MAYFIELD, Ky. (NewsNation Now) — Tornado relief is still pouring in for communities in Western Kentucky after twisters hit the state last month and left towns, inluding Mayfield, in pieces.

“It’s crazy,” Jasmine Parrott said. “I don’t know how I made it up here. “

NewsNation captured Parrott returning to her home for the first time six weeks after the storm. She still can’t walk on her own and is homeless, but she’s doing her best to keep the faith.

The storm tore through buildings, left rubble on top of cars and scattered debris everywhere.

“A lot of stuff like, baby pictures, just stuff that I wanted to hold on to forever, that doesn’t really matter,” Parrott said. “I’m just lucky to be alive, but just, still, I mean, I just think about it. … This was my very first apartment … that was my very first car.”

The state’s general assembly approved a $200 million tornado relief bill and now 200 trailer homes are on the way for the families left homeless.

Parrott says she no longer wants to stay in Mayfield and sometimes struggles to get through the long nights.

“Some days, I’ll just lay in the bed and cry,” Parrott said. “I don’t know where to go from here … just like something that I have to live with forever for the rest of my life.”

For the small town still grieving, there is comfort in any sense of normalcy. Mail carriers are continuing their work through the destruction, rain or shine.

“it’s very important for us to get the mail out to all our customers. It’s mostly family members and friends and just people that we’ve dealt with at the community for years,” said Joshua Jenkins, the postmaster at the Mayfield Kentucky Post Office.  

People, including Terry Sharp, are holding on to the memories before the tornadoes, trying to forget what happened Dec. 10.

“Actually, I didn’t have time to think about whether (to be) scared or not,” Sharp said. “I was looking for my wife. She’s the one that was important.”

Now, there is nothing left of his house.

Sharp and his wife, who are both confined to wheelchairs, made it out alive. They’ve been living at a state park as they continue to search for a place to live.

“The mental part of it, of not having a house anymore and not having your daily routine, has been the hardest,” Sharp said. “It will put you in a state of depression. I don’t care who you are out there. how strong you are, it will. When something like this happens, it will make you depressed.”

“It’s a difficult time and hope is something that has to be obtained intentionally,” said the Rev. Joey Reed, the pastor at Mayfield First United Methodist Church. “It’s not just going to fall into anyone’s lap so we remind each other of the stories, we talk about the resilience of our community.”

Reed has been working harder than ever to lift spirits in Mayfield, including his own.

“We held hands, kneeling there in the closet and we waited for the loud noises to stop,” Reed said. “It only took about two minutes for all that to happen, but it was a very long two minutes. It was two minutes filled with prayer, and a lot of memories.”

The church is scheduled for demolition in just weeks.

“This is a building and buildings can be replaced, but this building has a symbolism and it represents so much to so many people who have been baptized here,” Reed said. “People have come to faith here. People have been married here. We’ve done our fair share of funerals here.”

Through the loss, there is still a focus on getting back to work.

Other agencies have been in Mayfield assisting the 26 police officers in the city. In a town of 10,000, the calls are personal.

“The toughest part is remembering that we lost lives,” Mayfield police Chief Nathan Kent said. “As many of us have started to focus on rebuilding the city, you know, every morning when you wake up, you realize that there are families that have lost loved ones and that we’re missing people out of our community.”

Mayor Kathy Stewart O’Nan, a long-time history teacher, got her former students to work immediately after the storm. 

“You just look at all this devastation, it was the most helpless feeling I believe I’ve ever experienced,” O’Nan said. “But in the same time, we realize that we now have a blank slate and we can make Mayfield plan for the future.”

It is a chance for better infrastructure, affordable housing and long term city planning.

“I’ve grown tired of looking at it being rubble,” O’Nan said. “I think that’s a good thing. I will miss it. But I’m ready to see what comes in the future. And I feel that way about our whole town.”

Living through the worst tornado outbreak in Kentucky history changes a person, but sometimes it’s the heartbreak, loss and fear that makes room for the light, a chance for new beginnings and a new way to see each other’s neighbors.

“This resets a lot of the perspectives that we have and some of the things that we argue about and fight about,” Reed said. “They’ve been reprioritized now. They’re not nearly as important as they were before December the 10th.”

“It’s made me realize that there’s more people out there that will help than you think there is,” Sharp said. “It had renewed my faith in people.”