Minot 2- April 15-21, 2012

Get on the bus!  (Let Rod know if you're interested.)

Why Not Minot 1- October 2011- Epilogue

In the Spring of 2011, right around Memorial Weekend, the residents of Minot, ND were told that the Souris River was going to flood and an evacuation would be required for those in the flood zone.  The water rose, but no disaster.  People went back to their homes

On June 21, 2011, the Minot Daily News reported that an "unstoppable, historic" flood was imminent in the Souris River Valley, largely due to large dam releases upstream. Around 12,000 people were evacuated. On June 26, flooding exceeded previous records when the river crested at 1,561.72 feet above sea level, three feet above the previous record set back in 1881. It is estimated that 20 percent of Minot sustained damage from the flood. This figure includes over 4,100 homes which were someway affected, 2,376 extensively damaged, and 805 damaged beyond repair. The nearby town of Burlington was also severely damaged during this time.  (This is from Wikipedia)

I was told a lot of things about the flood.  I was told that the damaged house count was 4411.  I was told that it was caused by human error.  (Canadians letting more water out of their reservoirs than was supposed to be "allowed.")  I was told that the flood was caused by an excessive amount of precipitation and other unfavorable climatic conditions.  I was told that UMCOR (United Methodist agency) was not accepting volunteers in October.  I was told that UMCOR needed volunteers.  I was told that John Doe's house was in the "Green Zone" (?) and would be bought out and torn down.  I was told that nobody knows when they will decide those kinds of things yet.  I was told that next year they may be expecting more flooding.  

Lutheran Disaster Response told me that they were almost "done" with their caseload of homes when they got a call from another agency in town that was pulling out.  That agency asked LDR if they would take the remaining of their caseload which comprised of 120 "low priority" houses.  LDR agreed, and then went in to look at these "low priority" houses.  It turns out they have a different definition of "low priority."  Many of the houses from this other agency were still in need of being mucked out.  They were considered low priority because the home owners hadn't decided what they were going to do yet.  The five houses we worked on came from that category.  (three of the five houses still had wet basements, but two were dry.)  We met two of the home owners.  One knew he was going to rebuild on the same spot and one didn't know yet if he would be allowed to rebuild because of zoning changes.  

If you've never mucked out a basement, you can read here what our experience was like:  

http://rodscof.blogspot.com/2011/11/mucking-out-basement.html

Someone told me that there were only 8 United Methodist teams that came out to help out.  I was skeptical of that number. But then I asked Lorna from the United Methodist Volunteers in Missions North Central Jurisdiction Coordinator and she thought that sounded about right.  

Lutheran Disaster Response were amazing to us.  They found a church that would house us for free and feed us breakfast.  They packed us lunches for free.  They fed us dinner for free.  Sometimes things seemed a little "up in the air."  But one has to remember that you are there for them, not them for you.  And just because I couldn't see the whole picture didn't mean they didn't.  And if they didn't, it may be because the whole picture is just too big to see.  

Which brings me to this.  Any thinking person should ask the question, "Why rebuild in an area that floods?"  Why not tear down these houses and put in a park or something that doesn't have such dire consequences if it floods again?  I don't know why.  I think Minot, ND is a lot different than Fargo, which seems to flood every year lately.  The last time Minot flooded was 1969, and it wasn't nearly as disastrous.  (from what I read).  But it comes back to, this:  The picture is too big to see.  

Here's what I know (and some things I suspect):  The ten of us that went to Minot experienced something unique.  We grew closer to each other and closer to God.  We drove a long ways out of town each day to experience the hospitality of a beautiful church family.  Everyone we met at that church embodied the "cheerful giver."  They sincerely seemed to love having us there.  So we were blessed by this church, and this church was blessed by serving.  God works for the good in all things for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.   

