“Saturday morning we worked in Gerritsen Beach, Brooklyn, just south of the Gotham Avenue Canal. Bernie was the first person we helped. As we worked, Bernie told us about how he and his wife had recently adopted a newborn after they’d lost two of their own children to a rare blood disorder. They’d redecorated their home extensively this past year in preparation for the adoption. All the appliances we were hauling out of the flood-ruined living area had been bought less than a year earlier, on Black Friday. We ended up gutting the main level. The basement, formerly full of Yankees memorabilia, was too dangerous for us to work in.

Bernie’s home, after the dump truck had taken most the debris away

Outside Dawn’s home in Gerritsen Beach

“Alma believed in the power of the Gospel to bring peace, since the Gospel had taught him to be a peaceable man. He wished for the power to teach all those he loved to know the Lord, their God, and love Him with all their heart, might, mind, and strength. If he had this power, the terrible wars his loved ones were fighting could have been avoided. But he knew he sinned in this wish, for he was just a man.

“Like Alma, we are just men. And we can only do what is in our power to do. Unlike Alma, we are not here to preach the gospel, but to do that which is like unto it: to love our brothers as ourselves, and do for them what we wish others would do for us in such circumstances. May we have peace in what we can do.

“I leave you with my testimony of both the spiritual and temporal Gospel of our Savior, Jesus Christ, in His holy name, Amen.”

After our short worship meeting, we loaded our bags onto the buses and headed back out to Gerritsen Beach. On the way there we saw a rare site – rainbow sun dogs formed on either side of the rising sun because of ice crystals in the atmosphere.

Through a glass darkly: Rainbow sun dogs flank the rising sun east of New York City

As we left, I walked next to a young man I’ve known since he was a newborn. So often in his young life, he’s been corrected and constrained due to his struggle with Asperger’s Syndrome. He was our wrecking ball, the one who could wield the sledge hammer with unusual force and skill. As we walked, this young man threw out his arms and said, “I was born here. I love this place.” For him, I believe, the work we did this past weekend was his passage to manhood. He had a chance to work side by side with men he respects and be a valued member of a team doing necessary work.

Now it’s Monday, and we’re back at our normal places, whether school or work or home. But the memory of those three days in Queens will remain with us as a strength for decades yet to come.

Members of our team with a homeowner near Gotham Avenue Canal in Queens, NY