H. George Anderson Visits Lutherans in Flooded Areas

        CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Riding in Grand Forks, N.D., past street after street with debris piled three to four feet high along the curbs, the Rev. H. George Anderson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, could only shake his head.  Front-end loaders prowled the streets in a losing effort to haul away ruined furniture, washing machines, paneling and insulation.  A portable toliet stood on every corner.
        At what remained of Jim and Sherryl Weisenberger's home, the bishop heard how the Red River submerged the house, twisting it off its foundation.  He took a step inside a totally ruined kitchen, with muck still on the floors, walls and ceiling.  Somehow, Sherryl told him, they managed to retrieve the one "memory" piece she wanted -- a cross from her grandfather.  Government funds will buy them out, and they will move elsewhere -- as will  owners of about 200 other homes in the Lincoln Park area.
        Anderson donned boots, goggles and a hard hat to slosh around the lower two levels of United Lutheran Church, still an imposing structure even though the lower levels had been completely under water.  Remnants of children's paintings were still on the masonry walls, but virtually every inch of drywall, paneling and tile were gone.
        The presiding bishop was in Grand Forks -- and Fargo, Devil's Lake and Mayville, N.D., as well as Ada, Breckenridge and East Grand Forks, Minn. -- on a three-day swing May 20-22 to see firsthand the damage from April's floods and to visit with the people.  At six gatherings of pastors and church workers he listened to their stories, asked about their well-being, prayed with them and made a promise.  "We will be with you.  Whether it takes a year or longer, your church will stay with you," Anderson said.
        The people told him their stories.  "We've been vacuuming water for the last six weeks," said the Rev. Rolf Wangberg, North Buffalo Lutheran Church, Kragnes, Minn.  "Now that's stopped.  Lots of members have moved back into their homes.  Farmers are working some land that was under water.  We're back in our church after missing three straight weeks."
        The Rev. Michael Gustafson, Breckenridge Lutheran Church, said there is "lots of anger because people aren't getting as much money for rebuilding from the Federal Emergency Management Administration or the insurance companies as they expected. They are angry that they have to wait on the cities to do things."
        The Rev. Jim Holthus, Nora Lutheran Church, Perley, Minn., said his stress level is higher than before the flood.  "Farmers are back in the fields, the schools are in session and everyone is calling me.  I'm like a duck trying to put out a fire with my feet.  I played golf the other day and had 10 phone calls when I got back."
        Anderson emphasized at each stop that caregivers must take care of themselves.  "God created the world in six days and then took a day off," he reminded them.  "That is a good example for you too."
        "We've been disconnected from friends and loved ones," a member of Sharon Lutheran Church in Grand Forks told Anderson. "They are scattered from here in 49 of the 50 states.  People were moved from nursing homes to 67 different places in three states."
        The Rev. Tim Megorden, campus pastor at the University of North Dakota, said there was so much to do earlier, but now "we're waiting for things to dry out.  When you're watching two-by-fours dry out, you kind of long for the chain of sandbagging."
        The Rev. Phil Bogen, pastor of Walle Lutheran Church, Thompson, N.D., proudly told Anderson that his son, Adam Joseph, was born to him and his wife, Sharon, that morning. "I'm incredibly thankful for some life to go back to," he said poignantly.  He added that he was extremely angry until he finally got a new water heater installed the day before.
        The Rev. Pam Marolla, Adams, N.D., told about farmers who had "hundreds of dead cattle stacked up like the debris on Grand Forks' streets."  A May 22 article in The [Fargo] Forum says a U.S. Department of Agriculture survey shows 1.1 million acres won't be planted this year, 123,000 cattle have died, buildings have sustained $27.2 million in damage and more than 400,000 bushels of stored wheat and barley have been lost.
        Marolla also told about a congregation that took an offering to help flood victims and then borrowed $500 from its cemetery fund to meets its current expenses.
        In East Grand Forks, Minn., Anderson met Eleanor Hendrick and her son Shawn, from Ascension Lutheran Church, Shelby, N.C. who came to help her brother, Dale Hilde, clean out his home.  Across the street was Family of God Lutheran Church, where 18 inches of water in the worship space meant that "we have water rings around the piano, the organ, the lectern, the pulpit and the font," said the pastor. Northwestern Minnesota Synod Bishop Arlen Hermodson conducted an outdoor service two weeks after the flood using a green electric box in the lawn as the altar.
        At Oak Grove Lutheran High School, Fargo, N.D. -- flooded when a dike broke near the school -- Anderson walked through administrative offices that are cleaned up, including two with new carpet.  He saw library books that were placed in a refrigerated truck to reduce mildew, then aired near a dehumidifier and now ready to go back on shelves. Trees around the school's football field, which was under water for about six weeks, have foliage on the tops but none below.  About $100,000 of the school's $750,000 loss is covered by insurance.
        The ELCA has raised $267,400 for the flood emergency.  The Rev. Gilbert B. Furst, associate director for the ELCA's domestic disaster response, said, $987,400 has been spent in the area for emergency equipment, cleanup supplies and discretionary funds for pastors and bishops.  Full-time coordinators have been hired for Grand Forks and Fargo, a team of three people will assess church property damages, and salary guarantees will be made to pastors whose congregations can't pay them.  Area congregations are being matched with sister congregations across the United States who have written Lutheran Disaster Response or ELCA synods to set up such a relationship.
        Lutheran Brotherhood, a fraternal benefits organization in Minneapolis, collected $1 million for flood relief and matched contributions up to $500,000.  Aid Association for Lutherans, based in Appleton, Wis., has collected nearly $1,000,000 and provided an additional $1.4 million.
        Bonnie Turner, Lutheran Social Services of North Dakota, said, "We need prayer first, then dollars, then volunteers.  Some 150 groups want to come between now and August.  We need them now, not later. We need skilled laborers -- plumbers, electricians, carpenters."
        Jan Perry in Breckenridge, praised the 114 volunteers from Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minn., who visited people in their homes.  "Some told them, 'you're the first people who have come to see us,' " she said.
        "Long after FEMA, the Red Cross and the Salvation Army are gone," Furst said wherever he went, "your church will still be here.  The body of Christ is rolling up its sleeves for the long haul."

[*The Rev. Edgar R. Trexler is editor of The Lutheran magazine.]

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