The huddle officially ended Monday, July 15. We have learned just how hard it is to say all the goodbyes and be able to get out of the campground on time so we now, along with many others stay over until at least Tuesday morning. We had some work to do for Sheila and some things we still wanted to see in the area, so we stayed until Thursday, July 18.
By staying a couple of extra days we finally had a chance to use the RV park’s mini golf course.
Wednesday morning, we visited the First Presbyterian Church of Bath. Wow! Some church history first. This church formed in 1808 and erected their first little white church with a 100-foot spire at East Morris Street in 1825. At the time it was the only church in Bath, NY and the first spire in Steuben County. In 1853 the little white church was enlarged and remodeled. In the 1870’s the church was torn down, and a Venetian Gothic church built with native stone was erected in the same location. The exterior of the church still looks much like it did in 1877 when the church was dedicated. When church member, John Davenport, died in 1895 his brother hired Tiffany Glass Company of New York to remodel the sanctuary. First Presbyterian, Bath, is one of five remaining churches with an entirely Louis Comfort Tiffany designed interior. It is gorgeous. Of particular note are the Tiffany acorn light fixtures, the geometric stained glass Tiffany windows and the detailed inset mosaics of the chancel rail and pulpit. There are still original gas lamps that have been converted to electric, hanging in the sanctuary and narthex. Pictures can’t really do this justice, but we took them anyway. You should put this on your bucket list. We are so thankful we saw the flyer that was in the campground office! Currently they give tours on Wednesdays from 10:00-1:00.
First Presbyterian Church of Bath, NY
The sanctuary
The tour starts with a history of the first building as shown by this model.
One of the stained glass windows
There are many mosaic decorations around the sanctuary such as this panel behind the pulpit. They look like tile …
…but the pattern is painted.
Our guide told us there are over 30,000 pieces of Tiffany glass inlaid in the front of the pulpit.
Scripture and embossed metal details around one of the Tiffany glass windows above the pulpit
Our guide told us this lamp in the narthex won a first prize at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. It has also been loaned out to museums from time to time. It has been converted from gas to electric.
The acorn lamps were also converted from gas to electric.
Interments of ashes are allowed in the church. Notice the scripture.
After the fabulous tour of the church, we visited the nice but small farmers market across the street. The same park the Switch Crew clean up and placed mulch on Friday. Good job crew!
(This post was delayed because we have had almost no connectivity for the last couple of days.)
With our last post, we had just arrived at Hickory Hill Camping Resort in Bath, NY for a Switch It Up Huddle. We arrived on Wednesday, July 10, a day before the Huddle began but many of our friends were already there. Jack and Mary, who were parked across the street, greeted us when we arrived. We appreciated Jack letting us know that the area was currently under a severe thunderstorm watch. Being in BB, (Beyond Blessed, our class B RV) it took us only a few minutes to be settled in our site and all was safe and secure before the storm arrived. We thought we left that sort of weather in Alabama. There was no damage in Bath but we understand there were some tornadoes north of us.
After our Bible Study group meeting on Wednesday night, we were free to explore, rest and visit with friends until Thursday afternoon when the Huddle began. There were lots of hugs as we visited with friends we had not seen for a while.
We were ambassadors at this huddle, meaning we were responsible for greeting and shepherding seven of the first-time couples. We had great fun meeting and getting to know our “newbies” and hope they enjoyed the huddle. We look forward to meeting them again down the road.
This huddle in NY was another amazing experience and we thank Todd, Shelia, and all the rest of the crew for the great food, fun adventures and new friends.
Good food is always a part of a Huddle.
There were campfire gatherings almost every night (when it wasn’t raining).
After our opening dinner on Thursday night, we were up early Friday for breakfast and then off to work at our “give back”. We had three projects for the village of Bath. About twenty-five worked with us at the school, clearing a fence row – a long fence row. Others worked downtown at the city park. There one group worked painting a gazebo and another group cleared out around the trees and put in mulch.
The high school property where we worked
Many hands make light work. Okay, it really wasn’t that light, but we got more done than the school expected.
The finished fence row. The maintenance supervisor told us he didn’t even know the wooden railing was there.
The downtown park where another part of the crew worked
We were all hot and tired but after lunch headed to Watkins Glen State Park. What a beautiful area. Just the drive from Bath to the park was so beautiful and when we began hiking the gorge it was amazing. The hike was challenging, and the two of us made it harder by walking up and back down the gorge rather than taking the shuttle one way, but glad we could do it. The entire Watkins Glen area is just so beautiful and if you haven’t been you should add it to your bucket list.
The beautiful Watkins Glen Gorge
Enjoying our Watkins Glen hike
One of the waterfalls you walk behind on the Gorge Trail
After sleeping really well after the give back and our hike, our adventure for Saturday was the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, NY. We could have spent two days and still not seen it all. We particularly enjoyed watching some of the artists and visitors doing some glass blowing.
A few of our friends making suncatchers
A museum visitor experiencing glass blowing
The picture doesn’t do it justice but this layered glass sculpture is a 3-D ocean scene with fish swimming around a reef.
There is even a Dave Chihuly (Google it) sculpture in the museum. We saw some of his work in Laurel, MS when we worked there a few years ago.
Of course we had to get a picture of the glass polar bear.
These glass insects are only about 3″ long. The delicate details are amazing.
Some of you might not appreciate this one.
Saturday evening was the potluck where we always have a good time sharing great food. We finished off the day munching on popcorn and watching a movie on the big screen at Todd and Sheila’s RV.
