COVINGTON, La. — Elizabeth Shull, who gets around her yard in a wheelchair, and her husband, James, lived in a trailer until it began to leak. Then James Shull built a 9-by-11 home in which they were staying when Hurricane Katrina exploded around them.

"A mockingbird sang all night, 'til that big tree fell," James Shull said. "Then we didn't hear it no more."

Two other 80-foot pines hit the trailer, and eight others fell around the yard, missing their diminutive home, which Elizabeth Shull considers a miracle.

"We went through Betsy and Camille," two earlier monster hurricanes, "but they were nothing like this," James Shull said.

The Shulls were hampered by the toppled trees in their yard until a crew of LDS volunteers from Utah showed up Saturday at their door.

Nearly 3,500 LDS volunteers came to Mississippi and Louisiana hurricane areas from Florida, Georgia, Texas, Louisiana and Alabama. They camped at meetinghouses and on Saturday fanned out in groups of 10. Their work projects took them to the tree-littered homes of fellow members, of emergency workers and whoever needed help. They worked in Pascagoula, Gulfport, Biloxi and Waveland, Miss., and in Covington, Laurel, Picayune and Bogalusa, La.

Sent by Bishop David Collins of Covington, La., a team headed by Scott Collins of Centerville and Paul Sutherland of Kaysville went right to work in the Shulls' yard.

Collins and Sutherland almost didn't make it to Louisiana. They brought their new, still-in-the-box chain saws to the airplane. They initially received permission to bring the saws in unopened boxes, but later security officials said no because they could smell gasoline. It took a dispensation from the FAA to get them on board.

Once in Louisiana, the Utahns went right to work.

"I appreciate the church coming by," Elizabeth Shull said. "It is a big blessing."

That blessing was repeated thousands of times Saturday as the LDS volunteers figuratively put their shoulders to the wheel. Many stripped houses of ruined wallboard and hauled destroyed belongings to the curb, where dump trucks will haul the debris away.

Those in wooded areas sawed trees from roofs, the constant droning of chain saws drowning all conversation. They worked around signs — "Looter shooter," "U steal, I kill" — written by homeowners seemingly unaware that their belongings would end up in a moldy heap on the curb.

Area residents were grateful for the help. Before the work crew arrived at her home in Pascagoula, Renee Arthur wandered about the soggy wallboard in her home thinking, "If I only had a clue. If I only had a clue," she said.

"You don't know what a godsend this is," she said after the volunteers arrived.

Elder John Anderson, an area Seventy and LDS Church point man for the emergency response, said 10,000 people had volunteered to come, but they were asked to spread out their service over the next few weeks to improve their effectiveness.

"We are here on a mission of mercy," he said.

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E-mail: jhart@desnews.com