RVing With a Purpose

Thursday, October 4, 2018

Today was the worst day of fog we have experienced in Kentucky. It has been improving as we get on the main highway to Middlesboro but today it was really foggy all the way to the church. Very thankful for safe travel.

Two other couples are staying in Pineville at Clear Creek so Anne and Debra have been driving those ladies over every morning too. The early morning wake ups have us all pretty tired. The ladies did their usual routine of cooking three meals each day. We prepare a hearty breakfast, a lighter lunch and then a heavy supper. Tonight’s supper was roast beef, potatoes and carrots, green beans, broccoli salad and pecan pie. We have eaten way too much this week.

Out at the job site, the roof is now about ¾ complete. They may be very close to complete by tomorrow afternoon. The framing is coming right along. They ran into problems today due to plumbers installing some bathroom pipes in the wrong place. They had to move two walls to work around the problem. Ray, our construction supervisor, figured out a work around but it took some time. Max always learns a lot working with Ray. The build is going well overall.

 

Each year Ray brings gifts to give to the team members and they are wrapped and numbered. Tonight we drew numbers to see what we got. Max got a set of screwdrivers and Anne got some nice microfiber towels. Also, Pastor Mark from New Heights brought us Chick-Fil-A milkshakes. It was a fun night. Thanks, Ray and Mark.

 

It has again this year been a wonderful mission trip with Constructors for Christ. We think it has been the best project we have worked with Constructors. Already looking forward to next year.

Wednesday, October 3, 2018

It was another foggy morning. It seemed REALLY foggy while we were on the winding, mountain roads. It cleared some after we got on 25E headed to Middlesboro but was still foggy when we arrived at Shiloh church to prepare breakfast at 6:00.

The guys got a lot of work done today. The framing is coming on along. They are still working around the roofers and at times are in each other’s way. The roof is now about ½ complete. As we predicted, we are not going to see a completed roof before we leave. Max and Randy completed their task of installing bridging clips and then began laying out and installing base channel for the interior offices and rooms.

The ladies really had an easier day today because one of the church members owns several Papa John’s stores and provided us with 8 large pizzas for dinner tonight. We just prepared salads and banana splits to go along with the pizzas. It was such a nice thing to do for us. They brought eight pizzas and there was not much left. Everyone seemed to really enjoy the treat. Thanks.

Debra and Anne returned to the Bible college campus thinking they would wash some clothes this afternoon but ended up deciding to do a little house cleaning instead. The heavy rains yesterday made the work site really muddy and we had tracked some inside. Fred is easy to clean and it didn’t take long so we got a few minutes to just rest.

One more full work day tomorrow and we will be packing up to head back to Alabama. Hope you are having a good week.

Tuesday, October 2, 2018

It was another early start to the day for Anne and Debra. It was foggy as well but not as bad as yesterday. We were on the road to Middlesboro at 5:25 with two other ladies riding with us so their families didn’t have to get up quite so early. We again had breakfast ready at 7:00 and it was another good one. We had breakfast burritos today, along with fruit, biscuits, gravy, grits, sausage, bacon and probably something else we forgot.

After breakfast the guys headed back to the job site while we stayed to clean things up. Sometime after that the pastor at Shiloh Church, the church that is letting us use their kitchen for four weeks, came by to visit. He is very nice and we had a nice chat. Shiloh is an independent church. Very generous of them to let us use their facility for four weeks. Another church is allowing people to sleep and shower in their facility. It’s very nice to see churches working together rather than thinking they are in some sort of competition.

After the visit, Anne and Debra decided it was time to tackle the huge hunk of ice in the freezer. Some called it a frozen waterfall, others the ice man, others abominable snowman. We used all sorts of tools including a hair dryer, ice pick, a small pry bar, pliers, squeegee, and large mop bucket. It got pretty funny. Actually, it got very funny and there was a lot of laughing today. We tried to get the ice down to an easily manageable size but didn’t quite make that goal. The first large piece that came tumbling out glanced off Anne’s knee leaving it’s mark and then sliding out into the middle of the kitchen floor. It was absolutely slick as glass. The remaining huge piece we were able to remove with a little more control. It took all morning but shortly before lunch we had the freezer defrosted, dried, and everything returned to the unit. It was quite a job, but one we were glad to do as a small thank you to the church. One of the ladies in the office came down just in to to see us finishing up. She was so excited.

The team prepared some great desserts today, cookies for lunch and German chocolate pie for dinner. We also had meatloaf meatballs tonight. Yep, another five pound project.

The guys made a lot of progress today. Max and Randy learned to build and install metal headers. They also put down a lot more metal base channel. More walls were also framed. They had several heavy rains to contend with as well. But it was a very productive day.

Monday, October 1, 2018

It was another really nice day in Middlesboro, Ky. Again it got hot in the afternoon but the morning was cool and foggy.

The day started really early for Anne and Debra with the alarm at 4:45. It was really foggy so we left for Middlesboro about 5:25. We had to start breakfast at 6:00 so the guys could eat at 7:00 and then head to the job site. On summer projects they start work at 6:00 and work an hour or hour and half then have breakfast, but there are no lights at the job site here and it’s still too dark to work at 6:00 so the schedule was changed. Anne is working with Debra and the other 6 ladies providing meals for everyone. We only have 25 people working this week. A usual summer project is about 50-60 people. We couldn’t divide the cooking into teams and prepare one meal a day with only eight people agreeing to work the kitchen. So we are all working together and cooking three meals each day for 25 people. Tonight we are really tired and confess that cooking 3 meals a day for 25 is a lot of work. Our team works really well together and we prepared three good meals today. Everyone seemed to enjoy.

The guys are working really hard too out at the building site. Max and Randy spent most of their day laying out walls and installing base channel. Others were putting up studs and top plates. It was a long day for them too, but they got a lot accomplished.