All photos Copyright 2009 Donald Schwert and Wendy Reed. Used by Permission. All images can be clicked to enlarge.
Introduction
I am a resident of Fargo, North Dakota. I declare that proudly. It is a badge of honor, commitment, and civic pride. I was not born here. I was not raised here. But I chose to live here over ten years ago, raise my family here, work here, and make it my home. I am proud to be a Fargoan, a North Dakotan—and a Latter-day Saint.
I would like to tell you a story. It is a story I am living at this moment. I wish I could have told it sooner, each moment it has been unfolding, so that you might see through my eyes the terror and grandeur of Nature’s gigantic power and the magnificent matching power of the human spirit and faith. But, if you will allow me, I will share a bit of what I have seen, experienced, and witnessed in awe during the last 10 days here in this small corner of God’s great world.
It is a small window on the great struggle being waged here, now, in this place and moment, for the safety and protection of Fargo ‘s community and residents against the overwhelming power of the mighty Red River and its rising flood waters.
Day 10 – Sunday, March 29, 2009
I will let this story begin at its current apex, then wind backward to the beginning so that you might see the entire context of what has unfolded here in our midst.
At 11:00 a.m. on Sunday morning, March 29, 2009, the combined units of the Fargo 1 st Ward, Fargo 2 nd Ward, and Fargo 3 rd Branch (YSA Branch) met in fasting and prayer for a fast and testimony meeting. Counseling together, the unit leaders and stake leaders determined on Saturday that this option would allow members to come together and renew their covenants, give gratitude to a loving Heavenly Father, and worship together in humility at the experiences of the previous week.
Our humble and loving stake president, President Joel Ransom, stood to bear testimony and counseled that we have reached “a spiritual moment” to pause and reflect in this great struggle against the rising flood waters. The river is at its peak. We watch and wait, fast and pray, dependent on the Lord’s mercies and our vigilance for preservation from the flood and its devastation. President Ransom counseled, “It allows us as individuals to reflect on our lives and our relationship with our Heavenly Father.” He then quoted to us from Doctrine and Covenants 101:8: “In the day of their peace they esteemed lightly my counsel; but, in the day of their trouble, of necessity they feel after me.”
I am a praying man. But, truly, in this day of trouble with waters rising on all sides, I have prayed with much greater fervency and faith. All of us have, whatever our faith or creed or background.
President Ransom recognized in his remarks that our lives this week have been a test of our charity, the pure love of Christ, our willingness to give all of our time and effort and service without ceasing, in behalf of one another and our community members. For many of us, this week of continuous and exhausting labor has been transformative, and President Ransom reminded us that as we serve it gives us the opportunity to exercise faith and have our hearts be transformed to become more like the Savior, Jesus Christ.
He then shared this remarkable insight: “We have seen His hand in staying the waters and providing the cold weather to slow the river and its rise. Our dikes have held. They are consecrated dikes, consecrated by the love and service of those who built them. Pray for those dikes, then, and in the days to come look unto the Lord in all our thoughts and doubt not, and show charity to all around us.”
How grateful I was to hear those words of an inspired servant of God, for the simple inspiration to meet and worship and share with one another our joys and prayers. We heard testimonies of service, of heroism and courage, of inspiration, of answered prayers, and miracles done by the Lord in the midst of trial. Roseline Swarray, an African convert sister from Liberia , bore testimony of coming through the civil wars in Liberia to find a home in Fargo . Here she found the Latter-day Saint faith, a spiritual home and refuge, and with many calling and counseling her to leave, she declared with emotion and faith, “God led me so far through war and struggle to find a home, to find my faith. I will not leave it. I would die in Fargo rather than leave, and I know that the Church is true.”
How did we reach this apex of testimony and faith and gratitude on this day? Let me start at the beginning.
Day 1 – Thursday, March 19, 2009
On Thursday evening about 10 days ago, the Fargo 2 nd Ward bishopric met to visit a new young family in the ward. We had a sweet visit in their home and traveled for a closing “bishopric meeting” at the only logical place—Dairy Queen (an ice cream shop). To be clear, I have the privilege of serving as 1 st counselor to Bishop Richard Zollinger, our wonderful and faithful Fargo 2 nd Ward bishop, along with Brother Jerry Cook, an “ Idaho farm boy” we were lucky to inherit here in Fargo after a stint in Iceland with the US Navy as a dentist.
