on this diet! Please keep us in your prayers. We would really like to get both of these houses under roof by the end of the week.
We've met members of the families who own these homes and they are so grateful for the help. Insurance and government have provided suprprisingly little help since the tornado last April 27th. They say if it wern't for the church people they do not know what they would do. All around out worksites there is much evidence of the devastation that struck. Hundreds of trees, some of them huge, lie twisted and broken and pieces of the residents lives still hang broken in the acres of rubbish. Please pray for this tornado victims.
rapidly growing western part of the city and established a Sunday afternoon school and Friday evening prayer meeting. in 1878, First Baptist purchased a chapel building from the Presbyterians and named it West Washington Street Baptist Chapel. In late 1879, the Virginia Baptist State Missions Board sent Rev. J. A. Speight to guide this work. Two years later, Rev. C. H. Nash became the missionary pastor and on March 31, 1882, forty-two members were transfered from First Baptist and the new church was formally constituted. The name was officially changed to West End Baptist church a short time later.
Where do you find solace when all the “comforts” have been blown away? This little girl, searching for a toy, epitomizes the sense of confusion and loss in Henagar, Alabama. When we go on our next mission trip to this tornado-struck Alabama town on February 19, we will join a long line of people who have worked to make a difference in this devastated community. On April 27, 2011, an F4 tornado tore a swath through Dekalb County, leaving 33 dead and thousands traumatized. The following story from the New York Times makes the damage very personal:
God's Mission--Our Passion
