A large metal cross soars above the ruin of the Catholic church, a beacon in a Joplin, Missouri, neighborhood made unrecognizable by Sunday's powerful tornado.

"If we didn't have faith right now, I don't know how we would get through this," said Sharyn Dawson, while her husband, Jerry, continued the search for his mother, Patricia Dawson, 74, who lived across the street from the church.

As the Dawsons dug through the debris Wednesday afternoon, 25 volunteers from Texas stopped by, helping to move steel trusses from St. Mary's Church that landed in the front yard of the housing unit.
Patricia Dawson has been missing since Sunday, when the twister hit the two-story quadplex in which she was living, her daughter-in-law told CNN. A neighbor was killed, Sharyn Dawson said.

The storm killed at least 125 people, and an estimated 750 people were treated at area hospitals.

The city said Wednesday it had no official tally for the missing.

An undetermined number of people remained unaccounted for Wednesday, after the tornado ravaged phone service, destroyed homes and cars, and gutted the regional hospital.