Day 5 – St. Elizabeth (Lacovia & Brompton)
This morning was a bit of a logistical challenge. We had all the food and the water jugs, but lacked the space and towing capacity to carry them all down the mountain with us in one trip. So we set out early with all the food and supplies we intended to hand out. The drive down Spur Tree Hill was exciting as usual. I’ll just say that at one point we went three wide (all doing in the same direction) and just leave it at that. After loading the food and supplies, Johnson and I headed back up the mountain with an empty van. We loaded the water jugs and stopped at Mega Mart to buy a couple of cases of bottled water for us to drink for the day and be able to hand out to those in need. We tried and failed to find bag juice to throw in the freezer because apparently, Mega Mart is too stush for bag juice.
The way back down was even more fun than the first trip. We were doing our thing and flying down the mountain, in and around slower traffic, when we were passed by this bus (A Voxy). Voxy and I were kindred spirits, and the swiftness, grace, and velocity of our descent was thrilling. What made it even more fun was when we finally stopped at the stoplight in Santa Cruz, the driver and passengers in the Voxy looked back and saw we were two white guys, and they went nuts. They were laughing, giving us thumbs up and snaps, waving their arms, and honking the horn. It was a fun connection of mutual motorist respect. After that, anytime Voxy was preparing to overtake a vehicle (or multiple vehicles), the occupants of the bus would all wave their arms, beckoning us to follow. We carried on that way until, sadly, we parted ways near Lacovia.
The group had loaded up the trucks at the Morrison’s and headed off to our first project. With Johnson and me trailing, they shared their location with us on Find My Friends, so we were tracking their blue dot and where they turned off the road. It was the only way we had to find them. The problem came as we all progressed deeper into the bush and the hard-hit areas, and the cell service became spotty. We made it to where the pin stopped for Anderson, only to find that it had last reported his location fifteen minutes earlier. Meaning they could be anywhere up that way. We continued on the same road until we came to a fork and just picked the one that felt the most likely. We remembered Elder Holland’s talk story about praying with his son to know which route to take, only to find a dead end. Well, it quickly became apparent that this was not the road we wanted. We doubled back to where we had service again, and this time found Brother Morrison’s location further back a different route, and up in the hills. The road we took to get there was less of a road and more of a washed-out path, was aspirations to one day be a road.
After bottoming out a couple of times coming up into the hills, we spotted the trucks and could see the team had already set to work. Anderson and Joel were up on the roof with Sweeney, with Svenson up on a ladder, and Bulkley putting in work with a chainsaw around back. Johnson and I gloved up and joined in. Sweeney was a rockstar, she stayed up on the roof all morning and helped with everything, from framing to hanging zinc. In yet another testimony to us that the Lord prepared us for this relief mission, Anderson’s brother had convinced him to frame his house when he was building it, so he took the lead in directing the work of cutting, placing, and securing the beams in the portion that had been completely ripped off by the hurricane. I had never even helped from a roof, but we all have now. Additionally, we learned some lessons from fastening the zinc at Sister Duncan’s house, which, along with a less severe pitch to the roof, helped us proceed much faster. We all pitched in with Anderson wearing himself out on a hot roof to get those beams in place and making sure there was sufficient support to hold us and the zinc. Joel was a daredevil, climbing along the roof to reach the furthest places. I stayed safely on the ladder, hammering when and where I was told. With the framing complete, Johnson and Bulkley hopped up on the roof and began fastening the zinc in place with Svenson running zinc sheets up to them, and of course, Sweeney was still putting in work. From start to finish, it took just over two hours. The way the work ebbed and flowed, we everyone pitched in was incredible. I truly believe that we were equipped to solve any problem set before us.
Sister Medley and Sister Morrison prepared some bun and cheese for us and cold drinks for lunch. They joked that we had a 3-minute break for lunch, and I joked that that was 3 minutes more than they had given us yesterday. Then I cried out in patois how mistreated we had been, and a few of the women in the neighborhood who had been watching us work said, “Boy, he sounds like he’s Jamaican.” That put a smile on my face.
With the bun & cheese and bottle drinks consumed, we offered a blessing to Sweeney and some of her neighbors. One by one, they came to the veranda next door, and we laid hands on their head and gave priesthood blessings. Men, women, and children, those not of our faith, came to sit and receive a blessing. We took turns voicing and standing in the circle while some of us cleaned up and others ran a chainsaw to cut up a tree that had fallen near the road. Anderson took some zinc and drove further into the hills to deliver it to a woman’s home around the mountain, and Svenson was earnestly teaching our new friends the gospel. It was all pretty special, and really brought into focus what we were there to do. We came seeking to serve as the Savior served, to uplift spiritually, to not strictly provide temporal relief but hope, peace, light, and love. If we could do nothing more than share a smile and help someone to know they are remembered and not alone, there is power in that and connection to each other and to God.
