More Work In Nauvoo

I wasn't originally even going to share a report on this effort.  It started back in early June when Ray Miller called me to say that Rev. Watkins at Nauvoo UMC had contacted him to ask if we might return to Nauvoo at some point to further reduce the lengths of many of the logs our CFC team had left by the roadside following our removal of the large pecan tree at the Christian's Place Ministry building on April 7.  Apparently because of the large log sizes they were not being picked up by the local townspeople for their cooking or heating fuel needs.  Ray felt we shouldn't have to bother contacting other members of either the RUMC or CFC teams about this work and that he and I alone could probably handle it between ourselves in a one-day trip.  So off we headed to Nauvoo on June 8.  No camera went with us.  It was just going to be Ray and me and a one-day quick job. Well, pecan wood is dense and hard.  And it took us all day (10 hours of work each) just to put a dent into what we found waiting for us!  After dulling our original and several replacement chainsaw blades, we conceded that we would have to return at least one more day to complete the job. Ray received another call from Rev. Watkins almost immediately after we returned to Birmingham that evening.  Apparently, after we left Nauvoo a straight-line wind had toppled an 80' tall water oak tree, just missing the unoccupied dwelling owned by the church and located just to the north of the Christian's Place Ministry building. Ray called me immediately and we commiserated briefly, agreeing that we'd now certainly need to at least alert the other members of our RUMC team and request their help on this growing assignment. But we still felt it probably was not going to be a reportable event.  That was, at least, until we received these images from Rev. Watkins and we got back up there and saw with our own eyes the extent of the new job!

We know how dramatic severe wind destruction can be - after all, it's our mission to help out after severe storms. But it's always amazing to also see how selective wind can be when it pushes over just one tree - and especially one of that size!  But praise God that it missed the house - just barely.  By the time we arrived on June 10 the city had already come through and cut the canopy off the street and back to the lot line but that day Jim Pressler, Ray and I devoted another 25 hours to cutting up all of the canopy branches that still remained. We removed them to a brush pile behind the house where eventually the rubbish removal company that picks up the church's trash dumpster was able to take the branches away as well; and we finished the remainder of the pecan tree work we had left unfinished two days before.

Ray went back by himself the very next day to try and section more of the remaining tree trunk and its branches and after 11.5 hours of work he had once again completed as much as he could before his saw chains dulled.  (Turns out water oak is as dense and heavy as pecan wood!)  So Ray's work marked off day 3 of our "simple" return work in Nauvoo, but the job was far from complete. On June 16 we called in the big guns - RUMC team member Jason Cannon with his log splitter!  We arrived to find that in the intervening days since June 11 someone other than we had come by and finished the last cut in the base of the tree that Ray's saw was just too dull to compete the week before, and the root ball had fallen back into the ground.  We would have liked to make that last cut ourselves and to have captured the root ball falling back into the ground on video, but someone else was eager to do it before we returned.  It was apparently all they wanted to tackle, however, as everything else was just as Ray had left it!

Jim, Ray and I continued cutting while Jason split the logs we could reduce in size enough to fit into his splitter.  As this tree was 17" in diameter about 15' from its base and a full 36" in diameter at its base, while we made progress we still left many "cheese wheels" yet to be sectioned.  It again took all of our saws and all of our blades to cut as much as we could and after another 26 hours of work we finally succumbed to the reality that our full coalition faith-based CFC disaster response ministry team would be needed to finish the job once and for all!

So the call went out and on July 21 a CFC team consisting of (left to right) Bob Suellentrop, Boyd Martin, Buddy Williams, Tim Smith, Dean Charles, Ken Clements, Henry Averyt and Bob Thompson trekked back for one more stab at completing the job.

I towed Jason's splitter/trailer back for a second trip and Bob towed his ATV and utility trailer and everyone brought their saws, muscles, mauls and metal log splitting wedges.  While the team worked with their saws for a while it became quickly evident that splitting the "cheese wheels" into manageable sections using mauls and wedges would work better.  The lumberjacks and loggers among us went to work.  The cheese wheels were cut into manageable sections and once the resulting logs were split they were loaded into Bob's trailer and with his ATV they were transported to the curb where they were neatly stacked and made ready for free pickup by anyone needing or wanting them.  Our job was finally finished and we left the job site raked and clean.

