RVing With a Purpose

Sunday, September 23, 2018

It rained off and on during the night and all day today. There was no morning walk due to the rain. But the temperatures are really nice. Low last night of 67, high today of 77. It’s continuing to rain intermittently tonight. Anne didn’t have her 10,000 steps today so she was out walking tonight after our NOMAD memorial service to get her steps.

We started the day with morning announcements and then we had a worship service. Rev Tommy Ward a Methodist pastor from Oxford Mississippi led us in worship and then communion. His message was titled “Walk the Walk”. Very good service when ended with us singing “Let There Be Peace On Earth” and a spontaneous ring of NOMADS holding hands encircling the convention center. It was really cool.

Our meetings began this afternoon with new leader training, experienced leader training and then a reception for all the NOMADS attending their first annual meeting that we attended as board member. Tonight we had a memorial service for the NOMADS we have lost this year. It was a hard year as we lost 24 of our members. After that we worked on setting the building for the Love Auction and then came home ready for some rest. Busy but good day.

Poem used in tonight’s memorial service:

HOLD HIGH THE TORCH!

Hold high the torch!
You did not light its’ glow–
“Twas given you by other hands, you know.
‘Tis yours to keep it burning bright,
Yours to pass on when you no more need light;
For there are other feet we must guide,
And other forms go marching by our side;
Their eyes are watching every smile and tear
And efforts which we think are not worthwhile,
Are sometimes just the very helps they need,
Actions to which their souls would give most heed;
So that in turn they’ll hold it high
And say, “I watched someone else carry it this way.”
If brighter paths should beckon you to choose,
Would your small gain compare with all you’d lose?
Hold high the torch!
You did not light its’ glow–
‘Twas given you by other hands, you know.
I think it started down its’ pathway bright,
The day the Maker said: “Let there be light.”
And He once said, who hung on Calvary’s tree–
“Ye are the light of the world…Go!…Shine-for me.”
-Anonymous

Saturday, September 22, 2018

We had rain overnight and today was a cloudy and much cooler day, with intermittent sprinkles. Yesterday was almost unbearably hot and today it was 69 degrees at 2:00pm. It was 71 when we left for our morning walk and the forecast called for a high of 75 but we never made it above 73. With the dampness everyone was walking around in jackets. Anne went back to FRED to put on a long sleeve shirt. Crazy weather. We were 10 degrees above normal and now we are 10 degrees below.

Max led members in their RV’s to their assigned sites most of the day. Anne was again in meetings most of the day. Not much to say about our day except we were so glad to see some of our good friends arrive. We went to dinner with Mark and Jo and Rita and Dave. They were all on our Baton Rouge team. Mark and Lisa were going to go with us as well but they hadn’t arrived yet. We will catch them another day. We had such a good time catching up and laughing. Such a fun group.

Tomorrow we will have our church service and communion here at the campground. Then after lunch we will have some classes. It will probably be another busy day but not as busy as today. Hope you are having a great weekend and that the cooler weather arrives at your location soon. It is nice.

Friday, September 20, 2018

Today started out hot. It was 77 with 95% humidity at 6:30 when we did our morning walk. Today we walked out from the campground in a different direction and walked through a research area of Shelby Farms. It would be interesting to have a tour of that area but probably they don’t share all those secrets. As we walked on we came to a large stand of bamboo. The signs said it’s panda food, so we googled it and the Memphis Zoo does have pandas. Guess they are feeding them the bamboo we saw. It was a pretty walk out through fields. We saw a large herd of deer at one area. We also went by MidSouth Raptor Center. They serve this area of TN, northern MS, eastern Arkansas to assist in raptor rehabilitation and with education. It was a small place but thay have about 20 cages on their grounds for the large birds. We were too early for the center to be open but it would be nice to see the birds.

Max and Anne were both working this morning. Max was again out in the heat parking RVs. Anne was in the cool inside. It was announced today that Anne was elected to the Board of Directors of NOMADS so she will be busy with the administration of our organization. Today was her first Board meeting. Anne knows it is a huge honor to have been elected by our members but also recognizes the responsibility and is committed to working hard for the members.

Tonight Max found some aerial photography of the area of Lumberton, NC where we worked last year. Sadly we recognized one of the homes we repaired. It was flooded again. So sad. Better news, it appears the RV park where we park did not flood so maybe we can continue our work this fall as planned.

Tomorrow will be another busy day of meetings and parking. There will be many more arriving tomorrow. Tomorrow will be the busiest day for the parking crew. Looking forward to the rest of our members arriving safely.

Thursday, September 20, 2018

We slept late this morning. It will be the last day we can sleep in for a number of days, so we took advantage of it. We took a late walk over to the Shelby Farms Refuge and walked about 3 miles. Nice walk and pretty area. There are lots of trails around here. We would use them a lot more if it was not so unbearably hot. In a little over a week when we are in the hills of Kentucky we will probably be looking for jackets but right now that sounds really nice. Max was working parking today and the guys had to watch to be sure no one became dehydrated.

Parking duty was pretty easy today except for the heat. Only a few arrivals today. Tomorrow and Saturday will be the busy days for parking crew. While Max was working, Anne went to the Farmer’s Market and bought some beautiful fresh veggies. Lunch was all from the market. Corn, they called bread and butter, which in Alabama we call peaches and cream, fresh shelled butter beans, very tasty tomatoes. It was all very good! Love our fresh veggies. It’s getting late in the season and they now have some of the later produce which we may get later in the week.

 

Please don’t forget to continue praying for the flooding victims. We are supposed to be in Lumberton, NC next month to continue working on damage from Hurricane Mathew. Don’t know yet what will happen to that project because some of the homes have probably flooded again from Florence. Just can’t imagine those families having to go through all this again. Looking forward to more friends arriving in Memphis tomorrow and Saturday. Safe travels everyone.