RVing With a Purpose

Tuesday, January 8, 2019

Today started as a very cloudy day and was predicted to be cloudy all day. However, by noon we had blue skies and sunshine. Another beautiful day. The high today was 80 and with a light breeze it was a great day to relax outside.

However, we didn’t do much relaxing. We started the day by sharing a devotion with the team. We used 2 Timothy 2:15 as the basis. We talked about being a worker and as NOMADS workers we all had tool boxes full of tools. Then we talked about individual tools in our box and how they could apply to our faith walk. Hopefully it makes each of us think a little differently the next time we we pick up our hammer, safety glasses, pliers or level etc.

After devotion we discussed who would start work where, on our houses. Dave, Rita, Roger and Bev would work on Josefina’s house. Anne, Max, Jodi, Stel, John and Diane would work on Gilberto’s house, but first John and Dianne would go meet with the homeowner another house, Sara. John was born in Mexico and spent his first 10 years there. He remembers a lot of Spanish so since Sara speaks no English, John went there to try to discuss what needs to be done. The work there may be more than we can handle in the short time we are here. We probably can’t do the necessary work there and repair the other homes we have been assigned. We are hoping that we will be able to do some of the repairs. We don’t get to make some of these decisions so we will wait for some answers.

Dave, Bev, and Robert headed to Josefina’s to start building new front steps. Rita and Joel, a church member with a truck, went to the small local lumber company to purchase building supplies. Max and Anne went to purchase materials for Gilberto’s at the Ace Hardware and then the lumber company. We then met up with Diane, John, Stel and Jodi to begin work at Gilberto’s. When Joel had delivered materials with Rita, he came and picked up Stel and Jodi to go to Kingsville, the closest Lowe’s, to purchase the vinyl plank flooring for Gilberto’s. Kingsville is about 38 miles away. Are you tired yet?

Even with all the running from place to place to get material there was a lot accomplished today. Anne and Diane completed the prep for the vinyl flooring in the first bedroom at Gilberto’s. That was a big job because after the old tile was removed we had to scrape the remaining sticky glue off the slab. The new flooring has to float not stick to the slab. John, installed a new sink faucet and new cabinet floor to replace the cabinet floor damaged by the leaking faucet. Max installed a new sweep on the front door and started working on the new back door. John got all the base removed from the hallway, Diane began removing the vinyl flooring from the kitchen. Anne and Stel began installing the new vinyl in the first bedroom.

 

At Josefina’s there was demo and construction and by late afternoon all the materials Rita purchased this morning had been delivered. Rita did the demo on the back stoop. The guys built new front steps and worked on replacing broken windows. We have lots to do but we make a good start today.

 

(Thanks, Rita for the pictures)

Monday, January 07, 2019

Today we started, as usual, with our morning devotion time. Jodi read John 20:1-7 and then an essay explaining the meaning of the folded burial cloth. The bottom line is “Jesus is coming back!”

We then drove to the three houses we have been assigned and evaluated how much and what types of work each will require:

House One has some water damage in the kitchen, probably from a leaky roof.  The homeowner was not there so we were only able to check the roof.

House Two needs flooring all through the house and a new back door to replace the one that has rotted out.  After lunch part of the team returned here and installed a section of gutter over the back door and started preparing the slab for new flooring.

House Three needs new siding on two sides, some windows repaired or replaced and new back steps. After lunch the rest of the team returned to this house and took measurements and came up with a materials list.

It was another good, busy day.

Sunday, January 6, 2018

Another beautiful day in Falfurrias! We had a little morning fog that burned off quickly. We had some brisk winds this afternoon, and of course with the wind comes the dust. It was another day where we needed the fireplace on in the morning and windows open by lunch and some wanted the a/c running afternoon. We sure are enjoying being able to have the windows open. Our high today was 80. We are told that this is warmer than normal for this early in January, but we sure are enjoying it.

The team went to church today at our host church, First UMC of Falfurrias. This is a beautiful old church building and a sweet multi-generational congregation. They are very welcoming. We weren’t the only visitors today because they were also welcoming back some of the “Winter Texans” that come back to this little town every winter. The service was primarily traditional with a little contemporary music at the end. Today was Epiphany Sunday, the day we recognize the wise men who came to Bethlehem to bring gifts to the Messiah. We also shared in communion today. It was a good time of worship with some new friends.

After worship the went to one of the local restaurants for lunch. Our server when asked told us they were known for their chicken fried steak and or chicken with their own specialty gravy that they call yellow gravy. You actually had a choice of white, yellow or brown grave but she told us the yellow was by far the best. So we took her advice and ordered the chicken fried streak. It was really good. Not so healthy, but very good.

We returned to the church and by mid afternoon our other two couples arrived. Thankful for the safe arrival of our team! We had our team meeting this evening with some nice desserts and started getting to know everyone. By the laughter and kidding going on tonight, this is going to be another fun three weeks. We are looking forward to starting work tomorrow. We have three homes to repair and some work we would like to get done at the church. It will be a busy three weeks. We would ask that you pray for our team’s safety and good weather since we have some siding and exterior door replacements to do.

Hope you all had a good weekend.

Saturday, January 5, 2018

It was a gorgeous day! We have had so many gray rainy days, today was greatly appreciated. It started cool, requiring a jacket, with fog. But the fog lifted quickly with sunrise and there were blue, sunny skies the rest of the day.

We were up and ready to leave Edna by 7:00. Our hostess even brought us cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Such nice people. It was a great overnight stay. If we had more time we would love to have stayed longer and explored the area a little. Maybe when we are headed back to Houston.

The drive today was uneventful. We changed our route based on information our leaders sent us regarding construction on our planned route. They reported long stretches of cattle chutes. We elected another route. We had enough construction and cattle chutes yesterday.  Along the way we saw lots of hawks, buzzards and even a pair of Crested Caracaras beside the road.  Of course, since the speed limit on most of the roads is a crazy 75 mph we couldn’t get pictures for fear of getting run over.

After getting Fred parked and set up at First United Methodist Church, Falfurrias, we had some time to relax and visit with Jodi and Stel. Shortly, Rita and Dave arrived. It was wonderful to see the four of them again. We will have two more RVs arrive tomorrow with NOMADS we haven’t met yet. It’s always fun to meet and make friends with new NOMADS. We also walked around town a little and just happened to find the Dairy Queen. Of course we had to support the local economy with a purchase.

This afternoon we also met the pastor and the finance chairperson. We talked a while and they shared information about the area. Falfurrias is located in Brooks county Texas, about 75 miles south west of Corpus Christi, TX and 70 miles north of the Rio Grand river, the Mexican border. Brooks county is the second poorest county in Texas. It is a very rural area with the closest Walmart 36 miles away in Kingston and the same for an Urgent Care. To get to a real hospital you have to go to Corpus Christi. There was a time when Sam Walton was coming here hunting quail at one of the hunting camps that there was a Walmart in Falfurrias. The story goes that he wanted to go to the store to pick up a few things, and wanted a closer store. A Walmart was built for Falfurrias. After his death the store was closed. Sad for the little town.

Looking forward to the next three weeks of getting to know the people of this community and being of service as we can.