Houston Texas and Hurricane Ike

So I am now in Houston Texas. I came down here to work at the MD Anderson Cancer Center. I drove from Detroit, and I was able to stop in Dallas, and stay with Lonn and Teryl. We had a great time, I got to stay in Curtis' room, and we had french toast for breakfast.
I came into town the weekend after Hurricane Ike. It has been an interesting experience. I had to make sure I had plenty of gas, because there was a shortage. When I got here, I started to see the devastation. Signs, trees, street lights, everything and everybody was affected. Many people didn't have power.
I am staying with a great family. One of my companions, Jared Weatherhead was from Houston, and I am staying with a friend of his. They are the kindest people. They have warmly welcomed me into their home.
Saturday and Sunday, our stake, the Friendswood stake went down to Galveston as a relief effort. Galveston was hit the hardest.

We met as the stake center (above) to get our assignments. It was a beautiful sight, and a wonderful spirit as we sang "Come, Come ye saints." Sunday morning we even had a little sacrament service. The church was running on generators, and it was a regular command center. Piles and Piles of water, cleaning kits, hygiene kits, wheelbarrows, hammers, chainsaws, utility knives, shovels ect. The missionaries spent a few days gathering work orders from the neighborhoods, and we took care of members and nonmembers alike. I even got a sweet yellow T-shirt.


You can see the water line on some of these homes, and that green car had drifted onto this man's yard. You can imagine what happens to a fridge when you don't have power for 10 days, and your house is flooded. These refrigerators stank in a way that makes your nose hairs have nightmares. Mud in the houses that made every step like a slip and slide.


Most of what we did was tree removal and home emptying. It took very little time for the mold to set into the drywall, so we also helped people remove the affected drywall. You can see (above) the view from this womans porch and the inside of the home. Nice happy birthday eh? Clothes, dishes, furniture everywhere, ruined. We spent hours on this home only to realize that it may not be salvageable; but we did what we could. Every street was loaded with trees, washers, dryers, furniture, drywall. Who knows how long it will take to clean it all up.

So it was a humbling experience to go down there. I'm glad I went. I made some great friends in the friendswood first ward and we had an enjoyable time working together. I was so impressed with our crews work ethic and attitude. It was a pleasure to work with them.
Other than that I am enjoying Houston. It's an interesting place, there are restaurants everywhere. I have heard that there are more places to eat per capita than any other city in the U.S. Too bad I eat at the hospital every day.
Couple extra pictures: