When Johnie and Dee Alden moved to Maryville, Missouri, to be closer to family, including grandchildren, they wanted to serve in a mission team. They soon found Missouri Baptist Disaster Relief and have hit the ground running.
“We came across the Disaster Relief team and watched the videos. It touched my wife and me. We learned Augusta, Georgia, was taking non-trained people for Disaster Relief after Hurricane Helene, so we signed up to go,” Johnie said, noting that James and Karamaneh Downing went with them. “We found Disaster Relief to be a great organization.”
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Upon their return, the four talked it up at their church (Laura Street Baptist, Maryville), and attended the MODR training this past March in Raymore, Missouri.
“My wife got a text that there were 15 people from Maryville coming with us for the training,” he added. “That’s kicked off a movement,”
They talked and prayed about a trailer, but no used Disaster Relief trailers were available to them.
“Things started moving, though, and we hadn’t even started fundraising,” he continued.
God working
A long-time family friend called, asked about Disaster Relief, and reminded Johnie of his family’s foundation. Johnie got back with the five-digit cost, and the friend texted shortly after saying the check was in the mail.
“People were ready to go,” he said, “and we had no trailer and no money and no equipment. God is so awesome in the way he works.”
The trailer, run by New Life Baptist Association, has since been bought and is being readied.
In the meantime, eight people from the group went earlier this year to help rebuild homes in North Caroline following Hurricane Helene. Three volunteers also went to one place in southern Missouri after tornadoes, while two went elsewhere to help with tornado recovery. Three people also helped after a tornado caused damage in Monett.
“Those that are trained are excited,” he said. “We don’t want to waste the investment on the trailer.”
“The Sunday School class wants to hear the God stories when we get back,” he added.
In one post-tornado story, the Disaster Relief team wasn’t able to help with trees that were down because the necessary equipment wasn’t available. However, they learned that the homeowner was taking her husband to a cancer treatment the next day and had been unable to call a plumber for another problem. The team prayed with her, and when they finished, a plumber was walking up her driveway. Johnie said he heard the victims’ tears hit the concrete.
In a callout to Rolla, a woman opened the door, holding a child.
“She was broken in spirit,” Dee recalled. “We walked across the yard and helped her and later took her a gift card that someone had left for victims at the command center. She was flabbergasted, and when we prayed with her, she had her spirit back.”
On yet another callout, a family noted a neighbor needed help removing trees. The family had invited the neighbor to church before, with no success. The day after the Disaster Relief team visited with the neighbor, he came back to the family and said he wanted to reconsider the church offers after all.
Dee also shared about hosting an Australian tennis student at Northwest University. He knew the Aldens were active in MODR. When he went home, he texted again asking why they did disaster relief.
“We got to explain the gospel again to him,” Dee said.
On another occasion, a man told Johnie that he had been trained several years ago but hadn’t been called out.
“We see what is happening, and we don’t have to wait to see what God wants us to do,” he said. “I encourage people to go to the website (MODR.org) and watch the videos. They are so moving.”
Now that the Aldens and Downings (and others in the church) have been trained, James and Johnie are planning to take the next step and take blue hat leadership training at the next training.
“God is mobilizing us,” Johnie said. “Before we went to North Carolina, we heard two people accepted Christ. That’s what it’s all about.”
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Dan Steinbeck and originally published by the Pathway.
