Mormon Helping Hands/Latter-Day Saints Helping Hands T-Shirts of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Here are different styles of the Mormon Helping Hands shirts/vests. The one on the left is a different fabric from the one second from the right.

The one on either side of Dad say the same as what Dad’s shirt says: Mormon Helping Hands,  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The white vest says: Latter Day Saints Helping Hands.

Dad and I brought our Helping Hands shirts from home when we helped with hurricane relief back in Texas…many years ago. I think the concept started back in 2005 with Hurricane Rita/Katrina. The church made these shirts to distribute to volunteers who helped. After some time the Church started making vests that could be used/reused by volunteers. 

Dad and I worked on this line of bushes that was further along the park trail than at the beginning. When we started working on it we didn't realize how long it would take to uncover the bushes from the muck. The bushes were very heavy so Dad would go on the back side and lift them up from being flattened against the rocks. We would shake them and pick out debris. We were finally able to lift them upright and they would stand on their own. We think they will survive.

Elder moving debris.

A huge toad found that looked like an evil monster from a science fiction movie.

The first picture is of the machetes used, handed out by the man in charge. He gave the machetes to the elders telling them that they could use them; bending over their backs since they have short handles. He gave out rakes to the sisters to use. Some rakes were more like hoes which caught in the grass/difficult to use.

At the beginning the man in charge gave the missionaries small boxes of milk and individually wrapped pastries to eat. He was rather gruff in handing out the items. It was almost like he HAD to give them something to at and drink first…in order to entice them to work. Our missionaries were there to work and have fun. They were so excited! One missionary said she hadn’t done manual labor the whole time she has been on her mission.

We have watched training video clips of (like in Hastening the Work) where it shows a man helping an older gentleman carry his garbage can to the street. The trash system here is different than that. There is a “food stuff” small red plastic can (about the size of a 5 gallon ice cream bucket—or smaller) that people put their food trash in: like peach pits, watermelon rinds, banana peels, chicken bones, etc). We have a garbage disposal in the mission home, which is RARE. I have learned to chop up banana peels and watermelon rinds to go in the disposal (after watching Lee do it).

Other video clips might show missionaries helping with yard work—but Koreans don’t have yards. Ben would not be able to find a yard to mow, here in Korea.

The second picture is of a sign found amongst the debris. The sign is from a barricade that reads Safety Number One (or Safety First).

 Powerful force knocked down this pole. Surrounded with debris.

This corner of the platform, when uncovered, had an outstretched hand sized rat hiding underneath. As I uncovered more junk it scurried about and ran out from under the platform toward me. Then it jumped into the water and swam away. I was not brave! I let out a scream! (not a shriek, or a long scream….kind of like a “I don’t want it coming near me” scream.) I was fine uncovering huge/fat worms. We were warned there may be snakes—though nobody discovered any of those.

The force of the water was powerful enough to down this light pole.

We worked to uncover the debris that gathered around the light poles. It looked like it should be so easy to uncover, but it took effort to uncover one small piece of junk at a time.

The missionaries hauling away the huge tree and debris…..looks like they are playing tug of war.  Another tree in the background with debris gathered around and stuck to it. The missionaries climbed on top of it to start the process of removing the debris from around the tree.  It was interesting to watch the missionaries solve the problem of moving a huge tree stump, with accumulated debris.

The missionaries worked on clearing debris off of this outlook/observation type platform. When talking with some of the Korean people who were at the park they said they enjoyed coming to this park to observe nature and feel close to the beauties of God. They were so sad to think that this park would never be the same. They were so grateful to see our missionaries working to clean the park up.

The first picture is of the bridge that we traveled across to arrive at this city park called SuPohWon. City officials contacted our missionaries asking them to organize a group of volunteers to help clean this city park after the recent rains and flooding. The rains happened on Monday. The missionaries were out helping neighbors into Monday night. The next day word of mouth carried the news the missionaries helped clean up the neighborhood.  The city officials called Wednesday asking for help at the park on Friday.

After a while one of the organizers of the clean up project came around and asked us not to go onto the platform as it was structurally unsound. As debris was cleared we could finally see underneath the platform; that the supporting beams were leaning/damaged.

The bushes were flattened agains rocks/laying flat, covered with debris. The water level rose up carrying the debris and then as it receded the junk clung to the bushes. The bushes were smelly and heavy with gunk.

This is a picture of Sister Shin, sister Atwood, and Sister Bowcutt—the office secretary who is serving with her husband, Elder Bowcutt. The Bowcutt’s served in the Houston Texas Mission before coming here.