The ten of us that went to Minot obeyed God calling us to go.  In a lot of mission trips or service trips, there is a tourism component.  If you go to work on New Orleans, you kinda HAVE to see the French Quarter and the Lower 9th and eat Southern Food, etc.  When you go to Minot, that component is much less prevalent.  Rod St. took a small group of people an hour or so away from Minot one night to see the geographical center of North America, (which happens to be in Rugby, ND.)  But other than that, there isn't much to do except work and rest.  We joked about going to a movie one night, but we were all too tired.  We seemed a lot more focused on getting the work done.  I think we even made Bob tired.  But it was a good tired.  A good sense of accomplishment, knowing that we have served Minot and helped them get to the next step. We were blessed by being able to serve.  And we were blessed by being served.    

Lastly, I am taking steps to give "River Bend Mission Team" a facelift.  Originally, River Bend was formed from the cooperation of five United Methodist Churches in Northern Dakota County.  Now, two of those churches no longer exist.  And really, it has grown beyond that.  I am starting grad school in the winter, taking a Masters of Leadership.  I have also spoken with a couple consultants, a branding firm, and another organization that does short term mission trips.  Soon I hope to have a new name, a 501(c)(3), etc.  I have talking about this for years and it's time to move on it.  I can use all the help I can get with this, too!

So what's next?  Normally, we have been taking a trip around Easter.  Next Spring, we are looking at April 15th-21st.  I would say for 90% sure that those will be the dates.  I am assuming we will go back to Minot.  There is a lot of need there still.  

Who's in?  Get on the bus.

R

--
The spiritual life cannot be made suburban.  It is always frontier, and we who live in it must accept and even rejoice that it remains untamed.
--  Howard Macey

Mucking Out a Basement

Mucking out a basement:  In case you've never done it, I'll tell you what it's usually like.  There is no power in the house, so the only light comes from windows or string lights that you bring in and hook up to a generator.  So the first time you go down there, it's dark and smells pretty strongly of mold.  You wear a respirator, but it's not easy because they fog up your glasses, and you can't breathe as well, especially after carrying an especially heavy bucket of muck up the stairs.  There are things that were in the basement that floated around and then settled as the water went down.  With the flood water comes a lot of sediment, so everything is dirty.  And usually, the sewer backs up.  So let's not think about what else is down there.  You have to carry everything out.  Sometimes you carry it by hand to an open window and throw it out.  Sometimes you carry it up the stairs and out the front door to a big pile on the curb.  You see what the homeowner had.  (In one house, there were something like oxen horns.  I think I would have liked that home owner.)  If there was a freezer, it floated and then tipped over and spilled everything out.  If there was anything like a bucket or a tote, it may have filled up with water, and still had the water in it.  That water smelled like raw sewage.  If there was carpet, it is still wet and muddy.  You have to cut it up to get it out.  All the drywall and paneling needs to be torn down and brought outside.  Usually, the mud and drywall particles and small things get shoveled into a bucket and carried out.  The furnace and hot water heater need to be drained and come out.  Sometimes you can get them up the stairs, but sometimes you have to cut them up to get them out.  Sometimes the duct work comes out.  Sometimes it stays.  It's up the homeowner.  Any insulation comes out.  Then you take a pry bar or a hammer and pull all the nails out of the studs and ceiling joists.  Every time you carry something out and breathe fresh air, you have to go back down into the basement.  In the end, you sweep up the nails and all the drywall and mud you can.  Scrape a layer of dirt off the floor.  Carry it out.  By then, the smell is not so bad.  There is more light.  There are no "unknowns."  It's pretty wide open with no walls. The next step is someone to come in and sanitize it.  We didn't do that part.

Wanted to get this out quick

Hi all-

I haven't written the Epilogue for the Minot trip yet, but wanted to let you know of a service opportunity in the Twin Cities this weekend, and a fundraiser for New Orleans rebuilding this weekend.

1-  Service:  My friend, Duane Lunsford is organizing a group of people to help finish an apartment building with units dedicated to helping people get out of an unhealthy lifestyle.  The work will be from 8:30ish in the am this Saturday until about 2:00pm.  The work will be possibly drywall, tile, paint, finish work, unknown for certain.  If you want to go, let me know and I'll tell where and when to meet.

