March 2024 – RVing With a Purpose

Sunday, March 31, 2024

Happy Easter everyone! It was a beautiful spring day in Alabama, perfect for Sunrise Service, church and family gatherings and we enjoyed it all. As is customary for Alabama Easters, our Dogwood trees are in full bloom as well as the Red Buds, and Native Azaleas. This past week you could almost sit and watch the colors change. The mountain above the camp is a multitude of shades of green. Beautiful.

We began our NOMADS work at Sumatanga Camp and Conference Center last Sunday afternoon with our usual get acquainted meeting. We are a small group of six, Sharon and Gary leading, and new to us NOMADS Pam and Dennis, and the two of us. We always enjoy working with Sharon and Gary and it’s been fun getting to know Pam and Dennis. We all work together well so it should be three weeks of fun work. Our highest priority work was the demolition of the bathrooms in three of the Pool Camp cabins, getting them ready for another group to come in and expand and remodel them. This was some heavy-duty demo requiring jack hammers, sledgehammers and strong backs. We completed two of the cabins and have probably completed half the work on the third. We are pleased with the amount of work accomplished last week, because we had thought it would probably take two to three weeks to demo them all. We hope to be finished sometime Tuesday, but a lot will depend on how hard it is to get the last furnace out of the cabin. The furnaces are very old and very heavy.

The vanity area in the first cabin before we started. The bathroom in the second cabin was almost identical.

The toilet stalls in the first cabin before we started

The shower stalls in the first cabin before we started

The furnaces in all three cabin are mounted above the shower stalls in very tight quarters.

We sure were thankful young Rob from the camp staff spent one day with us taking down concrete block walls.

Anne working on the shower wall with an electric hammer

Removing ductwork from one of the furnaces

Pushing one of the furnaces to the floor

Anne and Dennis taking the heavy furnace apart so it can be removed

Gary, Pam, Sharon and Dennis removing old drywall

Dennis removing the last bits of drywall from the second cabin

This is how the bathroom in the first cabin looked at the end of week 1.

This is another view of the bathroom in the first cabin at the end of week 1. The bathroom in the second cabin was almost identical in the scope of work and finished product.

The toilet stalls in the third cabin before we started taking them down. We are trying to save the pretty wood for future projects.

The toilet area of the third cabin when we finished week 1

The wooden shower stalls in the third cabin with the doors removed

Dennis removing some of the wood above the showers in the third cabin to expose the furnace for removal.

The shower stalls in the third cabin at the end of week 1

Each workday, the camp spoils us with a great lunch. One day this week, we had a new to some of us, delightful turnip green soup and now we all have a copy of the recipe. The entire team worshiped together at Lester Memorial for Good Friday. It was, of course, a somber, but very meaningful service. It’s been a great Holy Week ending in wonderful worship on this beautiful Easter. Today, we attended Sunrise Service, worship service and Sunday School at our church followed by a delicious lunch with our cousins on Pine Mountain. The rest of the team stayed for Sunrise Service at the camp. Hope you all enjoyed your day and kept the true meaning of the day in your hearts. Thank you, Jesus, for your suffering, death, and resurrection. May we live our lives for You.

Easter Sunrise 2024

Lester Memorial’s Sunrise Service at Palisade Park near Oneonta, AL. It was not near as cold as last year.

When we arrived at Sumatanga two weeks ago the dogwoods showed no signs of blooming. But they put on a real show for Easter.

The Dogwood blossom has long been recognized as a symbol of Easter because of its resemblance to a pierced cross.

Sunday, March 24, 2024

After spending a month in Grand Isle, we have taken a month off from working mission projects, but it doesn’t mean we haven’t been very busy. While spending a couple of days at Randy’s and Debra’s and catching up with them, Max and Randy worked on Dave and Jennifer’s deck railing. After transitioning into BB, we headed to Ocala, FL to help with a Class B rally and RV show. We had about 75 Class B RVs at the rally and had such a great time renewing friendships and making new friends. We then returned to South Carolina for some additional work on the deck plus some fun times going to the Senior Follies, (a very well done musical at Anderson University). We also went to a Wild Game dinner and fund raiser at a Baptist church near Johnston. Debra and Anne enjoyed their time cooking together and catching up at home. We took BB on a quick trip back to Cullman for a doctor visit and then returned to Johnston and readied Fred for another trip.

We enjoyed seeing the peach orchards in bloom in South Carolina.

The Anderson Senior Follies was well worth the trip to Anderson. Amazing cast and production.

Randy designed and built the sections of the railing in his shop which made installation easier.

Great time in Ocala with our Class B RV friends!

We are now back a Sumatanga for a three week NOMADS project, but we aren’t leading this one. We were able to do some hiking yesterday and be at our church for Palm Sunday today and look forward to being here for Easter. As we celebrate Easter, we hope we will all remember it’s real meaning, and the sacrifice Jesus made for each one of us.

Month: March 2024

Spring 2024 NOMADS Project at Sumatanga – Week One

Catching Up Again