Our section’s potluck
Movie night
The most important time of the Huddle is Sunday morning when we have worship. Dellynn, Jason and family provided the worship music followed by Shelia sharing the message from her heart. You could feel the presence of the Holy Spirit. Hearts were touched. Lives were changed.
The best part of the Huddle
We had one more dinner together Sunday night in the peaceful setting of a vineyard out in the country. The hugs and goodbyes began Sunday night after dinner but Monday morning when we gathered for coffee and doughnuts there were hugs, tears, and pictures galore. We don’t know when we will be together again but…until then safe travels to all and we will keep you in our prayers.
After a few days with family in South Carolina we moved back into BB and headed to Middlebury, Indiana to have some upgrades done on the van. Of course, we had to get our first Chick-fil-A peach shakes of the year before we left.
On the way to Indiana we overnighted in Berea, Kentucky. Coincidentally, just before the trip one of the YouTube channels we watch posted a video about the Kentucky Artisan Center in Berea. We delayed our next day travel for a couple of hours to visit the center. We are glad we did. The Artisan Center is a state agency that supports local artists and provides a place for travelers to shop for unique craft items and art pieces. It is a fascinating place.
Metal lawn art
There were several displays of ceramic pieces.
We wondered if hanging this in our RV window would keep the real cardinals for attacking their reflections.
Many wooden toys
Anne and the junkyard moose
We saw many beautiful paintings.
The Center also has various food products …
… but we don’t think we will try this pepper jelly.
We had another productive visit to the Coachmen factory service center and after some good Amish food we drove to Bath, New York for a Switch It Up huddle. More about that next time.
At the end of our last post, on Friday afternoon, we had arrived in Pikeville, KY to start our annual project with Constructors for Christ. It was a beautiful drive up from South Carolina and most importantly, it was uneventful.
Our campsites at Pikeville RV Park
This is the slab when we arrived on Friday.
Saturday morning, we all began our work. Max and Randy along with about 9-10 others, met out on the job site to begin the construction of a distribution center for God’s Appalachian Partnership (GAP) in Minnie, KY which is about 30 minutes from Pikeville. This is a new organization for us and as we learned more about the mission of GAP and the missionaries, the more we fell in love with the place and the people. GAP’s number one mission is the sharing of the gospel of Christ. Everything else is a tool to reach that goal. Our project, the construction of a new ministry center is one of those tools. GAP has outgrown their current center, which is an old, abandoned coal mine office/warehouse. We began building a 7,500 sq ft building that will have a huge impact on additional services to the community. Saturday was work on base plates so they would be ready for the full crew Monday morning.
GAP’s current office
GAP is celebrating 25 years of ministry to the local residents.
We start each morning with prayer.
Fastening base plates.
It’s great to see young people developing a mission mindset.
Sunday morning before church we drove up the mountain from our RV park to get a good view of the “Pikeville Cut-Through”. Pikeville had a history of horrible flooding. The mayor had the vision to re-route the a four lane road, the Big Sandy river and a railroad to prevent future floods. It was the largest engineering feat in the US and second in the world only to the Panama Canal. The project was begun in 1973 and completed in 1987 at a cost of $77 million dollars. An amazing site to see.
The Pikeville Cut-Through
By Sunday evening we had 54 people ready to get to work. Approximately 18-20 people were working in the kitchen preparing 3 meals a day for 54-60 people and 30-35 were working on the job site. It was horribly hot (90+ degrees) most days. No rain all week and very few clouds. Despite the hard conditions, tremendous work was accomplished. In five days, we went from empty, flat, slab to all walls except one short wall in place. We needed just a few more studs. Most importantly, there were just a few minor scratches, but no serious injuries.
Building the first walls
One of the best part of these projects is teaching people new skills.
Raising walls
Preparing the walls for the top plates
Kelly (on her site built step stool) was the main saw operator for Week 1. She had very able helpers.
One of the advantages of having all ages participate is that young people learn how to work together to accomplish tasks.
We had a new family join us this year. One of their jobs was to build the door and window headers.
On Thursday morning we had to move the trusses so the crane could set up in the correct spot.
As usual the team members wrote scriptures references on the framing.
We wrote this where the water fountain will be.
Here are a few pictures showing the daily progress:
The building site Saturday morning
Saturday evening
Monday evening
Tuesday evening
Wednesday evening
Thursday evening
Half of the building at the end of the week
The other half. We shouldn’t be, but sometimes we are amazed at what God can do when His children volunteer to come together and be His hands for a specific purpose.
Such a good week, making new friends and renewing old friendships. The crane should have been on site this morning and the trusses should have begun to go up. Sorry we were not there to see that accomplishment but looking forward to some pictures from the folks that are still there. Please pray for their safety as they work and travel.
On a sad note, we were notified Thursday morning that two of our friends had passed away in a house fire in Cleveland, Alabama. They were both dedicated Christians and spent their lives in public safety making our county and state safer places. Kennith was in law enforcement and Regina was Max’s right hand while they helped build and operate Blount County’s 9-1-1 Central Dispatch for 22 years. In fact when Max was pulled away by his Emergency Management duties, she had to be his left hand, too. We left Kentucky Saturday morning to attend a celebration of their lives. The law enforcement, fire and EMS communities in the county turned out in force to honor them. We are comforted knowing that they are in a better place and that we will see them again.
The procession of emergency vehicles was over a mile long.
RVing With a Purpose 