2.-  Fundraiser:  At our Silent Auction just before NOLA 6, there was a guest from New Orleans that is connected with Hamline University and a service group that goes from Hamline.  They are having a Mardi Gras Fundraiser this Saturday evening at Hamline.  Let me know if you're interested and I'll fwd. you the email they sent me.  It would be nice for the NOLA team to show up and support this group since they supported us last trip.  

Let me know if you're in on either one of these events.  

R

--
The spiritual life cannot be made suburban.  It is always frontier, and we who live in it must accept and even rejoice that it remains untamed.
--  Howard Macey

RE: Minot- the Last work day

Dear Rod,

I am always amazed as to the depth you and your team will go to help clean out or to build up.  You are all doing the call of God and I pray someday we can just sit and share how good God has been when we have been about His business, and as He was also about ours!

 

May God richly bless your team and all the people you were involved with and all the homes that received attention and all those who still need attention.  May He empower this community called Minot.  May the Holy Spirit come and fill them up and may miracles happen in spite of what people see or believe.  May the Mennonites be covered with the Lord and may many people’s homes, lives and relationships be healed and prosper all for the glory of God.  And may all the plans from heaven happen on earth into this place called Minot. 

 

Touch them Lord, in the name of Jesus of Nazareth!

 

Amen and amen

 

 

 

From: Rod Scofield [mailto:rodscofield@gmail.com]
Sent: Saturday, October 22, 2011 1:47 AM
To: Rod Scofield
Cc: Erin Clayton 2; Howard Newton; Kristen Butler; Lewis Whitehead; Matthew Sanderson; Pastor Rod Stemme; Robert Newton; Shirley Smith; Sue Letourneau; Wendy Clayton; Of Course it Quacks
Subject: Minot- the Last work day

 

Today's house had a dry basement.  Hallelujah!  We knocked our goal out of the park.  5 houses in 5 days.  We were actually done around lunch time today.  We just had to remove a lot of nails and drywall pieces, a couple ceilings, etc.  In the basement, we had to take out a furnace.  It was pretty big.  We had to disassemble it.  (By "we" I mean Bob and Howard.  I carried parts outside).  Howard found some holes on the inside that he said was kind of a good thing the flood happened because they would get worse and cause a carbon monoxide problem.  God works for the Good in All things...  

 

More observations after I get back.  

 

Pictures are here:  https://picasaweb.google.com/rodscofield/Minot1October2011

Blog is here:  www.rodscof.blogspot.com  I know Kristen posted tonight.  

 

Or find and "friend" or "fan" or "like" or whatever you do these days on Facebook under "River Bend Mission Team"

 

More upcoming... 

 

--
The spiritual life cannot be made suburban.  It is always frontier, and we who live in it must accept and even rejoice that it remains untamed.
--  Howard Macey

Minot- the Last work day

Today's house had a dry basement.  Hallelujah!  We knocked our goal out of the park.  5 houses in 5 days.  We were actually done around lunch time today.  We just had to remove a lot of nails and drywall pieces, a couple ceilings, etc.  In the basement, we had to take out a furnace.  It was pretty big.  We had to disassemble it.  (By "we" I mean Bob and Howard.  I carried parts outside).  Howard found some holes on the inside that he said was kind of a good thing the flood happened because they would get worse and cause a carbon monoxide problem.  God works for the Good in All things...  

More observations after I get back.  

Pictures are here:  https://picasaweb.google.com/rodscofield/Minot1October2011

Blog is here:  www.rodscof.blogspot.com  I know Kristen posted tonight.  

Or find and "friend" or "fan" or "like" or whatever you do these days on Facebook under "River Bend Mission Team"

More upcoming... 

--
The spiritual life cannot be made suburban.  It is always frontier, and we who live in it must accept and even rejoice that it remains untamed.
--  Howard Macey

End of the week thoughts...

