Hi All,

As I sit here writing this, I find it hard to convey the emotion involved from the experience (you sort of had to be there)-- I was there for a week. New York in itself was a culture shock, so many people busy going here, going there quickly. And the driving (those little white lines in the middle of the road are only a suggestion, and walk and don't walk mean nothing to a New Yorker). The most shocking thing to me was that people didn't acknowledge each other, maybe because I live in the south were everyone says hi to you when you pass them on the street. You definitely have to be a special breed of person to live there. (God Bless them).

My mission in New York was to help out at one of 3 relief centers, the first 2 days we served food to the people working at ground zero (firemen, policemen, sanitation personal, and construction workers). The center was located 500 ft. from ground zero, the atmosphere in the center was that of a place to come and eat, sit, rest and just get away from what was going on at ground zero (referred to as "the pit" by those who had the job of working there). The rest of the time there was a youth group there that served the food which freed the rest of us up to minister to those men and women seeking relief. Some would come in and talk about what they were going through, some just wanted prayer, and some just wanted to be left alone. I was brought to tears many times by the stories of those there and what they have seen and experienced for the last 6 months. Also how much the whole ordeal has affected their lives either by losing friends or loved ones.

When the towers collapsed, tower 2 came down first, then tower 1 came down on top of tower 2. A couple of days before we got there they had finally cleared the rubble from tower 1 and were starting to get to the lobby of tower 2 (which is where all the firemen and policemen were) I thought that they had found all the people they could possible find (I was sorely mistaken) they recovered about 300 bodies while we were there, mostly firemen and policemen and a few civilians. The mood that week was very solemn, I remember talking to a policeman for a long time, he told me of his best friend who was still missing, and how his friend was supposed to get married the week after the terrorist attack, (he was going to be his best man). As we were talking a fireman came in and approached us to inform him that his friends body had be recovered. (My heart totally broke in half, and the grief that I felt for someone I didn't even know I can't even convey).

I remember another man Hector that came to the center and told us about his son (a 27-year-old fireman). He remembered the day the planes hit the trade center, Hector was working on a road crew outside Manhattan. He said he saw the smoke and thought of his son, he left work and went home and turned on the TV just in time to see his son on the news carrying fire hoses. He called his son on his cell phone and was shocked when he answered. His son told him that he was all right and that he was on the second floor of tower 2 trying to help a pregnant woman who was stuck between two doors, then ... the phone went dead. That was the last time he would ever hear his son's voice. I have been checking every day to see who has been recovered and who was still missing. I'm also glad to report that Hector's son has been found, so now the family can have some closure along with other families who's missing I have become aware of through my many conversations at the center.

PLEASE KEEP ALL THOSE WHO ARE WORKING AT GROUND ZERO

IN YOUR DAILY PRAYERS

They really haven't yet begun to deal with what they have seen or experienced, and probably won't till the last body and last mound of rubble are gone!!!!!! There were 30 suicides after the Oklahoma bombings, and doctors expect there to be 3 times that as a result of the 9-11 disaster. As one fireman described it "you can only pick up so many body parts before it gets to you"

The Lord did give me one tremendous visual blessing while there; I had the opportunity to take meals every evening to two men who were stationed at ground zero. They took me behind the little wood building where they were stationed to a cement platform (which was not open to the public). There I could see ground zero first hand with my own eyes (pictures were forbidden because they thought that would be disrespectful, which I fully agreed) But also in that location mounted on a cement slab over looking all of ground zero, was the cross that was found among the rubble in the beginning. This cross was found among the rubble from steel beams in the perfect form of a cross, there was even a piece of sheet metal draped over one arm of the cross which looked like a shroud, One of the men was the one who found the cross and told me that he was a Christian and was asking God where he was in all of what was going on, and there it was a beautiful, perfect cross. When I saw this beautiful sign from God I knew that only God could place this in the midst of this disaster to give all hope. I was allowed to take pictures of this cross and can't wait to get the film developed.

I'd like to add one more thing....... Before I went to New York this terrible tragedy was just something that happened far away, now it is a part of me forever. This experience has made me really take a long look at my own relationship with Jesus, and has definitely drawn me much closer to him. If you do not have a personal relationship with the savior who died on a cross for our sins, I implore you to think hard and fast about where you will go if you were to die suddenly as these people did. There were a lot of Christians working in that building and I wonder how many of them comforted others and possibly lead them to a personal relation ship with Jesus before they died. As a Christian I know that I will go to be with the Lord when I die............. Do you know where you will be??? 

Sherri <{{{><