Cordova...

I want to take a break from all of the London excitement and talk about Cordova. This Sunday my parents and I went with a group from Briarwood Church to a town called Cordova, near Jasper. They were hit by two tornados. The one that came through Birmingham hit them around 6 in the morning. At 4 that afternoon, a second tornado, an F-4 tornado, came through the town. When we got there you could not believe the destruction. On the road there I saw truck trailers which had been blown and staked up on top of themselves. The national guard has pretty much shut the town down due to looting. We were escorted into town and the first thing we saw was a beautiful church that had been destroyed.

 

The stain glass windows that were in this church were from 1890. 

Almost all of them were destroyed. 

My mom and I, along with two older men from the church, were in charge of cooking hot dogs for the community.

320 hot dogs later, which were cooked on multiple grills, some quite blacked cause our older cooks got distracted, we finished our job handed them off to a team who drove around and dropped them off to volunteers and community members who were working on cleanup.

There was so much destruction that it was hard to know where to begin helping clean up. It was rewarding to talk to the people and hear their stories. There were very thankful for any help they receive for the work will take months. Here are a few photos of the town:

My sister, Lauren, went to Sipsey, AL on Saturday and was also able to help out. If you want to donate anything she said that they have tons of toothbrushes, toothpaste, deodorant, etc. Want the people really want and need is Laundry Detergent!

As my youth pastor said, 

"God has shown them His power, now may He show them His love."