The bun & cheese, while delightful, was not going to cut it for the work that we’d accomplished and the work still left to do. So we stopped at a Juici Patties at the crossroads. They only had two cocoa bread left, so I gave mine to Joel, who had not tried cocoa bread and patties yet, which was probably the hardest sacrifice I had made to this point. Just kidding, it was the second hardest though for sure. 😉
Next, we linked back up with Brother Morrison, who had some work to do earlier, and drove to Brampton to the home of Mrs. Baker. Tragedy had struck this family long before the hurricane, with the loss of their daughter in an automobile accident involving two full-time elders. We brought zinc to repair part of her roof that had been blown off. It was quickly determined that the walls of that part of the house had also been badly damaged and would need to come down. Mrs. Baker said that what would be helpful would be to have a temporary shed or covered area where she could move her furniture and things to keep it out of the weather until the wall could come down and be rebuilt. After counseling together on the best approach, we identified a structure in the corner of the property that still had three standing walls and a small piece of roofing. Though the walls were also in rough shape, the benefit was that we had a concrete slab to build on and didn’t have to start from scratch. Once again, Bulkley and Brother Morrison worked those chainsaws like wizards in the back of the property, and Anderson hopped back on the roof to frame with his young apprentice, Joel. I started hunting through piles of rubble to savage whatever lumber and zinc we could reuse to save the new zinc for the rebuild later. Sister Medley rallied the young men we had with us to start cleaning up the debris on the concrete, and we hauled away the broken chunks of block. Svenson and Johnson went with Sisters Medley and Morrison to take food and supplies to the neighbors and made friends, including Bev, who took them around to those in need.
Somewhere along the way, we were joined by two brothers visiting from the Dominican Republic and Argentina. They were with the South America and Caribbean Seminary & Institute and were there for a meeting later that night with seminary students and their parents in Santa Cruz. They helped haul debris and clean up, and I joked that their church shoes were probably not up to the task.
A rainbow arched over the gray storm clouds, a symbol of the heavenly hope we all sought. With the salvage materials, we worked into the night. With the concrete slab cleared and mostly covered, we loaded up and headed for Santa Cruz. Sister Morrison teaches the seminary class, and those brothers from S&I were there for that meeting, and Sister Morrison had intended to teach a lesson on dealing with anxiety. She invited us to be there, so we set off an hour or so after they had left for the meeting.
There was a massive traffic delay outside of Santa Cruz, with everyone backed up on the main road through St. Elizabeth. With a fervent desire to reach the seminary meeting in time, and having exhausted my limited patience, we found ourselves pressing forward with a similarly impatient group of taxi and bus drivers through the oncoming traffic lanes. We passed dozens and dozens of sitting cars, including some police cars with their lights on. Sister Medley, bless her heart, lay down on the floor of the van to hide and cried out, “Me c’yan’t be seen with you. I live here!” By this point, we were all laughing pretty hard. We actually arrived at the chapel before Sister Morrison and their visitors, despite leaving nearly an hour later. Sister Morrison said, “Me not want to hear from you, Blaylock.” And the laughter continued.
The meeting with the Seminary & Institute brethren was brief but good. They asked if one of us would like to speak to the group, and I spoke for a few minutes and the importance of spending time with holy things and in holy places, and shared the scriptural promise that as they draw near to God that He would draw near to them, and as they received His light, they would be given more light. There was a social afterwards with some refreshments. We visited with the saints for a little while and hit the road for home.
There is nothing like finishing a long day of hard work and the satisfaction and fulfillment it brings. There’s also nothing like returning home from said long day and being greeted by curry chicken, boiled dumplings, boiled bananas, and rice. Thank you again to Sister Richardson for the care she gave us and for staying up so late to make sure we were fed before going to bed.
Brother Richardson, who had been working on a plumbing issue all day, had fallen ill and really wanted to join us the next day, so we all went up to his room to anoint and bless him. At no point in my life have I given or participated in more priesthood blessings in such close proximity to one another than I had this week. It was really special, and I thought about how I could be more intentional with using priesthood power as I go about ministering to my brothers and sisters.