Today our contact, Kristin Kirby, connected us with Tom and Susan Turner who are the directors on site for North Carolina Baptist on Mission. Baptist on Mission is exactly like our Oklahoma Baptist Disaster Relief, same yellow shirts and all. They are operating out of First Baptist Church of Swananoa, on of the many hard hit small towns around Asheville. Tom and Susan grew up in Swananoa and have a particular passion for the work being done. We loaded up from the church along with supplies and followed David McDaniels from NCBOM to Fairview, NC. There we met Kristy whose home was significantly damaged by the flood waters during Helene. We were joined by about six college students and a couple adult volunteers with Campus Crusade for Christ. The group quickly emptied out the contents of the basement and the five of us were left alone to get to work.
Ken Abel was very patient with the rest of us and guided the team through putting in insulation, hanging sheet rock, and taping about 2 foot up the wall in the room and attached laundry room. We got a lot done and will load up with more supplies and head back out tomorrow. As we interacted with Kristy today I was reminded that when we pray about these natural disaster and catastrophic events we are praying for real people, really effected. I saw the tired, desperate look that was so common in our community following the tornado. I was grateful to God that you have let us come and somebody let those students come and Tom and Susan have come and stayed for people just like Kristy.
