Author: rvingwithapurpose

Tuesday, September 11, 2018

We had another wonderfully cool morning today. Our morning walks are so much nicer at the cooler temperatures. The high was only 74 so it was another great day to be working outside. We know that summer isn’t over yet but we sure are enjoying this taste of fall.

Kitty and John led our devotion times this morning. They led us in the Lord’s Prayer and as each line was said, God answered. It was really good and funny at times. Kitty also read a Camper’s Prayer, which those of us who travel in RVs, find really cute.

We again changed plans today based on the needs of the camp. The men returned to the barn for a while in the morning while the ladies all started the day at the dining hall taking out the two large front windows. We started by removing the glass as we really didn’t want broken glass in the flower beds. The windows looked to be about late 50’s early 60’s vintage and were next to impossible to remove due to glazing and caulking that had been applied through the years to try to stop leaks. We used our oscillating tools to make the process move a little faster but it still took till noon to get the glass out. Then we started cutting the metal frames. After our first break some of the guys joined us and after lunch we were all working on the windows. We got both large windows removed, all the rotten lumber around the windows removed and the windows framed back up and covered with tarps for the night. The contractor is supposed to be here in the morning to install the new windows. Hopefully he will arrive as planned. I’m sure there are more youth groups scheduled for the weekend and the dining hall will need to be back in service. Plus we have rain predicted. Can’t wait to see the new windows. It should really help the appearance of the dining hall.

We all worked really hard today with a lot of time on the ladders. Going to bed early tonight. We only have two more work days here at Camp Lake Stephens and have lots more we would like to accomplish.

Monday, September 10, 2018

Today was the coolest day we have had during this project. The high today was 68 degrees and some of the team even started the work day in jackets.  Twenty degrees cooler than we have been experiencing.  Now that’s a change, a nice change.  But we don’t expect it to last.

Shannon brought our devotion this morning from Galatians 6:9 – “Let us not become weary in doing good.” We had a very good discussion concerning how we can help each other keep from growing weary as we work these last few days of this project.

Our work day started with Carol, Anne, Mariel, Kitty and Peggy continuing the demolition of the old garden and Dave, John, Del, Shannon and Max working at the barn. That’s how we all spent the day, except after lunch Max took the tractor to the garden to help remove the old fence posts.  It was another productive day for the team. And even better, we were invited to have lunch in the dining hall with the camp board members.

Sunday, September 9, 2018

It’s Sunday and we again chose to worship at OU UMC, Oxford-University United Methodist Church. So it’s a little confusing to us outsiders but in the town of Oxford where the University of Mississippi is located and the church is right next to the University so somehow over the years the name became as above. And everyone in Oxford thinks nothing of it. Very welcoming church membership spanning all ages. Seems to be a healthy congregation. We have heard messages from both the senior pastor and associate pastor, both very good. The church is active in student support as you would expect but has active ministry to all ages. We have enjoyed our time at OU. We do miss our home church though and are so glad they stream the services. We came home today and listened to both last week’s and today’s message from Lester Memorial. We are blessed to have Pastor Harvey.

We are still getting rain here and had a nice afternoon rain. What could be better for a Sunday afternoon nap? Nice! We were invited to dinner tonight to meet some of Camp Lake Stephens Board. We actually met one of the members at church today as well. We also got to meet Rich’s wife tonight. Nice dinner with good conversation. They have a good ministry team here at the camp. We may come back here and do some drop in work. As all church camps, they can always use some extra hands to accomplish their work.

Did not get our usual exercise today due to the rain but still got our 10,000 steps, but only 3.8 miles.  Hope every one attended worship at the church of your choice today. Be sure to pray for your pastors during the week as they prepare for next Sunday. Remember that they face many of the same challenges that you face each day. Also, please be in prayer for all those in the path of our next hurricane.

Saturday, September 8, 2018

We had to make the most out of today because of our “short” weekend. We were too tired last evening to do much other than a load of clothes. Today, our dear friends Barry and Donna drove over from home and we met them in Pontatoc, MS, along with Mariel and Shannon for a bike ride on the Tanglewood Rail Trail. We really enjoy the rail trails. The ones we have ridden have generally been well maintained, in very pretty areas, and they usually have more gradual inclines because, remember, the trains had to climb those hills too. Today we started at the Pontotoc Gateway which is at MM 25 of the trail and road north to Ecru. The entire trail is 40 miles. We didn’t have a set distance for the ride today but had thought we might go about 10 miles out and then back. The ride out seemed pretty easy, first through town and then out through soybean and cotton fields. A nice ride. We stopped at the Ecru whistle stop for a little water and rest break and then road on. Unfortunately, we weren’t too much further up the trail and Max had a flat tire. He ran over a very sharp object and punctured his rear inner tube. He was able to pull it out of the tire and then removed the wheel and placed a patch on the tube. He used our little portable pump to air the tire back up and then tried Barry’s and Shannon’s but could never get it fully inflated. We didn’t know how long the patch would hold so we headed back toward the truck. That was when we discovered we had had a tail wind going out and were fighting a head wind going back. We all also agreed that it seemed that maybe we had been biking slightly downhill because it seemed like we were having to pedal harder and slightly uphill on the way back. Besides it had gotten pretty hot. Maybe it was a good thing Max had a flat before we got too far away. We ended with 15.5 miles round trip. A good ride and a pretty day.

After loading the bikes we headed into town for lunch. Donna had found a Chinese restaurant that sounded really good and we were all set to try one of their appetizers. However when we arrived there was a note posted that they are closed until September 11.

We all pulled out the cell phones and settled on Happy Day Cafe. It’s also a bakery, so that’s not bad. Cute little place with friendly and attentive staff. We all had good sandwiches and then some baked goods and specialty drinks. We had a banana/strawberry smoothie that was very good and brought home a cupcake and some cinnamon buns for tomorrow’s breakfast. It was a fun morning with good friends. So glad Donna and Barry made the trip over. We are missing them.

After getting back to Oxford we made a grocery store stop and then home to finish the laundry. We still had to do some walking because we didn’t have our steps in for the day. Glad Mariel came over to ask us to walk with her.  Otherwise, we might have gotten lazy.  Even with the 15 mile ride we still got over 10,000 steps. We are feeling better since we have returned to the habit of getting more exercise.

It was a good day! Thanks Donna and Barry and Mariel and Shannon for joining us.