Including the final 80 hours the CFC team contributed to this work assignment, our simple little job took a total of 5 days and 162.5 hours - or the equivalent of one person working more than 4 40-hour work weeks!  Given the scope of the eventual work and the participation of so many team members over so many days, it is indeed right that we report the successful completion of this job to you, after all!

But We're Not Done Yet In Nauvoo

So we thought we were finished in Nauvoo.  So we thought...until we were asked to evaluate a job just 1/2 block south of the Christian's Place Mission building on Third Avenue.  It is property owned by Jan Hoadley and was being lived in by her godson, Connor Franklin, who helped RUMC's Bill Sparks with a good deal of the electrical work in the CPM building during its frame up.  Blessedly, neither Jan nor Connor nor any of their several animals were hurt in the destruction and devastation that has befallen this property.  Praise God! It was another freakish straight line wind just two weeks ago that hit Jan's property. The trees that were blown over severed the mobile home sitting on the property in two, totally destroying it; and limbs were dropped across several vehicles and the animal pens in the yard.  (There really is a destroyed mobile home under the huge tree in the image below.  I had to stitch this panoramic view of the devastation together from several individual images and that's why the person appearing in the center, that's Connor, looks so skinny and half-headed!)

This will be a really big job for us, but one we believe we can accomplish - with God's help and oversight, with your prayers and with a good turnout by many of our disaster ministry partners - including many of you who are reading this newsletter - when the time comes.  Please prayerfully consider your participation in this effort in the near future.  We anticipate needing need cutters, pickers, skid steers and their operators, safety officers and even compassionate counselors willing to listen to the property owner and maybe other townspeople while the debris is being removed.  We're in the initial planning stages of organizing this work.  It will take some advance coordination with the City of Nauvoo and with Walker County, as well as with other individuals in Nauvoo and the surrounding area who might be able to lend assistance to us.  We will certainly keep you informed of our planning and any work dates we establish as soon as we know them.  For now, won't you please be in prayer for Jan, for Connor and for our ability to successfully organize and eventually accomplish this job.  Thanks so much!

Team Prayer Concerns

Henry Averyt -- Henry has experienced two episodes of shortness of breath over the past eighteen months, both of which were very minor.  Nevertheless, he consulted his cardiologist following both episodes.  The cardiologist corrected the first problem with medication, but ordered an arteriogram following the second one.  The arteriogram was performed last Thursday and no blockages were found!  Henry already has a pacemaker which his cardiologist now thinks may need to be upgraded. The cardiologist plans to consult with the surgeon who implanted Henry’s present pacemaker and given the surgeon's agreement, an upgrade procedure will probably be scheduled in early Fall.  Henry sends his deep appreciation to all who lifted him up in prayer this past week.  He asks that prayers be continued for the successful resolution of his problem. Ray Miller -- We shared prayers last week in Nauvoo also for Ray following his surgery earlier this month.  His post-operative recovery has been slow, although Ray reports he is feeling fine.  Ray is at home recuperating and awaiting his next post-op doctor's visit next week.  Please be in continued prayer for Ray, that he might recover completely from his surgery and that his body will be completely restored. Bob Nabors -- Some time ago Bob was walking down a pathway at his lake home and slipped and fell on his left elbow, jamming his left shoulder in the process.  Well, that left shoulder injury turned into major shoulder reconstructive surgery.  Bob his now working through the process of physical therapy on that newly reconstructed shoulder and he has already regained some good range of motion.  However, he will not be able to participate with our teams for at least the next 6-8 months as his shoulder fully rehabilitates.  Let's remember to keep Bob in our prayers throughout his recovery period, too.

This has been a long report - especially for one we never expected to write up at all!  But we hope you've taken the time to read through it all and that you feel well informed and updated.  Please don't forget to stay in touch with us by reading our blog at cuttersforchrist.bolgspot.com when you can.

In His Service, Bob