Day 5 - Bev

Tuscaloosa is such a beautiful place. The vegetation is lush and beautiful. The massive thick green trees have vines growing on them. The crepe myrtles and magnolia tress are just beautiful. Then you drive upon the mile wide path where the tornado was and you see devastation. The massive trees were stripped and splintered. The trees have begun to put out again and there is greenery in the horizon again. The people that live here say; "I wish you could have seen it before the storm. It was beautiful and green."

There are signs everywhere that read; "We will be back." The spirit of the people is strong and positive. Everyone that we have listened to speak about how the Lord saved them. People are very conscious that God has spared them. Some say God is moving and He isn't finished yet.

We met a lady (Earline) today while we were working at the distribution center. She has been volunteering at the distribution center since the storm. The distribution center is in her church, which sustained massive damage. Earline is a survivor of the tornado. She barely made it to her closet before the tornado hit. She said in just a matter of seconds the tornado had passed over her. There was nothing left of her house. She said she had replaced her roof with metal just a couple of months before. Having the metal roof saved her. She could not find her companion, her cat. She struggled with this. In a few hours he finally came back. She had a really hard time telling us her story. She had to stay in her "house" for two days before she had any place to go. She had not driven around Tuscaloosa since the tornado so she volunteered to show us her house... and the campus of the University of Alabama. She is a die hard Bama fan. Has been for probably 80 years.

The distribution centers are setup to send the donations out to the survivors. It is amazing how much has been donated. To be able to take some of the stuff, you must be a survivor and cleared by FEMA. We were told that 11 tons of donations came in yesterday from California. The volunteers sort, organize and shelve it. Everything that you can imagine has been donated. Some of the people that come to these centers have lost absolutely everything. Some lived in their cars for weeks because they had no place to go. Just think about it. What would you do if your house and car was destroyed and the place that you go everyday to work was blown away.

We woke up this morning to a thunderstorm. It was cool, cloudy and raining. It was great! It has been cloudy all day.

Tomorrow we will go back to the distribution center to work. Thank you for your prayers. The people in Tuscaloosa are very sweet people.