Tag: nomads

Third Week At Sumatanga

Sunday, May 4, 2025

Our last post left us at Camp Sumatanga for Easter weekend.  Easter morning we were up at 4:00 am, on the road by 5:00 am and celebrated the resurrection of our Lord and Savior with our Lester Memorial family at 6:00 am on the mountain above Oneonta at Palisades Park.  It was a wonderful service and beautiful sunrise.  Such a great way to start Resurrection Sunday.

For our third week working at Camp Sumatanga we were so blessed!  Friday of Holy Week our good friends and fellow NOMADS Mariel and Shannon joined us.  On Sunday afternoon two more good friends and NOMADS, Rita and Dave, joined us. We also had great help from Barry and Donna and Emily.  First, there was NO water leak Monday morning!  We were able to resume work on Cabin 5 with Barry, Donna, Mariel, Anne, Max, and Rita worked on painting the exterior since Monday would be our only dry day.  Shannon and Dave did some framing work for the showers and vents, built some benches, and repaired drywall in the old section of the cabin.  On Thursday Dave, Shannon, Max, Anne, and Barry insulated the walls and ceilings. 

We also continued to work in the girl’s staff hut. By the end of the week Donna, Barry, Rita, Mariel, Anne and Emily had all six bedrooms ceiling, walls and closets painted along with the hallway and most of the trim.  The bathroom ceilings were also painted.  The old water heaters were removed.  Max and Anne rebuilt and insulated part of the front wall of the hut and finished the repair of  the damaged subfloor in the front room. Max and Barry also worked on rough-in electrical in Cabin 7.  It was a very busy week with a lot accomplished for the camp.  Most importantly, everyone stayed safe!  Big thank you to all who helped!!

We returned to Johnston, SC after church on Sunday and have spent the past week with Randy and Debra.  Randy received a great report from his oncologist on Wednesday so it’s been a great week for us.  If things go as planned we will be doing some westward travel with Randy and Debra this next week.

Week Two – Déjà vu

Saturday, April 19, 2025

Hope you have had a wonderful Holy Week. As we share wonderful meals and Easter egg hunts with family and friends, remember the sacrifice of our Lord and Savior and tomorrow we celebrate our RISEN SAVIOR on Resurrection Sunday.  Thank You, Jesus!!

Same song, second verse.  Monday morning we were leaving the campground to go back to work on Cabins 5 and 7 at Pool Camp when we heard on the radio that there must be another big leak somewhere in the water system.  We headed back to the retreat center and yes there was water flowing like a river.  The guys started digging mud and bailing water.  Before they could get the water system shut down, we watched the ground cave in like a sink hole.  The repair from last week was still perfect but there were two other leaks further on down the line.  Monday was spent repairing those leaks.  Tuesday morning, after assuring the repairs held overnight, the big hole was covered and we were back working on Cabins 5 and 7 for the remainder of the week.  Hopefully there will not be another leak this Monday.  By the way, generally it’s not advisable to drive around the back to the retreat centers.  There are all kinds of pipes and lines back there. It’s much better to park in the parking spaces provided.

Then we brought in the mini-excavator.

Cabins 5 & 7 are identical so even though cabin 5 is top priority, we are also working on 7 based on where the plumber needs us to help out and what supplies we have.  We also did some additional cleaning and repairs in the staff hut. 

We are excited because Friday some NOMADS friends, Shannon and Mariel, arrived at the camp to work with us next week.  We have Dave and Rita also NOMADS friends that will be arriving on Sunday afternoon.  Donna and Barry also plan to return for most of the week, so we hope to make a lot more progress next week. 

We have a neighbor in the campground who gets really nervous when we walk by her site.

First Week Back at Sumatanga

Sunday, April 13, 2025

We arrived in Gallant, AL at Camp Sumatanga on Friday afternoon, April 4. It was an uneventful drive from Red Bay and we were fortunate to get out ahead of the storms.  Saturday, we had a list of errands to run.  It reminded us of when we were still working, trying to get everything else done on Saturday.  Retirement is so good!  Sunday we were blessed to be able to return to Lester Memorial again as we do so much prefer in person worship.  We are very thankful for being able to stream the services when we are out of town but in person is definitely the best.

Monday morning Barry joined us to begin work at the camp.  Our first priority is the completion of the remodeling of Cabin 5 as it is needed for summer camp.  Cabin 7 is also being remodeled but is not needed quite as soon.  Some of you may remember that this time last year we were here with a NOMADS team and demolished the old bathrooms in these two cabins (link to last year’s project).  Since then the camp contracted to extend the concrete slabs, frame in new bathrooms and install new metal roofs. This year’s spring NOMADS project was cancelled for lack of sign-ups. (We need more new members – hint, hint.)  We had a few weeks available and decided to spend them here.

Monday and Tuesday the roofers were still working on the cabins and we certainly didn’t want to be in their way so we were sent to start on the girl’s staff hut (with a few detours along the way).  It needs lots of love but we are making progress. Barry did lots of cleaning, while Anne worked on some dry wall and Max worked on some flooring.  On Tuesday, John from our church joined us and he and Barry replaced the leaking vent turbine on the roof.  Barry’s life before retirement was also very helpful because he was able to repair the camps mini excavator.  We also repaired a deck on Cabin 1.

After the roofers finished their work, we began concentrating on Cabin 5 and assisting the plumber with roughing in the plumbing.  We also were able to get a lot of work done on the plumbing rough in on Cabin 7.  On Friday, Donna joined us and we began the electrical rough in on Cabin 5.  It was a good week, and we are enjoying being back with friends at Sumatanga and attending our church in person.

A Swamp Hike and a Another Visit to Red Bay

April 12, 2025

When we last posted, we were still in South Carolina, still visiting with Randy and Debra.  We still walked at least 10,000 steps every day and on Sunday 3/23 we did another new to us hike.  This one was in Augusta, GA at the Phinizy Swamp and Nature Park.  It is a very unique and fun place to hike and all the better entry is free.  While you might not be excited to visit a place with swamp in its name Phinizy actually has some pretty amazing hiking paths through some beautiful wetlands.  We saw all kinds of critters including some very small and very big alligators, beautiful birds and one of the largest snapping turtles we have ever seen.  The park was built by the Augusta wastewater treatment system and the treated waste water is now sent through the constructed wetlands system before being released into Savannah River.  It was a great place to spend a beautiful Sunday afternoon.

The remainder of that week was spent preparing to hit the road again.  We left Johnston Saturday, and spent the night in Oneonta in our church’s parking lot.  We got to worship at Lester Memorial Sunday and attend our Sunday School class.  It was so great to be back at our home church.  From Oneonta we drove Fred to Red Bay to get a slide repaired and new tires installed.  With everything completed, we left Red Bay Friday afternoon just in time to avoid some severe thunderstorms.  We are now back at Camp Sumatanga helping the staff prepare for summer camping season.