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BY MELISSA LAUBER
UMCONNECTION STAFF

'It?s been a hard time for us. Storms came through and three of our loved ones were washed away and killed,' the Rev. Randall Reid told the congregation who gathered at Garfield UMC, July 2.

'But the final chapter is not three people lying in caskets,' he said. 'The final word is eternal life found in Jesus Christ.'

The next day, the community gathered to mourn Jessie R. Haulsee, 24, Angelia Haulsee, 29, and Eric Christopher Zepp, 19, whose coffins were lined up end-to-end in the sanctuary. The trio was swept to their deaths in the recent four-day deluge that brought up to 13 inches of rain to the region.

The Haulsees leave behind a two-year-old daughter, Jocelyn, and eight-year-old son, Jessie Mayhew.

On June 27, the Haulsees were on their way to pick up their daughter from his parents? home in Wolfsville. Zepp, a friend, rode with them.

Unbeknownst to them, his parents and daughter had been evacuated due to the flooding. According to area newspaper reports, their car stalled soon after they set out, so they began walking. They were picked up by a pickup truck on Route 17, which runs parallel to the flooded Middle Creek in Wolfsville.

As they passed the Grossnickle family farm around 8:30 p.m., the Grossnickles, who were seated on the porch, saw the trio washed out of the truck bed into the floodwaters.

The Grossnickles immediately got their tractor and rope. 'The Haulsees and Mr. Zepp were clinging to some of the brush and small trees in the middle of the torrent and screaming for help,' said Jimmy Grossnickle.

They tried throwing the rope from the tractor and even waded into the water, but couldn?t reach them.

'It was just a matter of minutes,' he said. 'They lost their grip and were swept away. They must have drowned immediately.'

Rescue authorities found the three bodies between 11 p.m. and 2 a.m. later that night.

According to Reid, the horrific storms caused the creek that ran through the community to rise quickly. 'Many of the old timers said they have never seen anything quite like this. Several people were trapped by floodwaters in their cars and had to be rescued.'

The reality of the tragedy is still sinking in as the congregation shares memories of those who died and begins to make plans for how they can help care for the surviving children.

Jessie R. Haulsee was a member of the church. Angelia Haulsee and Eric Christopher Zepp attended worship there.

At the funeral, Reid and others shared stories of the three, remem-bering, for instance, how 'Jessie used to look at me with curiosity and say, ?How can God use me??' He also recalled how Angelia, who liked to fix cars, was jokingly called 'the ultimate redneck,' and how Zepp was an orphan who found happiness when he was taken in by the Weddle family, who are members of the church.

He encouraged all those present to share such stories with the children and to contribute to a trust fund for Jessie and Jocelyn at First United Bank and Trust in Myersville.

'We are family here at Garfield,' Reid said during worship. 'We uphold each other and we know in every circumstance we can turn to God who, through his Son, brought us the promise of life, no matter the situation.'

Reid said he is grateful for the support he and the congregation received from across the conference. 'It is times like this when the connectional system shines,' he said. 'It's good to know so many people are upholding you in prayer.'

Emergency officials in Maryland and the District of Columbia say the long-term impact of the record rains are hard to predict, especially on the region?s agriculture.

According to the National Weather Service, from June 25 through June 28, the unprecedented storm dropped rain ranging from 4 inches in Bowie to 13 inches in Hyattsville. More than 10 inches fell in Columbia and in eastern Baltimore County, which by contrast, received only two inches of rain during Tropical Storm Isabel.

The rain caused water damage in several Baltimore-Washington Conference churches and parsonages.

According to Associate Council Director Sandra Ferguson, during the storms, several United Methodist churches consulted the new Disaster Response Manual, which was mailed earlier this year to every local church in the Baltimore-Washington Conference.

Ferguson encourages churches to become familiar with this important document, which is also available on the conference Web site at www.bwcumc.org.