Author: rvingwithapurpose

Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Dave brought a very inspiring and heartfelt devotion about “Love Bursts” this morning. That coupled with Bryant’s guitar playing and song leading really got us off to a good start. After devotion Bill taught a short lesson on electric devices and wiring and then we went to work.

Everyone picked right back up where they stopped yesterday and accomplished a lot, even though the results were not as visually dramatic. Everyone just jumped in, changing jobs whenever needed to accomplish the task. Dave and Gene, and sometimes Oneta, continued running new circuits for the kitchen electrical. Dave, Bryant and Jackie removed more drywall so the wiring could be roughed in. Steve and Sandra continued working on the stairs, then Sandra started painting the ceiling while Steve worked on plumbing. Using a reinforced 2×4 and a floor jack, Bryant and Max installed a new ceiling in a bedroom closet where it had sagged. Jackie, Cheryl and Oneta prepared a porch swing for painting. Max, Jackie and Cheryl pulled the old vinyl flooring up from the kitchen and hall. And Jackie and Cheryl worked on getting the retaining wall ready for painting. You all should be tired just from reading all that. What an energetic hard working team. Oh, and there is STILL one wire sticking up through the kitchen floor that we haven’t been able to pull out. Maybe tomorrow.

Just before lunch Bill told us it was Volunteer Appreciation Day at Hinton and we were all invited to lunch. As always, lunch was delicious and Jackie, the CEO of Hinton, spoke about how much volunteers do for the Center and how very much they are appreciated.

And most importantly, Anne returned to the team from Atlanta late this afternoon.

Monday, April 24, 2017

Some NOMADS really like to tear things up. Fortunately, we have a few of those on this team and they are good. As a result we made a lot of progress today in the Lake House. The day started with our usual devotion time with songs and prayer. We are very fortunate to have Bryant here with his guitar to lead our music. As we have said before, our morning devotions are the most important thing we do all day. Afterward, Bill gave us our work priorities for the day – to demolish the current kitchen and stair rails in preparation for their replacement. First we cleaned out all the cabinets and removed all the furniture and appliances for the kitchen, living room and dining room. Then while Steve, Sandra and Dave started removing the stair rail, the rest of the team worked upstairs removing ceiling fan blades, blinds, light fixtures and carpet.

During the day people moved from task to task as needed, especially when trying to disconnect the old plumbing and electrical. Some of the electrical took a long time to trace and remove. In fact there is one wire sticking up through the kitchen floor that we still haven’t been able to pull out.

This is a great team. All day nobody asked “What should I do?” They all just saw what needed to be done – and did it. It’s great how fast this team has come together when a lot of us have never worked together before.

Sunday, April 23, 2017

Last night a strong front passed through this part of North Carolina. We could see the trees bending over around the parking lot and twigs and leaves pelted the side of the coach. It was over quickly and we slept to the sound of rain the rest of the night. This morning between showers we were outside and Bill drove by and told us the new pavilion had been blown down during the night. We drove down and saw the sad sight. We had heard they were planning a ribbon cutting for the pavilion this week and part of our project was to finish the restrooms and equipment room there. Don’t guess that will happen now.

Before church Anne got a message from her brother in Atlanta that her sister-in-law had taken a turn for the worse. He was needing some help and support so she drove to Atlanta to be with Jim and Marguerite. Marguerite has been battling ovarian cancer since 2015 and things are not going well now. Interestingly the drive to Atlanta from Hayesville was beautiful. Google’s suggested route led over some really windy north Georgia mountain roads with steep inclines and descents. Hopefully Anne will be back to work in a day or two.

We all attended church at Oak Forest UMC, which is just down the road from the Hinton Center. Every time we have been there the service has been very well done. Today was no exception. And the congregation always makes us feel welcome. After the service the team decided to go to Rib Country for lunch. We came back to camp instead to get Anne ready to go to Atlanta.

Max spent the afternoon walking around campus, greeting Gene and Oneda, the final two team members to arrive, and preparing for the initial team meeting. Since Anne wasn’t there he had more to do like getting the food ready. It rained most of the afternoon but stopped just before time for the meeting. We met at the lake house which is also where we will be having our daily devotions and where we will be working. The meeting started with everyone introducing themselves and telling about their families and NOMADS experience then we covered all the required informational and safety topics. After that, Bill discussed the tasks we will be undertaking. We ended with a few snacks and fellowship. In other words – our usual agenda. This seems like it will be another fun group and we are looking forward to working with them and accomplishing a lot for Hinton. The forecast calls for more rain tomorrow (we are under a flood warning) so we are thankful for inside work.

Saturday, April 22, 2017

Today has been cloudy all day and we have been under a flash flood watch all day but we had only a few drops of rain until a few minutes ago. It is now raining like crazy and the outside temperature has dropped 14 degrees in the past 55 minutes. This area still needs rain. Last fall when we were here they were experiencing even worse drought than we were in Alabama and while it is better, the lake is still obviously low. We are just thankful that all but one couple of our team have arrived safely and got set up before the rain arrived. We have one more couple who should arrive tomorrow afternoon.

We walked around the camp today to see the changes since we were last here. They are trying to make some improvements and spruce up the place a bit. Today was Volunteer Work Day and there were a lot of people out working on the grounds/landscaping, helping in the office etc. The flowerbeds are looking good and a lot of weed-eating was done. Dave came over for breakfast with us this morning since his sweet wife isn’t here yet. Cheryl arrived while Dave was still with us and we helped her get parked. No that she needed much help. We spent some time just getting organized and set up after a travel day. Next in was Sandra and Steve. It’s great to see them again. We have met them before but never worked a project with them. We look forward to getting to know them better. We parked them up by Young Commons Building, the building we painted inside and out last fall. We will have two RVs there and four in the lower parking lot. When we walked down to the lake we went by to take a look at the Lake House. The outside looks good but we were not sure if the people had left yet so we didn’t go inside. We will do that tomorrow. Even though the water is down the lakeside still looks good. They are building a pavilion down by the lake that is looking really nice. Another improvement at Hinton is a 9 hole disc golf course. It was here but really not very usable when we were here last fall. With the help of a local NOMAD they have really cleaned up the course, installed needed steps and placed signage at each tee. We will have to get out our discs and try it out on a cool, dry day. Should be fun although it looks like it could be a bit challenging for our skill level. We really aren’t very good.

Our last couple of the day arrived about 5:00 and easily parked next to us. They are relatively new NOMADS and we had not previously met Bryant and Jackie. They seem very nice and we will enjoy getting to know them. Tomorrow we will go to the small church that is just down the road from Hinton and have our opening meeting. Remember to be praying for tomorrow’s services.