The Goodrums

Our friend, Chad, clearing trees

Monday I went down to Hattiesburg, Mississippi (which is about 90 miles south of here / about 75 miles from the coast). The destruction there was unbelievable. We spent the whole day clearing trees, patching roofs, passing out supplies, and helping with whatever people needed help with. Our church took a team of 300-400 people and we barely made a dent.

Jackson is approaching a state of normal again – with the exception of the population increase and the gas shortage but Hattiesburg is no where near recovering. After seeing the damage there, I can’t even fathom what it must be like on the coast.

We worked in Petal, Mississippi which is slightly northeast of Hattiesburg. One of the homes we worked on was unbelievable. It was an elderly couple who had lived in the house for over 50 years. They must have had 100 trees down minimum – several on the house. We spent all afternoon trying to clear a circular drive that wrapped around the house. The trees down on the driveway were so dense that you couldn’t even walk through them when we started. I was only able to take two pictures before the batteries in the camera died on me but I will post more pictures from our trip as I get copies from the other people who were with me.