Fritz and Gladys

We all woke up pretty tired on our 2nd day in Moorhead. Hauling sandbags around for 6 hours finally caught up with us. A little bit of coffee and pastry and a light shoulder rub from Pastor Sarah helped to lift spirits a little bit, but it was pretty obvious that the kids weren't exactly jumping up and down at the idea of hauling sandbags for a second day, and this time in the cold and rain.

Going to worship at Trinity helped too and Sunday School got us all chatting, but the real shift happened when we pulled up to a house that afternoon and saw an older gentleman with one leg step out of the garage. Then I heard several of the youth say, "Ok, now I'm glad that we are here." Meet Fritz. Fritz (again not his real name- the nicknames are popular for older couples in Oakport!) is a Korea vet who lost his leg to diabetes a few years back. He would have preferred to do all of the work himself on his house, but he and his wife, Gladys, have slowed down recently. Fritz and Gladys had sandbags up around their whole house, but because they are on a little bit of a slope, the dike was not as high as some of the other homes. So we got our boots and our hats on and started hauling.

And then not soon after we arrived, the news crew from the NBC affiliate KVLY in Fargo showed up to do a story on us. (Click here to watch it- it's on the 5:30-6am segment after the long weather forecast.)

We were all amazed, but it only took us 3 hours and we were able to finish the whole house! Fritz had a Bobcat, which helped a ton and we had some healthy boys vs. girls competition to keep us motivated too. It felt really satisfying to walk away knowing that tomorrow was going to be a fresh start for them. Here are some before and afters: