There's nothing like finding a reminder of home, especially in a pile of rocks.

Ozi Utah came back from her work on the Scout cabin rock pile this afternoon with a big smile on her face.

“Guess what I found?” she asked as her smile grew even bigger. She held up a piece of mortar she chipped from one of the stones.

All of us in the fellowship hall at the church shrugged. No clue, we said.

“Nigeria!” she said, beaming. “It’s shaped like Nigeria! I couldn’t believe it when I saw it.”"

Could have fooled us — all of us.

Ozi is from Nigeria. She says the piece is shaped like her home country.

Patrice Hein, another graduate student who worked on the rock pile with Ozi and snapped her photo, likened Ozi’s discovery to finding an image of Jesus in a potato chip.

I’m not sure Ozi will be able to cash in on her discovery on eBay, but she likely wouldn’t part with it anyway. I’m willing to bet it’s going to occupy a prominent place in her home or office.

Ozi's home does resemble the piece of mortar she fished from the rock pile.

Courtney Looney, left, and Courtney Crain chip mortar from stones at the old Boy Scout cabin.

One of the requirements for the Greensburg class is for students to volunteer. Most have concentrated on getting interviews and writing, so the latter part of this week has been filled with work in the community.

They’ve volunteered in different ways. One student painted signs. Another mowed vacant lots with an Oklahoma group also staying at the church. One with more talent than most of us played piano during the noon hour at the nearby senior citizen center. Some worked on a deck for a homeowner, another helped a previous story source — an 87-year-old widow— clean her house and still others spent part of today on a rock pile.

The rocks are from the old Boy Scout cabin that was destroyed in the tornado. Scout officials plan to try to use the stones again.

I offered to download the sound track from “Oh, Brother, Where Art Thou?” for the group cleaning mortar off the rocks. Someone joked that the class really started resembling prison this week.

WSU grad student Ozi Utah entertains residents of the Carriage House in Greensburg.

When it comes to providing expert guidance, Wichita media professionals are always more than willing to lend a hand to students.

Four Wichita media professionals — Larry Hatteberg of KAKE, Dr. David Kamerer of Wichita State University (soon to be at Loyola of Chicago), Megan Strader of KWCH and Travis Heying of The Wichita Eagle — made the two-hour drive to share their observations about covering Greensburg and also provided technology tips the past two weeks.

Hatteberg, Strader and Heying showed their work and also images by colleagues who covered the tornado since it nearly destroyed the community in May 2007. Their work showed their journalistic expertise, but also reflected the compassion and caring they exhibit, not only in disaster aftermaths, but on a daily basis in their jobs.

Their words and photos that hit home with the state and nation when they were first made public did so once again when they provided insights with us in the fellowship hall of the church where we’re staying. They’re all true professionals.

A slide show of the work by Heying and other Eagle photographers is below.

Megan Strader of KWCH-TV discusses how she covered the tornado when she was stationed in the Dodge City bureau.

We finally were able to push Chandra's car after it became high-centered in the sand.

One of the most interesting obstacles we encountered last week wasn’t people we couldn’t reach for interviews. It was the sand roads north of town. Well, for one of us anyway.

Chandra Stauffer headed to an interview seven miles north of town. A while later, my cell phone rang. It was her husband, back in Wichita. Chandra had texted him (her cell didn’t have service in that area) about her problem: Her car was stuck in deep sand. He contacted the Elliott School of Communication at WSU, got my number and called.

Chandra might have been able to text some of the class members instead of her husband, but she forgot her laminated press card that contains all our cell numbers on the back. Lesson No. 1, she said later. Three of us headed out to rescue Chandra. She also had managed to text another student, who also headed her direction.

Just before we reached Chandra and her car, which was high-centered in sand, a pickup driven by a local farmer turned in front us. A stroke of luck, because we figured he had a shovel that might come in handy. As it turned out, Jason Unruh didn’t have a shovel, but he did have a piece of pipe and a big pipe wrench that came in handy for digging sand out from under Chandra’s car. We also put the pipe and wrench under her tires for traction when he pushed.

With the help of Jason and those of us who responded to the emergency, we eventually freed the car. After that was done, Molly Walsh — who also had responded to Chandra’s text for help — announced that she had lost her keys. Oh, no, we moaned as we started searching and digging in the deep sand once again. I’m sure Jason thought he’d never see the last of us city folks.

We found Molly’s keys a ways down the road and started backing our vehicles to the intersection. We didn’t dare try to turn around for fear of getting stuck again. If that had happened, I’m sure Jason would have just driven off and left us.

Chandra made her interview (the house was in the previous mile section), which turned out well. The most ironic part of the ordeal was the sign at the intersection. Lesson No. 2, Chandra said. We snapped a photo of her next to it.

If only she had paid attention to this sign. . . .

Before today, Matt Deighton and his dalmation Molly had given 152 tours of Greensburg. He’s been using an old school bus on loan from the Church of the Nazarene in Dodge City.

Deighton’s job officially ended March 31, but he’s been tying up loose ends and handling unofficial tasks, including tour requests. The church is reclaiming its bus soon, he said.

