Month: October 2018

Tuesday, October 23, 2018

It wasn’t as cold last night but still chilly this morning. It was another beautiful fall day. It is also definitely the season for layers. You have to wear a jacket in the morning and a long sleeve shirt but only need a T-shirt by lunch time.

Sharon did a great job with our devotion today helping us think about the differences in ministry and jobs. Sometimes we get so busy doing jobs that need to be done in our churches that we forget we really need to be in ministry.

After devotion, we reviewed the progress made at each of the sites yesterday and made plans for today. Max, Anne, and Sharon returned to Jackie’s home to continue our work there. Bill, Ogie and Ginger worked at Sheryl’s and Bill and Larry returned to install a new door on the storage room at the house where there are working.

 

At Jackie’s today, Sharon was putting the top coat of paint in one of the bedrooms while Max continued working on electrical. He has been reinstalling electrical outlets and switches and is close to finished. There is not a shortage of outlets in this house. It has been a challenge due to the difference in the way modular homes are built. Anne removed a popcorn ceiling, repaired some sheetrock, and sanded some walls. Gary came over and helped Max partially install another door. That will have to be completed tomorrow. Again due to the differences in modular homes, all the doors have to be shortened. Since some walls are not standard thickness, there are even more challenges in installing doors in those openings. All in a days work.

 

While we haven’t done our usual walking the past two days, we have walked more than 5 miles each day. Lots of steps up and down ladders and outside the get more tools from the truck and back inside to work and then back to the truck again. We still need to find a gym because there are no sidewalks here and the road in front of the camp ground is quite busy. There are a couple of trails, one along the river that we need to checkout but we have been too tired in the afternoons and it is too dark in the mornings for outside walks. Things are going well. Hope you are having a good week too.

Monday, October 22, 2018

This morning was a cold one. We had to use the gas furnace to warm up FRED since it was too cool for the heat pumps to do the job. It was still 36 degrees when we left for the church for morning meeting. The day warmed up and was a wonderful fall day and a wonderful day to work. Certainly more pleasant than the 105 heat index when we were working her last summer. North Carolina is much nicer in the fall.

Today of course started with our team meeting at 8:00. It was our official start of the Lumberton DR and meeting of our team members who have already worked here for two weeks. We will work as team members this week and take over lead when Gary and Sharon leave this weekend. Of course we have known Gary and Sharon for some time but our other team members, Ogie and Bill and Ginger and Larry are new to us. After just one day we already love them all. The team has been working at two houses, one (Sheryl’s) needing bathroom, bedroom ceiling and kitchen ceiling due to leaks and outside work and another that is getting work on a storage building attached to a house or something of that nature. We haven’t been to that site yet and aren’t quite sure. The team has been doing a great job on the Sheryl’s house. It is looking really good.

 

Today Sharon, Max and Anne started on house number three. We were excited to meet the owner, Jackie, just before lunch today. She is a very sweet lady and we know we will enjoy working on her home. Her Mom who is 92 lives next door. A lot of the work has already been done, but much is left to do. Today we started with cleaning some paint off floors and covering the new laminate to prevent any damage. We also worked on re-installing electrical outlets, installing doors and began some painting. As is usual for the first day, it seemed to go a little slow today but we are sure things will pick up tomorrow.

 

October 21, 2018

Our temperature stayed in the 60’s all night and then about 5:00 this morning another cold front blew through and it became cold. It was still about 48 with a stiff wind when we left for church today. Later the sun was out and the wind calmed and it was a beautiful afternoon. Our low tonight is predicted to be in the upper 30’s but at least we do not have a frost advisory like some of you.

The team went to church at our host church, Chestnut Street UMC, today. They have the same pastor as when we were here last year, Pastor Lowry, and we really like him. He preaches the Word, and you can’t say anything better about a pastor. The congregation is very friendly and welcoming to the NOMADS and supportive of our work in their community. It was a good time of worship.

After worship we met with Jeff, our construction superintendent, who also worships at Chestnut Street, and drove over to a house we are going to start in the morning to see where we needed to start. The house still needs lots of work but it is looking good. Most of the drywall work is done as well as the flooring. There is still some painting, electrical, plumbing and lots and lots of trim. We will be in this house for a while which is why our leaders Gary and Sharon are having us start there tomorrow. When we take over leadership next week, we will still have several weeks work left to complete. We will try to see the other two houses that NOMADS have started tomorrow. We are looking forward to our time here.

After meeting with Jeff we went to Pier 41 with Gary and Sharon for a late lunch. Pier 41 was one of our favorite restaurant to visit when we were here last year and it was again very good. It is a local place that does a huge business. Since we were late arriving, we could sit around and visit with Gary and Sharon after we ate since there was no longer a wait line.  We had a quiet afternoon and then it was cool enough for hot chocolate tonight. Fall has arrived! Hope everyone has had a restful and safe weekend. Be careful when you get out in the traffic tomorrow morning!

October 20, 2018

Today was a cloudy and overcast day almost all day. It rained for just a moment while we were closing up Fred for travel from Johnston to Lumberton. It drizzled for a few minutes after we got settled in Lumberton. When we arrived here it was humid and much warmer than Johnston. The cold front had not yet come through Lumberton. It’s now 6:00 pm and the temperature has started to drop. We are down from 77 a little while ago to 66 now. Our projected low tonight is 49. It will be a windows open night – at least for a while.

We are at what used to be East Gate Mobile Home park and has now been converted to a RV park for volunteers of the North Carolina UMC in Robeson County. There are some pecan trees at the entrance. We have 50 amp power, water and sewer connections. We have clear view of the satellites for TV. There is a Walmart Neighborhood Market across the street. Don’t know yet how far we are from the job sites. For the record, we have seen no mosquitoes yet. We had been told they were huge and vicious. We were outside just before dark walking around the park and did not see a single one. Robeson County has had an aggressive spraying program to control the problem and it seems to have worked. We will see as time goes one. Probably the cooler temperatures this next week will help too. We do have some fire ants and have already put out some poison. Maybe the cooler weather will drive them back into the ground too. Anyway, we had a very easy, uneventful drive and are ready to meet the rest of the team and get to work. We appreciate your prayers.