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Which in this case was sadly appropriate for one couple recently relocated from Seattle and in the process of building a retirement home in tiny Fruitvale.


Their property is bor- dered by U.S. High- way 80 and the Mis- souri Pacific Railroad.


They had plans to build their own minia- ture railway for local children to ride around the property.


And strewn through- out the rubble of what little they have left from the tornadoes that ravaged Van Zandt County on Sat- urday, April 29, the clean-up crew found several model locomo- tives and pieces of track.


Thankfully, the couple survived, with only one requiring hospitaliza- tion.


But the now bare concrete slab that formed the foundation for their


Mark Buford Director of Communications mbuford@fumcgarland.org


ornado survivors often com- pare the sound to that of an approaching freight train.


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home stands in stark reminder of na- ture’s power on that frightening even- ing.


“Sometimes we don’t realize just how blessed we’ve been,” said Darlene Sutton, one of six hardy souls from First United Methodist Garland who participated in the clean-up on Monday, May 8.


“Until we’re faced with utter and total devastation that has sud- denly


swooped in to demolish the dreams of someone we don’t even know… made manifest be- fore our very eyes.”


For most of us, this was a rude in- troduction to what is normally a


quiet, sleepy little town.


“I regularly pass through Fruitvale on the way to my favorite spot in East Texas,” Darlene said, “but I’ve never stopped. And I never would have if not for the oppor- tunity to assist with the tornado clean-up.”


And what prompted Darlene, Darrell Lancaster, Cindy Wingo, Jack Culber- son, Mark Buford and Associate Pastor Clay Womack to


ALE SSED BY OPP RT TY T O UNI O HEL P


make the trip from First United Meth- odist Garland on this particular Mon- day?


Darrell may have expressed it best.


“I thought that in some small way the love of God could be expressed to those in the affected community by our presence and our willingness to help,” he said.


The rallying point for clean-up volun- teers - where we and others received our assignments for the day - was First Baptist Church Fruitvale.


“I especially appreciated the send-off prayer at First Baptist, reminding us that we were there for God’s glory,” Darrell said. “And the appreciation shown by the locals coordinating the outside volunteers.”


Unfortunately, the welcome stood in stark contrast to what greeted us at the site we were assigned to clean-up, along with folks from Grace Avenue United Methodist Frisco, First United Methodist Fort Worth and others.


“We found precious little that was sal- vageable,” Darlene said.


“Perhaps the proper- ty was pre- viously searched for person- al items,” Darrell added, “but what I


saw could easily have fit into a five- gallon bucket.


“It was sobering that such a relatively long time of living left such a small number of personal items after the rest were destroyed or left otherwise unusable.”


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