RVing With a Purpose

Thursday, April 27, 2017

Today it rained and threatened rain until about the time we quit work and then the sun came out brightly. Gene did our devotion today with Bryant playing the guitar. It is so great to have a musician on the team! Gene shared the article “The Incredible Evangelistic Egg” by Kirk Cameron, (best known for starring in the television series “Growing Pains” and the “Left Behind” movies). He used the creation story in Genesis for the scripture. In the article he describes how the egg nourishes a chick until it breaks out of the egg. He encourages the use of this example in sharing Christ with others. Click here to check out the article. Thanks Gene for another good devotion.

First thing this morning we hauled our trash to the dump and Bill picked up more supplies for us. We then resumed working on plumbing, pulling old abandoned wiring out, repairing sheetrock and painting. Part of the repairing was in a small hallway to the master bedroom with a damaged popcorn ceiling. Appears to have been wet at some point and when touched it would just fall down. We had a can of spray popcorn texture and tried to use it to make the repair. Since we had never used this type spray, Anne read and followed the directions exactly. She put on all the safety gear – mask, goggles, rain jacket with hood. Real attractive – but needed a hazmat suit. We had made a little tent around the area to hopefully prevent making a mess everywhere. Did NOT work!!! We think maybe it was old or something but it came out real thin and runny and wouldn’t stick to the ceiling. Just fell back down all over the place including all over Anne. YUK!! Had to hose off the jacket inside and out, clean the googles, mask and all exposed skin. The stuff was suppose to be white but came out brown. We didn’t see any expiration date on the can but something was definitely wrong. So, after letting it dry for a while, and everybody looking at it we decided to just take all the popcorn down in the little area and then prime and paint. So then Max used our newest tool that Bill Koch “thoughtfully” gave us right before we left Sumatanga. (Maybe Bill just didn’t want to have to use it himself.) Anyway you attach a plastic store bag to the texture removal device, spray the ceiling lightly with water, wait a bit and then scrape. The popcorn falls into the bag to prevent the huge mess removing popcorn texture usually makes. We had seen this tool before but never tried one. No one on the team had tried it. It really works. You can’t get all the way to the edge but very close and most of the debris goes into the bag. Cool. We were 50/50 today. Two new experiences, one was a disaster and the other worked as it should. We finished painting the first coat on the ceiling – so very high. Max even got in on that. Ok NOMADS – we did not photo shop this picture. Max was actually painting the high ceiling. Steve finished the plumbing rough-in and Oneta worked on painting the porch swing. We got things ready to hang drywall but couldn’t go get it due to the rain. Bill is going to get it tomorrow so we can start that Monday.

After a great work week, we celebrated by going to Chinquapins for ice cream. There we enjoyed our ice cream and shakes and just hung out a while. By the time we went back outside everyone had a sunny disposition to match the bright sun that was now out. The weather forecast is good for the weekend and there is lots to do in the area.

Wednesday, April 26, 2017

Today began with a beautiful fog bank over the lake that the sun was able to burn off fairly quickly. It sure was beautiful for the short time we had to enjoy it.

Bryant and Jackie handled devotion as well as the music for us today. They brought us a Rick Warren devotion based on Matthew 7:24-29 from The Message. Since we are in the building phase of the project now this was very appropriate. The foundation determines the size of the building built upon it and whether the building stands or falls like the pavilion fell last Saturday night. We choose what we use for our foundation, maybe popular culture, tradition, reason, or emotions. All of these while not necessarily being bad will eventually fail. Only the Word of God will never fail and is the only real choice for our foundation. We had a good time of discussion and music.

It was then time to go back to work. We need to get the plumbing and electrical rough in completed so we can get the drywall up. Dave, Gene and Oneta worked on electrical most of the day but Anne even helped by learning how to strip wires and prepare for installation of the outlets. Steve worked on plumbing. Jackie, Cheryl, and Sandra spent a lot of time on ladders today, painting. There may be some sore necks, backs and legs tomorrow. Bryant finished the repair of the closet ceiling and caulked everything so that tomorrow it will be ready for painting. He also worked on some drywall repairs, as did Anne. Max did some drywall patching and other things but spends most of his days answering questions and keeping everyone else busy.

At lunch we were treated to a hot dog dinner at City Electric. They grilled the hot dogs and we had chips and cup cakes. Everyone seemed to really enjoy it. They offered us discounts on any tools and supplies we needed and gave all the ladies pink – breast cancer awareness – hard hats and the guys got blue light bulbs for autism awareness. They told us about City Electric and we shared some information about what we do as NOMADS. They thanked us for all the volunteer hours NOMADS give to the Hinton Center. Very nice gesture by one of the Hinton Center vendors.

We were all really glad to have Carol return this afternoon and even more, we celebrated her good report on the tests she had done. Now she and Dave can continue with their planned projects without worry. Thank You God for answered prayers.

After work some of us sat outside and enjoyed the nice afternoon/evening just chatting, visiting and laughing. It was another good day.

Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Dave brought a very inspiring and heartfelt devotion about “Love Bursts” this morning. That coupled with Bryant’s guitar playing and song leading really got us off to a good start. After devotion Bill taught a short lesson on electric devices and wiring and then we went to work.

Everyone picked right back up where they stopped yesterday and accomplished a lot, even though the results were not as visually dramatic. Everyone just jumped in, changing jobs whenever needed to accomplish the task. Dave and Gene, and sometimes Oneta, continued running new circuits for the kitchen electrical. Dave, Bryant and Jackie removed more drywall so the wiring could be roughed in. Steve and Sandra continued working on the stairs, then Sandra started painting the ceiling while Steve worked on plumbing. Using a reinforced 2×4 and a floor jack, Bryant and Max installed a new ceiling in a bedroom closet where it had sagged. Jackie, Cheryl and Oneta prepared a porch swing for painting. Max, Jackie and Cheryl pulled the old vinyl flooring up from the kitchen and hall. And Jackie and Cheryl worked on getting the retaining wall ready for painting. You all should be tired just from reading all that. What an energetic hard working team. Oh, and there is STILL one wire sticking up through the kitchen floor that we haven’t been able to pull out. Maybe tomorrow.

Just before lunch Bill told us it was Volunteer Appreciation Day at Hinton and we were all invited to lunch. As always, lunch was delicious and Jackie, the CEO of Hinton, spoke about how much volunteers do for the Center and how very much they are appreciated.

And most importantly, Anne returned to the team from Atlanta late this afternoon.

Monday, April 24, 2017

Some NOMADS really like to tear things up. Fortunately, we have a few of those on this team and they are good. As a result we made a lot of progress today in the Lake House. The day started with our usual devotion time with songs and prayer. We are very fortunate to have Bryant here with his guitar to lead our music. As we have said before, our morning devotions are the most important thing we do all day. Afterward, Bill gave us our work priorities for the day – to demolish the current kitchen and stair rails in preparation for their replacement. First we cleaned out all the cabinets and removed all the furniture and appliances for the kitchen, living room and dining room. Then while Steve, Sandra and Dave started removing the stair rail, the rest of the team worked upstairs removing ceiling fan blades, blinds, light fixtures and carpet.

During the day people moved from task to task as needed, especially when trying to disconnect the old plumbing and electrical. Some of the electrical took a long time to trace and remove. In fact there is one wire sticking up through the kitchen floor that we still haven’t been able to pull out.

This is a great team. All day nobody asked “What should I do?” They all just saw what needed to be done – and did it. It’s great how fast this team has come together when a lot of us have never worked together before.