With much brotherly love and comfort... PT 1

Since last Saturday when we landed back in the United States , I had been receiving emails about disaster relief for the upcoming hurricane. The branch acted quickly and had the local RBCs start spreading the word for assistance. On Friday , I received another email asking if I would be willing to go assist in New York with the disaster relief work. As many know, the coast of New York is destroyed and the brothers and sisters there needed help badly. So I responded to the email saying that I could go to New York for a week to help out with the work. That was around 2:50 pm. After I hadn't heard anything, I began to relax that evening, watching movies and hanging out with my friend. I went to lay down for bed around 11:30 and then that's when the phone rang. The brothers asked if I would be able to leave for New York the very next morning at 5 AM. I immediately woke up my mom and we ran to Wallmart to get new work gear(since mine is still in storage ) , along with food and water. The brothers told us to expect the worst. Housing with no electricity. Temperatures dropping into the 30's at night and peaking around 50 during the day. Food and water was scarce so we were to bring our own for the week. Now by the time we returned back home ,around 1:30 AM, I was running off of adrenaline. I couldn't eat, sleep or think straight. All I knew was that in just a few hours I would leave, go meet brothers that I didn't know and ride with them to the disaster relief hub somewhere on Long Island, New York. I finally slept for about 30 minutes . My mom drove me to Wethersfield, CT at 4 AM and by 5 , I was with the brothers on the road. In my car group was an elder who has had many experiences with the international construction work as well as disaster relief. Also , a sister who was a single mom , who left her work for a week to be ale to assist the friends in New York. Needless to say, nerves were as we headed for New York. We saw many trees down and by the time we hit western Connecticut, gas stations were closed (due to lack of gas) or gas lines of countless people were formed. We knew this would be an issue because we were lugging a huge trailer around with us which only allowed our truck to get 10 miles to the gallon. We eventually arrived at Long Island and went to the Hub. Now the hub is the center where the brothers give out our assignments , tell us where our housing will be and also where we can refuel on food and coffee. I saw brothers from our RBC, and it turns out , this is who we were paired with. I thought of what a loving provision that is. For most of the crew, I had worked along side them before on various Kingdom Hall projects or I had seen them for most my life at the circuit assemblies. So we were all wry comfortable with everyone and knew who to look to for direction.

Our first assignment was a house that was located in between a bay and the ocean. They has received 6 inches of water in their basement and it had soaked the walls completely. Soon after we arrived, our team of 10 brothers and sisters began to tear apart the walls and gut out all the insulation that was soaking wet. We worked hard all day and the family provided food for us. One thing we were told tho was that we needed to have compassion, love and strong fellow feelings for our brothers. They had lost so much and they need to be consoled. So our priority was the family and neighbors first, and then the work at hand. If the family needed to tell us their story, we were to stop and listen. We just had to first express our love for our brothers first before we could help them out other ways.

After a few conversations , I realized that everyone that was there had all been called around midnight as well. The most sleep anyone in our group got was only 2.5 hours. Most people were under an hour. But Jehovah definitely gave us the strength to go on. We ended our day around 4:30 and went down to the beach just a few blocks over. The devastation we saw was incredible. It was eerie as the sun was setting over the water there. We had to leave the area because of the mandatory curfew and headed to the hub. We waited there for about an hour and received the address for the house our group of 6 brothers were to stay at. The family we stayed with was from El Salvador and they extended so much hospitality towards us! We ate like kings that night as we were fed stuffed tortillas and flan. Another benefit for me was that the house was HOT. They cranked that heat up and I felt like I was back in Dominican Republic! There were two beds and a couch so 3 of us slept on those and then the others slept on the ground. We were all asleep by 9 PM and eagerly awaited whatever the next day held.

Below is an assortment of pictures. I will try to upload the rest very soon.

To all the brothers and sisters affected by the storm , we pray you are alright. Just know that our god will not leave us and help will be there soon.

Nos Vemos ,
Aaron