RVing With a Purpose

A Week Of Ups and Downs

Friday, February 5, 2021

Tuesday we started the day with a mediation based on Psalm 1 and Bill reminded us that there are two ways to live, the way of God or the way of wickedness. We get to choose. Bill encouraged us to not sit, stand or walk with wickedness but rather be always thinking about what God wants us to do. As for me and my house we will serve the Lord.

For work on Tuesday, Nell stayed at the camp with Max and Anne to assist us in the LED project. Having someone on the ground to flip switches and assist in other ways, saves time and trips up and down on the lift. We were working 14-18 feet in the air most of the time. The lift moves around more the higher up you go. We felt like we were doing balance exercises all week. We completed 15 more of the LED conversions. Gene and Mike stayed at the camp too and worked repairing the porch on one of the cabins. Since we were not at the church we don’t know exactly what all was done there and don’t have many pictures. We are hoping to get some from some of the other team members and will share those later. We do know that a new changing table was installed in the nursery and many floors were scrubbed on hands and knees.

There were over a dozen wires in each fixture that had to be re-routed to convert it for LED bulbs.

The Camp Endeavor shirt that flew in the space shuttle Endeavor

Randy cleaning some of the many tile floors at the church

Barb scrubbing more floors at the church

Becky and Bill preparing to mulch a flower bed at the church

Wednesday there was more of the same work done. There was more cleaning at the church including the big stove in the church kitchen. There was also more pressure washing, mulching, and a dryer was purchased and installed for a church member. Max and Anne with the help of Barb completed the light installation. Gene and Mike continued to work on the priming of the exterior of the gym. Thursday we all stayed at the camp doing many different jobs. In the gym we used the lift to get back up to the ceiling to clean the air conditioner vents and return airs as well as clean the upper walls and ceiling, removing all the spiderwebs. We wanted to get it looking better for a quinceañera (15^th birthday party) that will take place Saturday. Anne took Barb and Mary Ann up in the lift for the first time. Proud of both of them for facing their fears but don’t think either of them are anxious to take another ride. There was lots of outside work going on too. Pressure washing, limb trimming, deck repairs, just to name a few. We also found out Thursday that they want us to change out some additional LED lights, but these won’t be quite so high. We will be using ladders for these so there will be more ups and downs, but not so many highs. Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Thursday morning frost. Even the nearby town of Frostproof had frost.

After the lights were finished the lift was used for some high-level cleaning.

Randy and Bill repairing the framework of a ramp to one of the cabins

Becky cutting vines from trees and fence at the camp

Finished nursery after the church moved some of the items back in

We have enjoyed seeing so many sandhill cranes.

Start of Week 2 at Dundee

Monday, February 1, 2021

It’s COLD here! OK, compared to our northern friends we know it’s not cold, but we have a wind chill warning here in central Florida with a prediction of wind chills as low as 30 degrees in the morning. The wind has been gusting to 30mph. Where did our beautiful weather go? We want it back!

We began our day with a thoughtful devotion based on Matthew 22:34-40, presented by Nell. She concentrated on verse 38, “and the second is like it, Love your neighbor as yourself.” Some define loving others as meeting their needs. Do you notice displays of love by others? When/where did you see examples of love today? Did anyone observe you displaying love today? Thanks Nell, good way to start our day.

Lots of new work today. Max and Anne stayed at the campground and began working on changing the fluorescent lights to LED in the gym/multipurpose room. We got a slow start due to the lift not being charged but ended up getting 8 of 36 lights changed out today. Now that we have a system in place we hope to get more done tomorrow. Gene worked on spray painting the gym exterior. Barb and Mike got their RV repaired and arrived Friday afternoon. Today they worked on the exterior of a church member’s home that needed a little help. They did some pressure washing on this cold day. (a real display of love.) Nell and Randy worked on repainting the church sign, Becky worked on mulching some of the flower beds at the church and Mary Ann tried to keep us all headed in the right direction. It was a busy day for everyone but a lot was accomplished. Another day of blessings – given and received.

