The second encounter was much more positive. As we drove through Brooklyn approaching the LDS nerve center where we would receive our assignment, we went through an Orthodox Jewish section. It was really awesome to see all the people living their religion as best they could walking around on the streets. There were quite a few men walking around in their black hats, coats, and beards with women in equally somber dresses with headshawls. There were also many young Jewish children walking together in groups, probably coming out of their Sabbath Schools together. Getting a little glimpse into their world, especially on their Sabbath was really interesting and inspiring to me.
After receiving our assignment to serve in Gerritson Beach, we were driven to the area and dropped off near where the FEMA headquarters was set up. While most of the buildings and vehicles we saw were largely still standing where they were left, it was clear that the area had had serious flood damage. Pretty much every vehicle we saw was marked by some insurer or other for processing. Many buildings had broken windows, sagging porches, and other marks of disaster upon them. After unloading, we quickly donned our yellow Helping Hands vests, collected our tools, and divided into groups of about 10 to work.
Each team was given assigned houses based on homeowners who had called the church to request help. We were also instructed that we could help others who requested our assistance in person, though if the tasks were too large, we were to help them get on the list as well. The first house my group was assigned didn't have anyone home, and we weren't allowed to do anything unless a homeowner was present. So we moved on to the next place.
The homeowners were so grateful to see us. They had managed to clear out pretty much all of the ruined furniture, but needed assistance in tearing out the ruined hardwood flooring and about 3 ft of the walls on their ground level. Our team quickly got down to work. I started with pulling out nails in the floor and then assisted with pulling all the rotting floorboards out of the house. It was hard work made worse by the fact that there were a ton of little particles flying about in the air, so that even with the masks and goggles, our work was uncomfortable at best. None of us required more than a light coat even though it was bitterly cold that day.
After the living room floor was done, I worked on tearing down rotted walls with about half the team while others finished up tearing out ruined kitchen and bathroom appliances, cabinets, etc. By the time we finished, it was lunch time and our hosts kindly ordered local pizza for us. During the break, we got to hear about their lives and what they'd been through. Their was an incredible outpouring of love and gratitude on both their side and ours that was very special and unique. We were united in a peculiar bond borne of the Spirit. When we left the house, the bottom floor was almost entirely stripped. I couldn't help hoping that we hadn't gotten too overzealous in our demolition and turned it into complete destruction!
As a funny side note, during one of the times I had to step out for fresh air and a drink, one of the guys in our group told his story of how a nail in the house had punctured his sneaker and nicked his foot, so he had to go and get a tetanus shot from the hospital truck that was serving the area. When the nurse was taking off his socks, she asked, "Why are you doing this kind of manual labor in $300 socks?" He told her he just grabbed some from his roommate's drawer. All of us who were listening to this story demanded to see his socks and when he pulled up his cuff, we saw the clear Dior symbol! We all had a good laugh about that one.
As we proceeded to our next assigned house, we were approached by a man who asked for help putting up some new dry wall in his basement. As the job only required about half our team for a bit, we split our group and I ended up going to the assigned house. This home belonged to a widowed grandmother who was requiring care after the incident, so we were under the direction of her neighbor, who was permitted to oversee. We began by pulling tons of old waterlogged crap out of her crawlspace that had been their for who knows how long. Among the rubbish, I remember two broken water heaters, several doors, lots of random bike parts, and various nasty toys along with a TON of old pipes and extra insulation that pretty much fell apart as soon as you tried to pick it up. We had assembled a huge pile in front of her home by the time we finished down there.
Next we began tearing up flooring and pulling out furniture from the first floor, I mostly stuck with chipping out leftover tile in the foyer area and then ripping up old linoleum in the kitchen and bathroom, but since the owner was not present her neighbor only had us remove the clearly damaged stuff. His house had also been severely flooded, but he took time out of his own work to help direct help for his neighbor. We commended him for his kindness, and he told us that he and his wife had always striven to help their elderly neighbor with whatever she needed and also to make her life happier. I admired his true charity and the love he had shown not only in an emergency situation, but also in his daily life. I felt really blessed to have met him; he was a very good man.
By the time we finished our work there, it was starting to get toward the end of the sunlight. Apparently the other half our our team had ended up going to work on another house after finishing their impromptu job and my half team was told to go assist one of the other teams in finishing their project. Their house was right on the water, so the area had been hit harder than the more inland part where we had just finished working. When we got there, however, we were told that the team was pretty well done. One of the neighbors in the area came out to say thank you and to tell his story. He said that he's seen more yellow vests in the area than anything else and that the Mormons were getting the work actually done, while the FEMA workers basically did nothing to help with actual clean-up. He said that the "yellow ants" had flooded the area in the first few days after the water receded and had been everywhere ever since.
By the time we finished chatting with this man, the sun was setting and we were all called back to the bus. Everyone was pretty nasty after the day's work, but fortunately arrangements had been made for us all to shower at a gym a few blocks from the church. After we returned from there, we were turned loose for the evening. Jeff, Margaret, and Erin were hoping to see a show on Broadway, which I wasn't opposed to, but only if it was reasonably cheap and also didn't run too late as I didn't want to be tired for the next day's work. We took the subway in this time and split up on Time Square to check ticket prices. The choices narrowed down to were Mary Poppins, which I would have enjoyed seeing, and Mama Mia!, which I definitely did NOT want to pay for. It turned out that both were more than we wanted to spend, so instead we went and ate at a pretty tasty Japanese restaurant, where Erin told us stories about the semester she had just spent in Japan.
Afterwards, we went to St. Patrick's Cathedral. It was a beautiful place, and had many interesting relics and such along with the stained glass and all, but it was a very different feeling from visiting either an LDS chapel or even the temple. While there was a feeling of worship, it was pretty devoid of the Spirit for me. I appreciate all who are trying to honestly seek the Lord, but there is definitely a distinct difference between having part of the truth and the fullness of the gospel!
At this point, we were all pretty exhausted from the day's work and the previous day's walking, so we went back the the bathroom church early and played cards, which I had brought and generally hung out. It felt good to do that, as I didn't typically get to spend time with people my age those days.
Well, again this post is longer than anticipated, so I will conclude with Sunday in Part III.
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