8A | Iowa Conference Edition of The United Methodist Reporter September 26, 2008
Calling all UM Electricians,
Plumbers, Heating and Cooling
Professionals
As of mid-September, rebuilding in the flooded areas of eastern Iowa is beginning. People that are
skilled in the electrical, plumbing, heating and cooling areas are especially needed at this time to
help get homes ready for other interior work during winter weather.
Devastating flooding, with rivers cresting far higher than previous records, was experienced in a
number of cities and rural areas in eastern Iowa in June of 2008. In Cedar Rapids alone, 25,000
residents were evacuated from their homes and 5,500 homes were left uninhabitable. The area in
which Volunteers in Mission teams are working extends about 150 miles, primarily along the Iowa
and Cedar Rivers and their tributaries. Hundreds of homes have been cleaned out, gutted and
sanitized and are ready for rebuilding. All skills will be needed for at least the next two years so if
you can’t come now you can plan ahead to come later.
Please contact Dan and Jean Houston, Disaster Response Volunteer Assistants, to let them know if
you are willing to spend a day or several days working in disaster-affected areas in Iowa. Contact
phone numbers: 515-432-1226; 515-991-4797 (Dan’s cell); 515-778-9414 ( Jean’s cell).
Email addresses for the Houston’s: djhouston@opencominc.com or IAUMVIM@gmail.com
Aren’t You Done
rub elbows with some great AmeriCorps teams feed our family, pay utilities and mortgage, work and hopefully you begin to feel the sense of
too. The results have been staggering. The piles two jobs plus clean-up and rebuild our home. urgency we feel on Oakville! We need you!
With That
of belongings we carried out reached twelve There were just a lot of tears. But now we can
feet high. The first few weeks looked like a war see a way through this mess, thanks to all the We need your continued prayers. We need
zone, piles of rubble were everywhere. In one people that came to help us.” your listening ears to hear their stories as
Flood Stuff Yet?
week, teams directed to Oakville by our Con- they process everything that has happened.
ference Volunteer Coordinator, Rev. Melissa We need your skills in electrical, plumbing,
Bracht-Wagner and Dan and Jean Houston, ventilation and drywall work. We need your
by Scott Smith*
cleaned up ten houses! Advance Special and direct gifts for building
supplies. The work is not done and we will
It’s been four months since the levy broke and
One of the volunteers responded to a reporter’s not get it done without continuing of efforts
life changed in Oakville. Four months, has it
question about why we were wasting time from volunteer teams far and near. So I close
been so long? Four months, is that all? Isn’t
salvaging junky stuff, “None of this is a waste with this invitation: Come to Southeast
it amazing in the face of personal and com-
of time, these things are someone’s life, their Louisa County United Methodist Parish and
munal disaster how time seems both to fly by
memories. ”What were they doing at the time? receive our hospitality as we join together to
and crawl. How far have we come in that time?
They were sorting through a pile of sludge to make Oakville’s future bright through the love
Where is Oakville now, as summer gives way
liberate shards of stained glass, the person’s of Christ! God be with you one and all!
to fall? Or as someone asked me the other day:
hobby, trapped in the mud. It wasn’t a task
“Aren’t you done with that flood stuff yet?”
they had to do, there was no great need, but THAT’s Kingdom Work! Bringing hope to the *Pastor Scott Smith serves the Southeast Louisa
the love of Christ led them to the task. What heartland is about more than just hope. With County Parish: Wapello, Morning Sun and
We all saw the reports for about three days, but
a humbling sight! Another image I hope never every nail we drive we are pushing back against Oakville
no pictures, videos or stories can fully capture
to forget, is the sight of a teen from Louisiana the hopeless circumstances of peoples’ lives
what it is like, dreams floating down the Iowa
coming up out of a basement, covered in smelly, with Christ’s mission to rebuild a community as
River. This time though it’s not a boat, it’s your
ugly grey-green-brown muck, during a long, hot we help rebuild lives. What a great mission we
home. June 14 will always carry some strong
summer afternoon, singing, “Hi-ho, hi-ho, it’s are a part of! I want to thank those people who
mental images, but there are others too.
off to work we go.” have in some way contributed to the clean-up
There was that first walk, after the water reced-
and rebuild efforts. This connectional system
ed somewhat, through town on July 2 accom-
Thankfully, those days of throwing away are called “United Methodists” has been awe-
panied inescapably by that eerie, empty feeling
winding down. Most of the mudding-out is some; the teams we have hosted reside in my
that somehow we were stirring up something
finished, though power-washing and sanitizing heart, thoughts and prayers. “Thank you” is not
long lost. Then there were the tears burning
continues here and there in the country espe- enough to express our gratitude!
our cheeks, winding a path down mud-streaked
cially. A few weeks ago, the United Methodist
faces as we entered the church. So much work
VIMMERS and other volunteers transitioned As noted in the beginning, many people ask if
to be done. The news of what was before us
from tearing down to rebuilding. After six we are done with the work in Oakville yet and I Pastor Scott Smith, Bishop Julius C. Trimble and
was daunting: all 182 houses were affected, 160
weeks of tearing down the time came to build must report the answer is, “No!” There are lives Phil Carver assessing the flood damage.
had major damage or were destroyed. If that
up as Ecclesiastes says. That is a great feeling! and houses to put back together, gutted homes
were the end of the story it would read like a
At present, we are working with five families and broken
Greek tragedy, but our God is the God of new
turning the hope of a new beginning into real- hearts to
beginnings, as Christ told John in that incred-
ity. When the rebuild stage began, thirty-five renew.
ible vision of Revelation 21:5, “Behold I make
families were returning. At this time over forty Imagine
all things new!”
are coming back. that family
What is pushing that change of heart? One of six in a
In light of that promise, and the hard work of
comment from a life-long Oakville resident, three bed-
hundreds of volunteers, there is much good
choking back tears, said, “I knew we couldn’t room, one
news to share. It was amazing to see UMCOR
have done this on our own. Thirty years ago bathroom,
represented by teams from North, South, East
maybe, but there comes a time when you just FEMA
and West, from Iowa and way beyond join-
can’t do the things you used to do.” The parents trailer
ing with our sisters and brothers from other
of four children echoed her sense of renewed through an
Christian mission efforts. We got the chance to
hope, but for different reasons, “We couldn’t Iowa winter
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