Mike and Barb spent most of the day working at a mobility impaired church member’s house.

Gene and Bob used this lift all day for painting the outside of the gym.

Anne positioning the lift for the next light

The church members have generously provided lunch for us each work day. Lunch today was these delicious homemade tamales

Great Weekend

Sunday, January 31, 2021

We celebrated our weekend by touring around the area. There is so much more to Florida than the beaches and the theme parks and sadly that’s all so many people ever see. Friday we started our weekend by dropping by the Florida’s Natural visitors center. Of course, we enjoyed the juice samples, but they also had lots of great displays, a very good movie on the industry, the citrus business and horticulture. We learned a lot.

The Florida’s Natural plant is across the highway from the visitor center.

There are several interesting displays and presentations in the Visitor Center.

One of our purchases from the Florida’s Natural Visitor Center

After making a few gift shop purchases, we left the visitors center in route to the Bok Tower Gardens located in Lake Wales, about 10 miles south of Dundee. The Bok Tower Gardens is a bird sanctuary, gorgeous gardens, and 205 foot tall carillon tower with beautiful bells. The Singing Tower is built of beautiful pink and gray Georgia marble and coquina stone from St. Augustine. It stands on the highest point in the state of Florida. The pink marble was amazing in the bright sunlight. We made sure we were there for the carillon concert at 1:00. They have 205 acres of gardens and we kept thinking of our mothers and how much they would have enjoyed visiting here. We got lots of steps in the gardens.

The philosophy behind the tower and gardens

The carillonneur can be watched during the concert via a closed circuit tv in the garden.

One of many beautiful plantings at the gardens

There is a bog area for carnivorous plants like these pitcher plants.

This little fellow found himself a cool hideout.

Saturday we did some additional exploring in the area. We went to Lake Wailes park, located in the town of Lake Wales, and did our walking there. There is a nice, paved path around the lake. There are so many lakes and so many beautiful parks in this area. Max always says if there is a puddle in Florida you better look for an alligator. We saw a big gator in Lake Wailes, at least six feet long.

On the way to Lake Wailes Park we had to wait for the sandhill cranes to get out of the road. They reminded us of dairy dogs back home.

We have had beautiful weather while here in Dundee. Today was another beautiful day. After church and lunch, we found another park in Dundee to do our walking. Maybe if Alabama put more money in walking paths and places to get exercise we wouldn’t rank so high in cardiovascular disease and stroke. Of course, I suppose our diet has something to do with it too.

We are feeling so blessed to have our health. Please continue to pray for everyone continuing to struggle with COVID.

First Week in Dundee Completed

Friday, January 29, 2021

The first week of our project at Dundee UMC was very productive. We got off to a great start on Monday and the rest of the week just kept getting better. Of course we began each day with devotion. It’s a great way to start the day, worshiping with our teammates. It’s also a joy to be working only 5 minutes from the RVs. We have worked so many disaster rebuilds lately that we are really appreciating the short commute. We are back at the campground no later than 4:15 most days. Nice.

Max and Anne continued working in the office, completing the installation of the laminate flooring and quarter-round late Thursday afternoon. We also had to remove doors, shorten one of them and re-hang after completing the flooring. We still have to finish repairing the drywall and painting the wall section where we removed the cabinet but the room is looking much better. The flooring looks nice. The team working in the nursery completed all that work – two coats of paint on the walls, striping, cleaning, waxing and buffing the floors, and reinstalling the wire closet shelves. The walls and floor look so much more inviting, clean and fresh. The door in the sanctuary, hand rail, outside door of the house all have been repaired. The new fence in front of the office was installed Wednesday and Thursday. It looks really good! The garage needed a lot of work when we arrived. Evidently the team last year cleaned it out and the ones here this year that worked on it last year were determined to get it organized and cleaned out again. They did amazing work! You can park a small car in there now. Nell and others also spent a lot of time pressure washing sidewalks and driveways. Really makes the outside of the church look better. There is still some work to be done but we have completed most of our tasks. It was a great week!