That evening we discussed the weather conditions here in the Red River Valley of North Dakota. North Dakota , a state in the upper Midwest in the Great Plains region of the central United States , is renowned for its remarkable agriculture, hardy people, and rugged weather. Fargo lies on the eastern border of the state, across the river from Moorhead , Minnesota , the mighty Red River which is one of the few rivers in the United States to flow northward into Canada . The typical water level in the Red River is 14 feet. The Red River Valley is a vast, flat valley that is flat for hundreds of miles, an agricultural breadbasket that is home to the Red River and other rivers. Normally the rivers pose no threat to the region, but due to the unique features of the river and the flat valley geography, rising flood waters have the potential to flow far beyond the banks and devastate farmsteads, towns and cities.
On Thursday evening, March 19, that is the scenario we discussed. Heavy rains in the late fall of 2008 drenched the ground with moisture, which then froze and saturated the ground so that is now holding up to three times as much moisture as normal. In addition, heavy winter snows and unusual thaw patterns have resulted in a building flood tide on the Red River and other rivers that have local officials nervous and preparing for flood conditions.
By Thursday, local news outlets were warning of significant and possibly dire scenarios.
In the history of Fargo-Moorhead, the highest recorded flood crest occurred in 1897, 112 years ago at a height of 40.1 feet – 18 feet is “flood stage.” Imagine the water rising over the lip of a cup and spreading across a table – that is how the geography tends to work in Fargo . The next most recent flood high occurred in 1997 at 39.57 feet, what is called here a “100-year flood,” and which flooded significant parts of Fargo and did $2.4 billion in damage to the city. Upstream, in Grand Forks , the 1997 flood spilled its banks and covered the entire city at a cost of billions of dollars.
I moved to Fargo in 1998. I knew the flood history. After our conversation, I was concerned but not intensely worried. It took about 24 hours for that to change.
Day 2 – Friday, March 20, 2009
As I share this story, I apologize that you have only my limited perspective and inexact understanding to convey the faith and response of a community, a people—it has been extraordinary.
By Friday morning, city officials in Fargo and Moorhead and surrounding areas had been in emergency meetings and were preparing to release their projections and preparation plans for likely flooding. The projections were almost shocking. Flood projections from the National Weather Service were indicating a flood tide of up to 38 feet or more – near the highest levels ever seen. My own employer, the North Dakota State University Extension Service, was holding emergency conference calls on flooding concerns and preparing educational materials for citizens across the state. My own “danger radar” kicked into high gear through a combination of common sense and spiritual impression, and I began contacting ward leaders to get a sense of their feelings and thoughts.
In the midst of this rising concern, I realized that I had better get serious because Bishop Zollinger left town on this day for a long overseas trip to Germany . To cut a long story short, when he finally returned to town I asked the stake president to “hog-tie Bishop Zollinger” so we would not be without his wisdom and guidance again! Perhaps you will see why I felt this way after the story continues to unfold.
Realizing that we were faced with a flooding concern that could become a major natural disaster, I began to turn my thinking to response plans for our ward and the major emphasis we have had in our ward and stake on family preparedness over the last two years. It seems that this topic and theme has permeated our inspiration and thinking and lessons for two years.
We had just held a stake preparedness fair for the community with topics ranging from water storage to emergency generators, led by our stake preparedness coordinator Charlene Nelson (a Fargo 2 nd Warder). I thought, “You know, if we’ve been paying attention to Charlene and her excellent instruction and updates, we ought to be pretty prepared.” By the way, she has a phenomenal monthly preparedness bulletin if any of you want to receive it. Anyway, I realized on Friday that the Lord has spent some time preparing us for such events in the Fargo North Dakota Stake and wards if we have had ears to hear and wisdom to prepare – lessons, special sacrament meeting instruction, stake conference themes, bishopric counsel, and clear moments of spiritual impression to many of us that have said one thing: “Be prepared. Get your house in order. Follow the Lord’s counsel in this matter.”
Were we ready?
Parts 2, 3, and 4 will follow.
(Sean Brotherson welcomes feedback, comments or responses to this article series or any other articles. If you would like to share anything, please send a note to [email protected]. Look forward to hearing from you!)
