We don't care what people say . . .

Rockaway is here to stay!

October 29, 2012:
the Place of Sands meets Superstorm Sandy

Rockaway: Native American phrase meaning "Place of Sands" Sandy: National Hurricane Center Category 2 hurricane, second-costliest in US history

We met most of the other senior missionaries at a picnic in Forest Park today. There are about about ten couples. The companionship in Bermuda, understandably, stayed home. Most of these couples have office responsibilities and live in the Brooklyn-Queens area. We are the only CES missionaries, but several other couples teach institute classes. The mission couples meet socially each month and enjoy a variety of local activities. This gathering was in part a farewell to Elder and Sister Hawkes.  
President Calderwood was there with his family and shared some recent mission history, focusing upon Hurricane Sandy. He explained that it was a defining moment in the mission, a coming of age for all of the missionaries. Their aid to the storm victims lasted many weeks. He referred to this service as an echo of Zion's Camp, noting that much of the current mission leadership grew out of this maturing effort.



President Kevin Calderwood and other Helping Hands from "popular" YouTube video: "On Sunday, November 11th, thousands of Mormons cancelled their church services and arrived by air, bus and train from all across the country to help."

I remember when Sara Marshall used the YouTube documentary short in a Relief Society lesson on service earlier this year. Its popularity was also mentioned in a Church News article. We had already received our call to the NY-NY South area. I flippantly mentioned to Stefanie that we had, "dodged a bullet on that one." I don't know about bullet dodging, but I definitely missed the spiritual mark. Sandy service is a point of declination here. Post-hurricane missionaries will always feel a bit removed fron those that were there. A copy of the Church News cover commemorating the service was signed by the missionaries, and is prominently displayed in the mission office.

President Calderwood said that several months after the clean-up, the missionaries were invited to march in the Queens County St. Patrick's Day Parade. He described his amazement at the standing ovation that they received all along the route.

The Deseret News of March 20 reported, "The crowds in the Rockaways—a community still recovering from the disaster—went wild; their 'little yellow army of happiness' had returned to a hero’s welcome. Donning the yellow Mormon Helping Hands vests they wore in the weeks after the disaster, the missionaries marched along the parade route carrying a huge sign: 'We Love You Rockaways."

Crowds on the parade route hurriedly made their own signs: "We love the Mormon Helping Hands.”

President Calderwood concluded his story by explaining that several of the families helped by the New York members have since joined the Church and meet in the newly formed Belle Harbor Branch on the Rockaways Peninsula.