I had the privilege of riding along to Vilonia to deliver all of the donations our church collected. We had a trailer FULL of everything from water bottles and canned goods to bed sheets and dog food.
As soon as we entered Vilonia, it was like entering another world. A disaster zone. Immediately, I had a pit in my stomach and a knot in my throat trying to fight back tears. Seeing pictures on the news or from Facebook just isn't the same experience as seeing it for myself in person. The devastation was just unbelievable.
Unfortunately, we weren't able to stay very long. If it would've been up to me, I would've put on some work gloves and gone to work trying to be of some help. But we were limited on time. We were, however, able to ride around and get a good look at what was left of the town. The pastor at the church we took the donations to gave us the "tour" and introduced us to some of his church members. We even got to eat lunch with some people who had lost their home in the tornado.
I left there that afternoon feeling humbled. And sad. And guilty. And strangely uplifted. It's amazing to see a town come together to help their neighbors, and what's even more amazing is hearing personal testimonies of the people who lost everything, literally everything, in the tornado but still praise God's name. The couple we ate lunch with lost their home and everything in it, but instead of questioning or doubting God, they just put everything in His hands, knowing that God would provide a way to carry on. They are already rebuilding their new house and I have a picture of it below...
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