BRAZIL
In 2008, mudslides and floods in the state of Santa Catarina forced some 80,000 people out of their homes. It was like a “tsunami of clay, mud and trees,” said a resident. Some brothers found shelter in an Assembly Hall. “They escaped with only the clothes they were wearing, all soaked with mud,” relates Márcio, the hall’s caretaker. Says one sister: “Our house collapsed. It was painful to see it disappear in seconds, but I will never forget how our brothers and sisters comforted us. We received so many expressions of love! The experience taught me how wise it is to treasure spiritual things.”
An Assembly Hall in Santa Catarina, Brazil, is turned into a relief center filled with donated supplies, 2009