April 10th 2014 Daily Report
The Gift of Hospitality:
One of the constants of the ten years of Westminster's disaster recovery ministry has been the way the local churches respond to assist their neighbors with their recovery efforts. In all cases, except Pearlington, where all the churches were destroyed, the churces have opened their doors to house hundreds of volunteers. In Pearlington the Baptist church ladies, whose church was washed away in the huricane constructed a small building and served a hot lunch to all the volunteers who helped with the rebuilding. They served deep south dishes and would have up to 50 volunteers at lunch every days. They served for years until the village was rebuilt and no more volunteers were needed. In Cedar Rapids, the churches filled their Sunday school rooms and gymnasium with bunk beds and hosted volunteers from across the nation for four years during the recovery. All the churches in Greensburg were destroyed, so a hotel in a neighboring village gave free lodging to volunteers. Joplin, Missouri churches that were located in the unaffected areas converted their Sunday school rooms to dormatories and installed bathrooms and showers, a kitchen and lounge for a very comfortable living arrangement.
The same kind of hospitality is now being extended in Norman, Oklahoma, a city just south of Moore, where we are being housed in the McFarlin United Methodist church on the University of Oklahoma campus. So far during the year following the tornado they have hosted nearly 60 groups of volunteers from across the nation. We were greeted on Sunday evening about 7:00 pm by the minister of mission outreach who directed us to our new temporary home for a week. Again we slept in their Sunday school rooms and had access to a small kitchen where all our meals were prepared by our kitchen crew. We were very comfortable and woke each day rested, with a hearty breakfast prepared by 7:00 am.
McFarlin opens their church to the community every day, and you can find students using the common area for study and fellowship. On Tuesday evening the congregation hosts a hospitality hour for the community with a meal served in the church gym. We dined with students and citizens of Norman who make this a regular event.
On Thursday evening we were invited to a Methodist church in Oklahoma city for a dinner and visit with other volunteers in the area and the home owners with whom volunteers are working. The guests also included all the non profit organization staff who are assisting with organizing the recovery work effort.
All of us are humbled by the community spirit where a disaster occurs, and the way they combined efforts of mission minded people of faith care for each other.