October 2025 | 11
Two Green Bell Peppers On the night of August 9, 2025, Milwaukee, Wiscon- sin, was inundated by 14 inches of rain in just 24 hours, flooding the basements of 16,000 homes. Wisconsin-Minnesota SBDR Director Ben Seamans mo- bilized teams to respond to the historic rainfall. One of those teams was Ohio Disaster Relief. We recruited a flood recovery team, feeding team, chap - lains, a shower attendant, and an incident command per- son and set up a site at Northwest Baptist Church, Mil- waukee. A recovery team from Michigan DR and a couple of volunteers from Kansas-Nebraska DR joined us. During a disaster, Ohio DR looks for affected residents who are elderly, disabled or unable to do the necessary recovery work themselves. Finding these residents re- quired sifting through 7,000 requests for help, but it led me to Angie. In the past year, Angie’s life has been very difficult. She lost her husband, lost her right leg and lost her daughter “to the streets.” On top of those struggles, the flood left her with 8 1/2 feet of water in her basement. All Angie could do from her wheelchair was look at the water and wonder, “What now?” When I arrived at Angie’s house, she greeted me with a smile. A few people had cleaned out her basement, but it still needed mold remediation. After completing some miscellaneous work, I sprayed the basement to keep mold from growing. After I finished the work, Angie shared the story of her life. Tears filled her eyes as she shared about her hus - By John Heading, Ohio Disaster Relief director
band and the daughter she lost. We talked for a while, and then I told her that after we finish a recovery job, we offer the residents a Bible and information about what it means to have hope through Jesus Christ. When I asked her if she would accept a Bible, she said, “Yes.” Then she told me that she was a Muslim, and she would accept the Bible if I would accept two green bell peppers that she had grown herself. I immediately ac- cepted the peppers. Before I left, I asked if I could pray for her, and without hesitation, she said, “Yes.” While I don’t know what Angie will do about faith in her own life, I do know she has the word of God. As believ- ers, we never want to miss an opportunity to share the love of Christ. You never know what God might do.
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