By Melissa Merrill
Church News and Events
Candles. Granola bars. A lantern. These emergency supplies from the storage of several Latter-day Saint families played a role in facilitating the Joplin Missouri Stake's organization and action in the initial hours after a tornado devastated Joplin on May 22.
The stake center had been destroyed, as had other major buildings in the area, and electricity was out in many other parts of the city. But a small group of area, stake, and ward leaders was able to meet together in council, by candlelight and lantern light, in the home of Joplin Second Ward bishop Dave Richins to determine what to do in recovery, relief, and rebuilding.
As that council and so many other members in the Joplin Missouri Stake discovered, physical and spiritual preparation both played crucial roles in those efforts.