Author: rvingwithapurpose

Monday, April 17, 2017

The morning started with partly cloudy skies but that also means mostly sunny. We knew we would have to watch the weather a little more closely today because we were predicted to have scattered showers and thunderstorms, mostly in the afternoon. As we watched the weather radar during the day we saw showers and storms all around us but it never rained here. God is good!

Dave did our devotion today and did a great job. He started with the Beatitudes and the really funny questions from the disciples (link). Then he asked us if we remembered where we were – When President Kennedy was shot, on 9/11, on November 29, 1989. That last one made us all pause. We didn’t remember that date. It was when the Berlin Wall came down. He then related a story on a small group of Christians in East Berlin who met to pray for peace and their contribution to the fall of the wall. (For more information click here.)  This team has really brought us some wonderful and thought provoking devotionals. We really appreciate their efforts. We feel that our morning devotional time is the foundation for all that goes on with our projects and the most important time of our day. After review and adding to our prayer list and our closing prayer we were ready to go to work.

We reviewed the status of our various tasks and the pretty much started back where we left of Thursday afternoon. That meant that Harriet, Marti and Anne went back to McKinney to mulch the beds they weeded Thursday. Bill and Carol went to work on the Lakeside Loo (bathroom). Max, Patrick, Richard, Jim and Dave went back up the mountain to work on the tent platforms. The mulchers ran out of mulch shortly before lunch and went to the Loo to assist Carol and Bill. Lots of progress was made today. The McKinney beds look much better and need just a little more mulch place. Walls went up and a window came out of the Loo, along with some trenching for new sewer lines. Two sets of steps were built and all the 6×6 angle braces for the ridge beams were installed. All that is left at base camp is 2 more sets of steps and clean up. We only have 3 more days and still a lot to do but we are getting close to completion on some of the tasks. We did not expect to complete it all. Others will come after us to do that, just as we are completing the tent platforms that someone else began.

Sunday April 16, 2017

Happy Easter!!! Hope everyone has had a wonderful day. We started the day when the alarm clock went off at 4:00am. It seemed like such a good idea yesterday. This morning at 4:00am it was really questionable. Not really. We love sunrise service. The entire team including Richard’s brother-in-law Joe, went to Lester Memorial UMC sunrise service at Palisades Park in Oneonta. It was a wonderful service, led by our youth pastor Skyler Jones. Some of the youth also participated playing the part of the women that went to the tomb to anoint the body and found the tomb open and Jesus not there. They did a great job! The sunrise was awesome. Up on the rocks at Palisades is a great place for sunrise service with the birds, the trees, the views from the top of the mountain. Great way to begin this day. After the service we went back to the church and had a wonderful breakfast. The team was surprised that there was no cost and thought it was the best breakfast they have had while here. As usual it was very good and we all ate too much. We visited and talked until time for the 8:30 service which was held in the sanctuary today. The music was very good. The acoustics in the sanctuary are better than the fellowship hall so the music sounded especially good today. Barry’s message was from Luke 24:13-35. Barry talked about our freedom in Christ and remembering our walk to freedom and encouraged us to share that freedom walk because it’s just too good to keep to ourselves.

After worship we returned to Camp Sumatanga. Most people were primarily interested in naps. There was a lot of sleeping going on. Later in the day there were lakeside walks, bike rides, laundry, reading and sitting around visiting. It was a wonderful Easter Day.

Saturday, April 15, 2017

Spring has really sprung in Alabama over the past week. The trees are so much greener and the flowers are in full bloom. The dogwood is beautiful, as is the native azalea. We always love when the native azalea is blooming beside the lake here at Sumatanga.

The little wild irises are blooming between the campground and the lodge and one of Max’s mom’s favorite, sweet shrub is everywhere.

Anne however, didn’t get to enjoy it very much because she was still working on taxes. Such a PAIN!!! Oh, almost forgot. The blackberries are starting to bloom here too. Makes us wonder what the weather is going to do. We usually have a blackberry winter cold snap when the blackberries bloom. The forecast isn’t looking that way this week but….. don’t be surprised if we have some cold mornings in the next week or two.

Some of the team went to the Southern Museum of Flight in Birmingham today and thought it was very well done. Others hung out around the campground and did mundane things like laundry, and other chores. There was some hiking, baking and exploring today, too. Barry and Donna came by on their way home from riding the Chief Ladiga from Cedartown to the Alabama state line. When we notified the people that made the part for us that they didn’t but a valve core in it they immediately shipped the stem and tool for installing and were very apologetic. So, Barry finished the repair he started for us last week and now FRED has wonderfully cool air coming from the dash air. I’m sure we will really appreciate that dash air when we made the drive to Hayesville, NC at the end of the week. Thank you so very much Barry and Donna!!

The team plans to go to our church’s sunrise service at Palisades Park in the morning and then have breakfast at Lester Memorial afterwords. We will stay for the 8:30 service and then probably everyone will come home a take a nap. We will be wheels rolling for Palisades at 5:15. Guess we better go get showers and head to bed pretty soon. Hope everyone enjoys the beauty, miracle, and celebration of Easter tomorrow, but never forget the sacrifice that Jesus made for you – and us.

Friday, April 14, 2017

Another beautiful day in Alabama. The weather people say we are running about 10 degrees above normal for this time of year but our dogwoods are in full bloom and we have beautiful blue skies so we are really enjoying it. Four members of our team, Bill, Marty, Patrick and Harriet, went to Cullman to tour Ave Maria Grotto and have dinner with another NOMADS couple that lives near there. We had errands to run to gather some information to finish our tax returns and get ready for our cookout tonight and await Carol and Dave’s arrival. Carol and Dave are fulltime RVers that previously lived in Maryland. We worked with them on both our Sumatanga projects last year and they have become dear friends. We were so glad when they arrived. They will also be at our project in North Carolina next period. They arrived around noon and after getting their motorhome set up we sat around outside enjoying the beautiful day, and caught up with all that’s happened since we last were together. Well we didn’t have time to cover it all but we got a good start on it. We have four more weeks to get caught up.

When the rest of the team returned from Cullman they told us about their road trip. They all seemed to be glad they had gone to the Grotto and of course enjoyed their time with our Cullman NOMADS. A little later, Jim started a really nice fire in the fire ring and let it build up a good bed of coals for our planned campfire/cookout to welcome Dave and Carol to the team.  Around 6:00 pm everyone started gathering around the fire. We had different kinds of hot dogs, chips, dip, fresh sliced vegetables and the makings for s’mores. The team seemed to enjoy the time to visit and eat. As usual when we are together there was lots of laughter. Tim, who we have been working with at the new base camp, brought his wife, Susan, by to meet us. Susan is the summer camp nurse here at Sumatanga. She too came to Sumatanga as a young person so it was fun to share memories of camp. So glad she and Tim came by tonight. Hope you are having a wonderful Easter weekend and be sure to remember what it’s all about.