Mennonite group rebuilds homes and spirits in Alabama, Mississippi and elsewhere

That's one key lesson that members of the Mennonite Disaster Service have learned over 61 years responding to the devastation and heartbreak of earthquakes, floods, tornadoes and hurricanes.

John M. Swartzentruber of Halfway, Mo., is currently directing a crew of volunteers in Joplin, where tornadoes in May killed 159 people and destroyed about 8,000 homes and businesses. "I teach them that they have to listen to the people," he said, often before cleaning up a yard or mucking out a cellar after a flood.