Month: September 2017

Friday, September 22, 2017

Today was a sunny and hot. There was also a hot, dry wind. Glad we weren’t driving the rig today like many of our NOMADS friends were. The crosswind would have made for a long day. We hope to head south in the morning and hopefully before the wind whips back up.

Today we went to the Hahn’s Hearth Oven Bakery in Middle Amana at 7:00 expecting to be there in time to get what ever we wanted. WRONG! We got the last 2 cinnamon rolls and there was no bread. The cinnamon rolls were excellent and we placed an order for tomorrow. She said she would have them ready by 6:00 so we won’t be late leaving. They also bake excellent bread which we ordered. Mrs. Hahn, the baker, bakes bread for the restaurant where we have eaten twice since being here. She baked seventy loaves for them today. She uses the only original hearth oven still in operation in Amana Colonies to bake her breads, cookies and sweet rolls. Very sweet lady who really knows how to bake.

After arriving back to the RV park we discovered that our friends Darryl and Mary Alice had RV troubles. Max went to work trying to determine the problem. It seemed to be an electrical problem. Darryl got the help desk for his rig on the phone, but that didn’t get much help. Max and Mike kept working and finally Max found a 175 amp fuse that was bad. One of the things that makes solving electrical problems in RVs so hard is that they have fuses everywhere. Sometimes like today they seem to be in very random places. Fortunately, we had a 200 amp fuse that would work so Darryl could now raise his night shades so he could see out the windshield and side windows to drive. It also got his steps working again. Mike and Ruth were going to follow behind Darryl and Mary Alice to be sure they made it home okay.

After we got cleaned up from that, we picked up Cheryl (only about 1 ½ hour late – sorry) to go to the National Czech and Slovak Museum and Library in Cedar Rapids. There was a Chihuly Venetian exhibit we wanted to see as well as the permanent Czech exhibits. Cheryl’s grandparents were from Czechoslovakia so she was interested in some of her history and was able to talk to someone in the library about how to gather more information. The Venetians were incredible. The chandelier was composed of 1500 individual pieces of glass that arrived in 1500 individual boxes that were made specifically for the particular piece of glass. The curator at the museum then assembles the chandelier sculpture with no instructions. No two exhibitions of the piece are the same. The order of the arrangement of the pieces of glass is always different. Pretty amazing. So glad we got to go to the museum.

We returned home after a short stop at the local Walmart to resupply. We started putting away the inside items for travel tomorrow. Then at 5:00 we went to dinner with some of the NOMADS that are still here. Most everyone pulled out today but there were about 24 or 26 of us that went back in to Amana for dinner at the Ox Yoke Inn. It was another good meal and better fellowship. We will be heading south fairly early tomorrow. Please pray for safe travel for us and our NOMADS friends.

Thursday, September 21, 2017

Today was another busy day at Amana, Iowa. The weather was nice – didn’t get nearly as hot as predicted since it was cloudy early in the day. It was hot this afternoon when the clouds burned off, but there was such a strong wind it didn’t seem quite so hot.

Again our schedule was basically the same with Bible study, worship, business meeting then seminars. Worship today was very good. Rev. Bill Poland, assistant to the Bishop of Iowa brought the message, which was excellent, and then served communion. Scripture basis was John 13, 1-17. He shared his personal testimony and then reminded us that if we don’t love our enemies we will soon become like them. Jesus doesn’t give us the choice of who we love. He loves us all and likewise we are to do the same. Very powerful service.

We spent time this afternoon planning next year’s NOMADS Annual Meeting. Next year the Southeastern Jurisdiction is responsible for the meeting – which means us. It will be in Memphis and work actually began 2 years ago when the site was chosen but now the detailed preparations will be started in earnest. It takes a lot of work to host this event. Fortunately, it appears a good number of our southeastern members are volunteering to help. Some good ideas today.

Tonight was a “Classic Iowa Reunion Feast.” It was a wonderful meal of grilled pork chops, roast beef, potatoes, carrots, green beans, salad, fruit, and peach and apple cobbler with ice cream. It was a feast indeed. After the meal the choir gave a wonderful concert. Don’t know how they sang after that meal, but sing they did. Then it was over. The 2017 annual meeting was over. We started helping clean up the hall and saying all our goodbyes and ”see you down the road”. NOMADS is family and it’s hard to say good bye. Some of these friends we will work with next week and next month but some we won’t see again until next annual meeting in Memphis. Safe travels everyone. See you down the road.

Almost forgot to tell you. The Love Auction raised $56,900.00, all of which will go to purchase necessary supplies to support disaster relief work, and work at children homes, church camps churches and community outreach. These people are amazing since we only had about 300 people attending this meeting. Extravagant giving. Extravagant love. In addition to raising money to support projects, we also collected over 400 pairs of black shoes to send to Mexico where the children can not attend school without black shoes. We also made over 200 school supply bags. That means cutting out and sewing the bags and then filling them with notebooks, pencils, colors, eraser, and other items.  These will be taken to Midwest Mission Distribution Center in Chatham, IL to be shipped anywhere in the world they are needed.  We had 20 sewing machines to do that job.  Thank you God for a wonderful week, and the opportunity to serve you with this incredible group of people.

