RVing With a Purpose

Sunday, April 23, 2017

Last night a strong front passed through this part of North Carolina. We could see the trees bending over around the parking lot and twigs and leaves pelted the side of the coach. It was over quickly and we slept to the sound of rain the rest of the night. This morning between showers we were outside and Bill drove by and told us the new pavilion had been blown down during the night. We drove down and saw the sad sight. We had heard they were planning a ribbon cutting for the pavilion this week and part of our project was to finish the restrooms and equipment room there. Don’t guess that will happen now.

Before church Anne got a message from her brother in Atlanta that her sister-in-law had taken a turn for the worse. He was needing some help and support so she drove to Atlanta to be with Jim and Marguerite. Marguerite has been battling ovarian cancer since 2015 and things are not going well now. Interestingly the drive to Atlanta from Hayesville was beautiful. Google’s suggested route led over some really windy north Georgia mountain roads with steep inclines and descents. Hopefully Anne will be back to work in a day or two.

We all attended church at Oak Forest UMC, which is just down the road from the Hinton Center. Every time we have been there the service has been very well done. Today was no exception. And the congregation always makes us feel welcome. After the service the team decided to go to Rib Country for lunch. We came back to camp instead to get Anne ready to go to Atlanta.

Max spent the afternoon walking around campus, greeting Gene and Oneda, the final two team members to arrive, and preparing for the initial team meeting. Since Anne wasn’t there he had more to do like getting the food ready. It rained most of the afternoon but stopped just before time for the meeting. We met at the lake house which is also where we will be having our daily devotions and where we will be working. The meeting started with everyone introducing themselves and telling about their families and NOMADS experience then we covered all the required informational and safety topics. After that, Bill discussed the tasks we will be undertaking. We ended with a few snacks and fellowship. In other words – our usual agenda. This seems like it will be another fun group and we are looking forward to working with them and accomplishing a lot for Hinton. The forecast calls for more rain tomorrow (we are under a flood warning) so we are thankful for inside work.

Saturday, April 22, 2017

Today has been cloudy all day and we have been under a flash flood watch all day but we had only a few drops of rain until a few minutes ago. It is now raining like crazy and the outside temperature has dropped 14 degrees in the past 55 minutes. This area still needs rain. Last fall when we were here they were experiencing even worse drought than we were in Alabama and while it is better, the lake is still obviously low. We are just thankful that all but one couple of our team have arrived safely and got set up before the rain arrived. We have one more couple who should arrive tomorrow afternoon.

We walked around the camp today to see the changes since we were last here. They are trying to make some improvements and spruce up the place a bit. Today was Volunteer Work Day and there were a lot of people out working on the grounds/landscaping, helping in the office etc. The flowerbeds are looking good and a lot of weed-eating was done. Dave came over for breakfast with us this morning since his sweet wife isn’t here yet. Cheryl arrived while Dave was still with us and we helped her get parked. No that she needed much help. We spent some time just getting organized and set up after a travel day. Next in was Sandra and Steve. It’s great to see them again. We have met them before but never worked a project with them. We look forward to getting to know them better. We parked them up by Young Commons Building, the building we painted inside and out last fall. We will have two RVs there and four in the lower parking lot. When we walked down to the lake we went by to take a look at the Lake House. The outside looks good but we were not sure if the people had left yet so we didn’t go inside. We will do that tomorrow. Even though the water is down the lakeside still looks good. They are building a pavilion down by the lake that is looking really nice. Another improvement at Hinton is a 9 hole disc golf course. It was here but really not very usable when we were here last fall. With the help of a local NOMAD they have really cleaned up the course, installed needed steps and placed signage at each tee. We will have to get out our discs and try it out on a cool, dry day. Should be fun although it looks like it could be a bit challenging for our skill level. We really aren’t very good.

Our last couple of the day arrived about 5:00 and easily parked next to us. They are relatively new NOMADS and we had not previously met Bryant and Jackie. They seem very nice and we will enjoy getting to know them. Tomorrow we will go to the small church that is just down the road from Hinton and have our opening meeting. Remember to be praying for tomorrow’s services.

Friday, April 21, 2017

Unlike the last time we came to Hinton from Sumatanga, we had an uneventful morning and an easy completion of our departure checklist. We said some final goodbyes to Richard and Bill and Marti. Everybody else was still asleep and we had said goodbye to them last night. Sad to leave such a wonderful group of friends.