This has been a very tiring week, as we have well documented.  However, sitting at this end of the week, it is a great feeling to look back and see all we have accomplished on this trip.  I daresay we have accomplished much more than we do on construction trips and you can tell by how we have interacted this week.  On these trips, we often get tired and one dynamic that often happens is being short-tempered with one another, but this week, we were so much more tired, that often we sat in silence, too worn out both mentally and physically to engage with one another.  I think as a group (or at least for myself) this week has been much more introspective as we process the despair that this area is experiencing, the difficulty and pace of the work we have been doing, and the vast amount of families whose lives will never be the same.  At the same time, I have noticed this community to be one of faith, that local people are talking about what G-d is doing here and how they've helped each other (friends and family taking flood victims in...).  The whole town of Minot seems to be aware of the volunteers and tonight we saw people out for a walk waving at us while we were driving down the road as if to say thanks for helping someone even though it was not them.  The organization that put us to work (Lutheran Disaster Response) gave us bright orange "VOLUNTEER" shirts and people stopped to speak with us everywhere we went today.  This community seems to have been brought closer together by this experience. 

Especially as I am as tired as I am, I empathize with how these people must be feeling.  The emotions are still very raw and you feel the tears in their eyes as they describe their losses and how little help they are receiving from various agencies.  Not only that, but the national news has not covered the damage here the way other disasters have been covered and the season to be able to work here is much different than other locations because of the weather.  The snow will fly soon and reconstruction will nearly cease until March and April.

Thanks to all who were praying for our safety and strength to continue to do the work that these people so desperately need.  I'm certain your prayers are what kept us upright!!  As you think about the work that we did here in the upcoming months, pray for the Mennonites coming down from Canada that have made a 2 year committment to this city to helping them rebuild.  They will be staying at a church (that they are also rebuilding) and working on approximately 5 homes throughout the winter while it is the off season for farming.  It is touching to see the Mennonite community empathizing with this community and making the commitment to be a presence in the rebuilding.

Enough of my rambling thoughts, Thanks for partnering with us by your thoughts and prayers!

-Kristen-

Why Not Minot? Day #4

Four up.  Four Down.  A house a day.  

Today's house was easier.  It was about 10 miles out of town.  The basement was dry.  There were still a lot of things to take out.  - insulation, drywall pieces, duct work, the furnace and hot water heater, and we pulled a lot a lot a LOT of nails and screws out of the boards.  

We are all talking about how working flood relief in Minot is a lot more strenuous than rebuilding in The Gulf.  We are all tired, and so I'm not going to write much, hoping to get to bed soon.  But we are all well.  (Lewis said he feels MUCH better.-  Thank you for your prayers!).  And we are all working well together.  It's a very cohesive group.  

I continue to be amazed at the hospitality here.  When we work on these houses, there is no plumbing or power.  Bathroom breaks are usually at a port-a-potty which are strategically placed so that usually, you are within a block or two from one.  The one today was a little further away.  The lady next door left her FEMA trailer open for us to use her bathroom while she went to work today.  And when we got back to the church we are staying at, there was a pan of bars and a package of muffins for us.  

Finally, while I was pulling nails out of studs in a bathroom, I was thinking about the spiritual parallels between reconstructing and deconstructing.  At first, I thought of how reconstructing a house had a spiritual comparison with the renewing your spirit and at first thought that deconstructing didn't correlate.  But then it occurred to me that deconstructing was just as vital process in our spiritual journey also.  When our souls are damaged, God has to muck out our spiritual basements.  (This comparison is particularly vivid after this week.)  And when there is something there that might later cause problems, that should be dealt with as well.  This work is sometimes harder than building up because it's usually more painful, and sometimes brought on by disasters of judgement or sometimes just because bad things happen that affect us.  But the Carpenter is at work.  And we can trust Him to continue to work on our houses until they are "done."  Again, I thought of this while I was pulling nails.  The comparison breaks down somewhere, I'm sure, but I didn't get that far in my thinking because I had to go help Howard with the furnace.  

We took some pictures and even shot some video today.  But this kind of stuff takes time to download and post and edit and upload on Facebook and etc.  And I am really tired and want to go to bed early tonight.  So I will put them up tomorrow-  or maybe I will get up early and do it.  For now, thanks for your prayers and thoughts and well wishes and support.  

Peace!

R

--
The spiritual life cannot be made suburban.  It is always frontier, and we who live in it must accept and even rejoice that it remains untamed.
--  Howard Macey