When giving directions or showing people around Greensburg, Deighton has three points of reference: the water tower, the grain elevator and the stoplight on U.S. 54.

On his 153rd and last tour, Deighton — former volunteer coordinator with the South Central Kansas Tornado Relief Organization — pointed out signs of progress. There’s little doubt he’s proud of what his hometown has accomplished since the tornado destroyed 95 percent of the community of 1,458 in May 2007. Now, he said, there are 785 residents.

All but one of the eight churches in town have or are rebuilding. There are dozens of new homes. There are no trailers left in Femaville. The last trailer was towed away earlier this month. Deighton lived in one of those trailers for several months before his house was ready for occupancy. Soon, Femaville will return to the wheat field it was before the storm.

Our caravan from Wichita State arrived in Greensburg shortly after 10 a.m. There are 19 of us. Most are from Kansas, but there are two from Iowa and one from Lagos, Nigeria. Everyone, though, has heard of Greensburg.

We’ll be staying in the Greensburg United Methodist Church with Methodist volunteers from Ainsworth, Neb. Another group of volunteers from the Methodist Church in Erie, Kan., is staying across the street in someone’s basement, but eating meals here, too.

We’re staying in three Sunday school rooms. Some of the women are sleeping in the luxury suite — the nursery.

Our media room is set up in the parlor. We’ll have to be out early Friday afternoon because there’s a wedding in the church on Saturday. Fortunately, the church has Internet access, so we can work everywhere in the church — except the basement.

We have a tour with Matt Deighton, a Greensburg native and unofficial mayor of Volunteer Village. His job ended the last of March, but he offered to show us around.

We’ll start on our stories later today. All our work will appear on greensburgrebirth.com.

We’ll have new faces and new voices in the group, with the exception of one — Todd Vogts. Todd was in the class last summer, just before he graduated from WSU and started a new job as editor of The Ledger in Moundridge. He’s taking a week of vacation to accompany us and help with the class. We’re glad to have him back.

Another change is that we’ll be staying in Greensburg this summer. We’ll take up residence in the basement of Greensburg United Methodist Church, along with several dozen volunteers, during our two-week stint. We’ll arrive the Tuesday morning after Memorial Day.

Like last summer, we’ll be posting print, audio and video stories, along with photos. And, like last time around, we’re looking for story ideas, particularly those stories that haven’t been covered and involve people. We welcome your ideas.

Those who departed early fretted about the stormy weather between here and home. No one ran into a problem, as far as we heard. It sounded like the Wichita area dodged most of the really bad stuff tonight.

We’re writing and editing the final print and audio pieces. Our plan is to wrap it up by Friday mid-afternoon, and then head back to Wichita. It’s been an exhausting but productive two weeks. We’re ready to sleep in our own beds again.

Besides, the oatmeal and chocolate chip cookies my aunt sent are almost gone.

It’s almost 8 Tuesday evening, and we’re finishing stories we worked on today. Several students are returning to jobs in Wichita tomorrow, so they’re the most frantic among the group. Some are leaving later tonight.

We’re under a severe thunderstorm watch tonight. Deb Folkerts, who works with the Salvation Army and also in the library at Barclay College, came up to us while we were picknicking in the park across from Jackson Hall, where we’re staying in Haviland. It was a treat, especially considering we’re without a microwave or kitchen this week.

Son Ben barbecued some pork for sandwiches, and made pasta salad and peach crisp for us to eat. We also had baked beans sent by Donna Schupp, plus cookies and brownies made by my aunt and cousin in Cheney and Garden Plain. Extra tasty. We’ll munch on those the rest of the week.

Ben and his crew left for home about 7:30, after checking the radar on our computers to avoid heading into the storm. We wanted to make sure they wouldn’t end up trapped in their van during a bad storm, like the unfortunate Colorado couple killed last week between Pratt and Cunningham when a tornado picked up their car in the roadside park.

One of Haviland’s two storm sirens is right behind Jackson Hall, so we’ll know quickly if the weather turns bad.

At church this morning, good friend Donna Schupp had our Sunday school lesson on patience and impatience. I tend toward the latter. I’m like the bumper sticker Donna cited: “Give me patience, Lord; and I want it now!”

The discussion on patience/impatience made me think about the people of Greensburg and others in surrounding communities who were hit by the May 2007 tornado. Those we interviewed and met last week seem to have amazing endurance, considering the hardships they suffered.

We’re not talking about being stuck in traffic or waiting in a long line at a store or the Department of Motor Vehicles. The people in the Greensburg area are trying to rebuild their lives, many with the help of hundreds and hundreds of volunteers who have come from all over the United States. A relative who was at a family gathering over the weekend asked me if the Greensburg downtown had been rebuilt. Patience, I told her. It’s only been a year.

Author M.J. Ryan wrote that “the more we see life as messy and unpredictable, and people bumbling through life the best they can, the more patience we bring to trying situations.” Life in the Greensburg area has been messy and unpredictable since the tornado. But I don’t get the sense of bumbling at all. What we’ve witnessed so far among those we’ve met is an extraordinary degree of patience and hope for a better future, despite trying times.

We look forward to hearing more of their stories and sharing them with you this coming week.