RVing With a Purpose

Sunday, June 23, 2019

We just found out that at about 5:00 pm today many of the trusses at the Hodge Missionary Baptist Church build collapsed. The reason has not been determined, but it is suspected that the storms this weekend somehow weakened the structure. Please be in prayer for the church and the Constructors for Christ team this week that will be removing the debris and rebuilding that part of the building.

Saturday, June 22, 2019

First thing this morning we drove to the build site of Hodge Baptist Church to take one more picture. We found that the wind had blown our work tent over – even though it was anchored down by six five gallon buckets of water. Fortunately the building frame was not damaged. We met and talked to some of the church members who were also there. They are all so excited about the new building. Here are the pictures we took each morning to show the progress of the build:

We went back to the Bible Camp and flushed tanks, packed up and headed out. It was an easy drive back to Oneonta where we stopped to check in on the aunts and buy some produce. The Gym on State Hwy 75 across from the high school has a large parking lot that is never full so it is a convenient place to unhook the truck and run our errands before heading back up Pine Mountain.

Almost as soon as we finished setting up the rains came. We were under a severe thunderstorm warning for a while but only received some heavy blowing rain. There are still some strong storms in the area but we are not expecting anything severe.

Friday, June 21, 2019

We have continued to have summer thunderstorms and some intermittent rain. We awoke to the weather alert radio announcement of severe thunderstorm one morning. Today has been clear and very hot. Heat index of 105. Tonight we are suppose to have another nasty storm come through. Hope we can get some sleep.

Today was our last day here in Dutton, Alabama. It has been a wonderful week. The Hodge Missionary Baptist Church has been an extremely welcoming church. They truly know how to show Christian hospitality. They have brought us fresh vegetables from their gardens, wonderful cakes and pies, grilled hamburgers and hot dogs for us and even had the Little Something Extra ice cream truck come by last night with free ice cream. (Please take time to read the Something Extra story.  Very special people.)  We have made many new friends in their congregation and community and they will remain in our hearts and prayers as we leave. The progress on their new church building has been amazing, especially since we were predicted to have a very wet week. So glad that did not materialize. But, more importantly has been the demonstrations of their love for their fellow members and their community. Again we experienced several real God moments reminding us that our work is so much more than pounding nails and putting up walls. Yesterday there was a gentleman standing on the outside of the walls of the church, looking in. Hugh and Randy noticed him and told him to come on in. He said no and they asked him if he was a member of the church. He said no, he was an outsider, just looking to see what was going on. He lives in a house very near the church. They, again invited him to come on in to take a look around. He replied “well I’ve never gone to God but now it looks like He is coming to me.” This opened an opportunity for the guys to have a good conversation with him and hopefully plant some seeds. Would love to see this gentleman when we come back for the dedication of the church. He will remain in our prayers as well. Its been a really good week. We will continue to track the progress of the project and will try to attend the dedication of the building.

Tuesday, June 18, 2019

We had rain overnight with some thunderstorms. Today was cloudy, with intermittent rain. The crew on the slab had to stop twice today due to the rain and they worked through a few more showers. They were a little like wet rats for part of the day.

The day started as usual at 6:00 am for Randy and Max but today it also started at 6:00 for Anne and Debra. Their team prepared breakfast today. It was eggs, bacon, sausage, biscuits, gravy, grits, tomatoes, watermelon, cereal and bananas, orange juice, apple juice, milk, coffee and water. No one left hungry. Anne and Debra spent a good deal of time working in the store today. They are having a sale attempting to clear out some of the old T-shirt stock.

Even in the rain there was a lot of progress made today on the building. Tonight, all the exterior walls are in place, many of the interior walls are in place along with most of the headers. Several members of the congregation came by today and they are so surprised and pleased at the progress. Please continue to pray for safety for everyone.