Why Not...Minot - Wed/Thurs

The pics from the next few days jump back and forth between
Don's big house by the river and Cody's smaller home in the center of town.

So Darlene wanted her old sweatshirt off NOW. She tore
and ripped and then let me hack it off with a scissors!

Success!

Ahoy, there!

Rub-a-dub-dub, Minot workers in a tub!

The pile just grows and grows.

Blurred beauty during our morning sunrise drive into town.

Lovely.

My, what we've learned throughout the week.
Day 1: we used these tiny, push-button lights.
By Day 5 we were stringing up the yellow lights on the ceilings like pros!

Ah, corner mesh. Sarah's favorite.

Unreal.

Wassup?

We redefined Hat Hair this week.

So nice to know Jesus was welcoming us into our neighborhood each day!

The story of my life.
Well, the story of my wrists.
Ouch.

Note to self: when removing light fixtures from flooded homes,
be ready for unexpected shower from above. Gross.

Lunch/devo time - bring your own chair!

The pile outside Don's home - look how high it's getting!

Responding with love.

Ah, Louis. Stayed at the same church with us
and was clearly called to be an evangelist for Christ!
The stories he told us of his former life.....thank heavens for grace!

And today's mystery man is....Bill from Canada!


Alice (and Mystery Man Bill) worked each day in the kitchen to prepare our bag lunches at noon and our hot supper (yes, supper) in the evenings. She baked and baked and baked - what a blessing she was!

Alice and Jan, serving with a smile!

The super-cool photo mosaic of Our Savior's Lutheran Church in Minot. The mosaic was created by the photo company that took their directory pictures!

This was right before Darryl suddenly left...and returned with a shop vac.

.We aren't going to tell my mother about the holes in the floorboards.

One brave cookie, cleaning up the basement of Cody's home.

Again, let's not mention this to Mom, ok?

Hey look....another nail! Ugh.

Super cool jet streams overhead. On one of the days, the Canadian Snow Birds flew over Don's house, zooming this way and that. Crazy stuff! Check them out here.



As if the mud and muck and slime wasn't enough fun,
Sarah was lucky enough to step in a pile of dog crap. Awesome.

Sarah Hulslander, Professional Poo Slinger.

Cody's house in the center of town. He lived on-site
in a FEMA trailer and was eager to help in the clean-up efforts.


Here's what you don't see in the pictures on this blog: when the rest of the crew first entered Cody's house to assess what needed to be done, I ended up staying outside and chatting with a woman a few houses down. She had parked her car, jumped out, and just started talking. And talking. And talking. (And I realize that this is coming from a woman who is admittedly verbose herself, thank you very much.) She was really upset about losing what was the house where she raised her family.

We just stood in front of the ruins as she described how her husband built the steps around the tree in the front yard, and how she had painted the swing that used to hang on the front porch, and how she had 'made a baby in that room up there' (whoa...TMI), and how she had...you get the point. She was clearly distressed at the shape of her home, and as much as I wanted to catch up with my team, I knew that I would be of better service by being a listener in the middle of the street to this stranger. She needed listening ears, and I needed to remember that there were PEOPLE in the houses we were cleaning. I stayed put!

I noticed Wisconsin license plates on her car and (being from WI myself) asked her where she was from. She tells me: Eau Claire, WI! I tell her that Eau Claire is my undergraduate alma mater, and she perked up as we had a fun conversation about all the sites of EC that I could remember and that she still frequented. She asked where we're all from and I say Nebraska (Darryl), North Dakota (Bill and Dar) and Denver. She said she 'used to live in Denver and would worship in this lovely church with beautiful blue and purple stained glass windows on Hampden Avenue for Christmas and Easter'. Would you believe it was BETHANY!? Talk about being right where I was supposed to be! She was so excited to be able to share all these things with someone - anyone - she grabbed my hands and prayed right there in the middle of the street. The Holy Spirit sure does work in some crazy-amazing ways!

The Masked Duo, Dar and Bill.

Look out below...and watch our for those light fixtures.
(Bill carefully removed it...and I promptly broke it. Whoops.)

And this is why we all loved Darlene.
Leaving a piece of hope for the owner.

BOOYA! Darryl brought this amazing nail-picker-upper-thing that was this awesome magnet on wheels. Saved our backs by sucking up the nails. I want one.


(1) I will only sleep soundly if there is a piano in the room.
(2) I believe my mother has the same piano cover on her bench.
(3) The bed on the left collapsed on Sarah as she slept! HA! (I mean...poor Sarah)

Ah, my prayer shawl. This is as far as I got. Somehow, I thought that my hands would be able to crochet after pulling out nails and screws and hammering all day. Funny Brenda. Someday.



Be sure to click on "Older Posts" at the very bottom of this webpage or on the Minot posts along the left side of the blog to read the entire story!