It was a sunny day for most of the drive. We left Sumatanga and took I-59 to Chattanooga. It was an uneventful drive until the road construction in Chattanooga. YUK!! Long backup and crazy lane changes and lanes that just run out. Once we were thru there it was an easy and beautiful drive along the Ocoee River. It’s a lot of curves and somewhat narrow, but really nice scenery. We made it to Hinton Rural Life Center with just a few sprinkles of rain and got all the outside setup done before the significant rain started. After settling in a little we met with Bill Curns, our agency contact, to begin going over our work plan. We will be remodeling the Lake House along with some other tasks. The Lake House is rented until tomorrow so we will wait and tour it then or Sunday afternoon. From the project list it sounds like we will have plenty to do and a lot of fun.

While driving over we received a phone call from NOMADS Kathy and Bill who live in Hayesville, wanting to get together tonight, visit and go to dinner. They came over about 7:00 and after we got Dave parked we all went out to dinner at Rib Country. Sorry, we forgot to take any pictures. We are so glad they called and we were able to see them again. We worked with them at MMDC in Chatham, IL last year. Thank you so much Kathy for calling us. Safe travels. We are looking forward to the rest of the team arriving tomorrow and Sunday and getting to know everyone. It should be a really good three weeks. Will try to get some pictures of some of the Center tomorrow.

Thursday, April 20, 2017

We have had almost 2 weeks of near perfect weather. Another gorgeous day!! We always like to do the devotional to close out a project when we are leaders. Today we talked about laughter. “A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.” (Proverbs 17:22) This group has laughed so much, so hard and so long that we certainly can’t have dried up bones. We reviewed some of the real medical benefits of laughter and then challenged them to take this to their home small groups, to their next project, and pass it on. Certainly with all the bad things happening in the world, our country, and our state, it’s easy to get upset and down. We must share and encourage all to remember “This is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it.” We have declared this the NOMADS fight song. We hope we can all share our joy and hope and laughter with others and let by so doing, this three weeks continue.

This is our last day so we reviewed what we have done and today decided to concentrate all our efforts on getting the Lakeside Loo as far along as possible. We knew from the beginning that we probably would not finish this task but left it in good shape and hopefully it won’t take too long for the maintenance guys to finish it up.

We also finally – on this the last day – took the team on a non-hay ride tour of the camp right before lunch.

This three weeks went by really fast. So just what all have we done. We started by moving everything movable out of the kitchen and pressure washing and scrubbing the kitchen floor at Pool Camp. We then started some construction and enclosed the loading dock area of the kitchen at Pool Camp. We built a new wall, moved the sink to that wall and installed the plumbing in the kitchen. We also enclosed some pipes in the kitchen. Then we moved everything back into the kitchen so that it could be used for about 140 kids that came for a weekend retreat that was part of their confirmation classes. We worked in Little Brown, moving some electrical and telephone service so that a closet could be opened making a way to reach the bathroom from the summer staff break room. The walls around the opening had to be framed in and covered with drywall which was then mudded. A new breaker box was installed replacing a quite old fuse box. An exterior door was reopened up for use and a step area framed in for concrete. An enclosure was also build to cover and protect the telephone equipment that was moved. A condensate pump was also installed. The worship supplies storage room was reorganized and supplies were taken to media/worship supply areas at Pool Camp, McKinney, and the Lodge. Flower beds at McKinney, the Lodge, Eva Walker and Pool Camp were weeded and mulched. We put out more than 120 bags of mulch. We completed two previously started tent platforms and built two more for base camp. This included installing 20 foot ridge beams on all four platforms as well as building steps for all four. We also dismantled some of the old ropes course and hauled it off. At the Lakeside Loo the first step was designing and drawing a plan for the remodel. Then the tear out and clean up had to be done. Two windows were removed along with most of the 1×3 trim on the exterior. The rebuild was started with the base plates being installed in both sides and walls and partitions being framed in. Some of the wall board was installed and some of the new 1×3 exterior trim was re-installed. We think that is a lot of work for 12 days work. We are all tired but also pleased with what was accomplished for the camp and the people who will be coming to Sumatanga in the future. It was a great three weeks of working along side the Sumatanga staff and helping them get some of the projects done.

After finishing up today we all went back to Jack’s for BOGO milkshakes. Tim went with us and we all sat around visiting and laughing. Such good times.

Once again, we have made some wonderful new friends, spent wonderful time with old friends, and have been so blessed by this team and everyone at Sumatanga. Please pray for everyone’s safe travel this weekend as all but Bill and Marti will be on the road tomorrow. It’s on to Hayesville, NC and Hinton Center tomorrow for us.