Mormon Helping Hands

Hurricane Sandy brought a lot of devastation.  Ryan and I were lucky enough to not lose power during the whole storm.  We were lucky to not have any damage to our home, our car, our personal property.  Our apartment didn't flood and there wasn't much destruction in our city.

Others in our area weren't so lucky.

Our church building is located in Scarsdale, only a few miles from where we live.  This part of Scarsdale was completely out of power for 13 days.  Because our church didn't have heat or power, we only had one hour (instead of three hours) of church for two Sundays.  The weekend of November 10, our entire stake was asked to go to the Rockaways to help clean up homes.
This is where the Rockaways are located (where the A is):

Ryan went out on Saturday (and I stayed behind as we were house sitting and watching some friends' children), and I got to join him on Sunday.  The experience was...unbelievable.  The devastation was great and the people were in serious need of help.  On Sunday, we spent the entire day cleaning the basement of one home.  The owner reported 12 feet of water filled his home, ruining everything in his bottom floor and most things on the first floor of his home.  Everything had to go.

Pretty much what every street looks like.

You can see the waterline in the home below.

A park in the Rockaways was actually converted to a giant landfill.  You can't quite tell how massive it really is, but it's a really large area now piled high with old belongings and garbage.

And how we spent the days

So very dirty.

The fruits of our labors on Sunday.  Not sure why I didn't get a picture of the two washers, one dryer, and one freezer we hauled out.  That was the hardest, and one member of our group ripped one of his pant legs completely open.  

Before we left we took a walk down to the shore.  

We were exhausted by the time we got on the bus.  

This weekend was one of the most rewarding I've ever had.  It was so truly humbling to help out our fellow brothers and sisters.

The video below has been circulating pretty much every social network but just want to share it here too.  It's beautiful.  And it completely captures the emotions and feelings of the day.  I'm so grateful we had this opportunity.  As Dave Dibble says in the video, "It's the Gospel in action, right?  It's what Christ taught, and we're showing what we believe by helping other people."  It really and truly is.