Wednesday, September 20 ,2017

What a difference a day makes! Today we had a really nice sunrise and pretty day. It was quite warm with a high of 87 which is unusually high for this late in September, according to the TV news. Tomorrow is predicted high of 90. This may break their record high. We have been watching the weather in Alabama and the Amana weather is about the same as Alabama. How bizarre is that? We thought we would be enjoying some cool fall temperatures while here but no such luck. Oh well. It’s still been nice.

Today we had the same morning schedule as the previous two days. Light breakfast, Bible study, worship. Today’s message was give by a pastor from Iowa who used Matthew 28:18 for the scriptural foundation. He shared some alarming statistics about the decline of the Christian faith, stating we are declining by one half with each successive generation. That type of decline should serve as a wake up call. The church has got to wake up and be the church. We must get serious about being God’s people and doing God’s work. He told us that in years past regular church attendance was considered 3 out of 4 Sundays a month. Now many seem to consider regular attendance one Sunday per month. Do we not care? Are we so self centered that we don’t care that others don’t know of the love of Jesus Christ? That certainly is not the attitude of a Christ follower.

After worship we had another business meeting with reports by various committees. The focus was really on the promotions committee. Since so many people still have never heard of NOMADS, we are working to get more visibility and awareness. Our administrator reported that we have had a record number of volunteer hours worked this year. We don’t have the exact number yet but have surpassed previous years. Yea, NOMADS! However, we know there are still so many unmet needs, so much else to be done (refer back to statistic given during the message today). That’s why it is so important that we also work to promote awareness of NOMADS and recruit new members. We have about 100 members each year that have to move to alumni status due to health or other problems, so we have to recruit 100 new members each year just to stay stable. It’s a challenge.

Today was also the start of our two days of educational seminars. Today, Anne attended a laminate floor installation class while Max went to the electrical class. Yes, we done laminate installation and a good deal of electrical work but we usually learn something in these classes. We both attended the disaster rebuild (DR) leader training as a refresher and to share with the people who are interested in becoming leaders. We always pick up some new ideas listening to others. We know that if we just pick up one thing that will help us be better leaders, it is worth our time to attend the session. There was also a session on the new background checks that we will now be having every four years.

After sessions we over, tonight we had a Potluck (pitch-in, covered dish) with fourteen people at each table. We were each assigned main dish, bread, salad, side, or dessert with 2 of each category so there was lots of food at each table. We shared with our table of 14. We all ate way too much, but it was all so good. After dinner we had a concert present by the The Browns. They are an Iowan farm family who have been singing and playing professionally, full time, for 17 years. It was a very energetic fun performance, with some Christian music, and some secular. Three (2 brothers, 1 sister, youngest 21 years old) played the violin and guitar and one (the mom) was only vocals. Dad drives the RV. One of the seminars today was a line dancing class so The Browns played three songs for the class to line dance. It was a fun evening. One more day tomorrow, then Friday morning we will have our closing session. Already dread saying goodbye.

Tuesday, September 19, 2017

This morning was very, very foggy. According to the news there was a horrible wreck due to the fog, with at least one fatality. Fortunately all our meetings are in pavilions here at the campground so no one had to get out on the roads. The fog didn’t burn off until late morning. By mid-afternoon it was warm and sunny again.

Again today we started the day with some pastries, juice, and coffee, then our Bible study on angels. After a short break we again had our worship time.  Today we had music and praise and then a presentation on Martin Luther as we look toward the 500th anniversary next month of Luther’s posting of his 95 theses, starting the Protestant Reformation. It was an educational and thought provoking presentation.  After that was a welcome and presentation on the Amana Colonies by the curator of the Amana Heritage Museum. We learned a lot more about the Colonies and how they transitioned from communal living. After some house keeping items and a little business, we moved into the main event of the day and an important part of the annual meeting of NOMADS.

Each year we have a charity auction which is really just a fun way to raise money to support our projects. There is a silent auction and a live auction. We all bring items, usually new but some lightly used items, food items, handcrafted items, anything we think might raise some money. We then select a few to use for the live auction and the remaining are available in the silent auction. So really we are just selling all this stuff to ourselves. Today two quilts sold for $1,000.00 each and a watermelon sold for $250.00. The person who bought it cut it in half and then auctioned half again and got another $150.00. It’s radical extravagant giving. Tomorrow we will find out how much money we raised this year. The highest ever was over $50,000.00. Last year was over $30,000.00. All auction funds are used to give grants to agencies to help cover some of the costs of materials we use on projects, either regular 3 week projects or disaster rebuilds. You see, NOMADS not only give of their time and energy and gifts to build and repair things for people in need, but also give of their money. An amazing group of people. We feel honored to be a member.

Tonight we had a jam session. Various members shared their talents, singing, playing an instrument, telling stories etc. It was a fun, relaxed time to just have fun together. Another great day!!