December Has Arrived!

December is here and time to get ready for Christmas!!   Today, we worked our last day on our "November" project at Shocco Springs.   Soon after, we hit the road and are now heading north to our home and the Christmas season.

This was a good month of work.   We worked just as hard and accomplished just as much the last week there as we did the first week.    There is always much to be done where ever we go and many hands are required to accomplish the work.   To us, it is a privilege to help further their work of the Gospel.

However, tomorrow it will be good to walk into our house for a few weeks before we head out again.   When we left at the end of October, one of my "rules" were broken.   That rule being not to put up our Christmas tree until after Thanksgiving.   Since there was no one there to see the trees, we put them up just before we headed out.   Soooo, tomorrow when we walk in the house, we will be able to flip the switch and have instant Christmas.

The next few weeks/days will fly by and once again, we will head south, pick up the RV and drive into another location start all over again.

Celebrations

This was a week of celebrations for the Snows.To begin the week, Sharon celebrated a major birthday and is now caught up with Don again.   The group wished her well with calls, card and a birthday cake for all to share.    It wasn't so bad.

Plus, since it was Thanksgiving week, we had Wednesday plus the holidays free since the staff had the time off.  The rest of the week centered around thanksgiving and, naturally, food.   On Wednesday evening, we took advantage of the warmer weather to have a cook out.   This time of the year, we must start early because the sun sets well before 5 pm and it gets dark even sooner than that thanks to central time in the eastern US!   On Thursday, we all pitched in for a traditional Thanksgiving meal with all the trimmings.   Shocco Springs had given us one of their best places for our use complete with a normal sized kitchen!   (This is important since most RVs can't handle big items.)  We all miss our families when we are away but it is much harder during the times when most families are together for this special time.

Variety is good.   This week we did different work.   After folding laundry for a day again, on Tuesday, we were outside in the gorgeous weather pruning rose bushes.   Yes, these bushes were still loaded with bloom.   I guess we aren't back home in Indiana in November!    The men went to a house Shocco has recently purchased to tear down a deck and salvage the excellent lumber.   They loved doing it, but to a man, they were exhausted and thankful for a 2 day week.

Come Monday morning, we will be totally refreshed and more than anxious to get going again!    Can't believe we are half way done.   Well, maybe we can believe it.    We went Christmas shopping and hear Christmas music.   That means another celebration will be coming soon---but with family the next time.

We Are a Team

Once again we have come together as a diverse group of couples with the one purpose of serving God through service work. (Roving Volunteers in Christ's Service)    Each group is unique from every other team we have joined together with.   Our team members call Indiana, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, New Hampshire and Georgia home and are from different "cultures" of the US.   Even though we have worked with 2 of the couples before, but different projects, the personality of the group is in continuous change.   However, with our unity with Christ, it always works!!

It is fun getting to know each and everyone as an individual as we work together to accomplish our work.    Since we all have different talents, it is amazing to see how the Lord puts each group together (at random since the skills required are unknown prior to our arrival).  Every member of RVICS knows that if a specific talent is required on a project, one of the members will have it.   Humans can't plan that well!!

The women had the opportunity to talk while we worked since were all together the majority of our work week. As we worked in the laundry room, folding sheets, blankets, towels, etc.   The conversation flowed freely.   Another lady and I took advantage of the sunny days to walk the hills and thoroughly enjoy the colors.   As a family would, we, also, celebrated an anniversary on the team.

The men worked a little harder than the ladies. (Of course, they would say that is always the case!)   They have 3 classrooms to "rebuild" on their to-do list.   After tearing out walls, ceilings etc. they are beginning to put it back together with new wiring and dry wall.   Next week, things will look differently.

Part of  unifying our group is done through touring together one day a week.   In a few minutes, all 10 of us will climb into a couple of vehicles and head out to enjoy the day at a national forest.  

Thankful to be a part of this work!

Our 3rd Fall---

Fall continues for us, at least, the colors of fall.   However, the temps do indeed feel like November with drops to near freezing.   We have followed the turning of the seasons from Michigan in September, Indiana in October and, now, Alabama in November.   God does a give us gorgeous scenery for our enjoyment.

October was a good break to once again reconnect with family with trips to both Illinois and Oklahoma to visit "kids" and grandkids.   (Yes, we will miss Thanksgiving with them.)   Just as in life, there has to be give and takes in the volunteer work we do.    But, we were able to catch a football game and experience some other school activities with our little ones---who are growing up much too quickly!!



Early this week we arrived at Shocco Springs Conference Center, Talladega, Alabama, for work to begin next week.   This is our third visit to the center and it is always good to be here.  Since arriving, we have enjoyed seeing all the activity and use of the camp in which we will give our time.    This is a team of 5 couples from 5 different states (Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia, New Hampshire and Indiana).    With just one more couple to come, we are all getting excited to get moving again.

Counting Down-----

Yes, it seems impossible but our time here at Spring Hill Camp is down to our last 4 days.  The schedule for the week looks like some of the work will be completed.   The sleeping rooms the women were painting have very high ceilings and walls.   The ladies only painted to a height of about 8 feet.   The men will bring in ladders to finish the job to the top.  Part of the men’s work this past week was to remove, dismantle and clean bathroom exhaust fans.  Now, after the fans are removed, the ladies will do the cleaning etc. and to get a few more of them done.

MAJESTIC!!!   That is the only way to describe the trees clothed in all their glory.   With a backdrop of a crystal blue sky and color on the trees, it is a picture postcard.   However, the time of their beauty is, also, counting down as fall is rapidly approaching.   The ground around the RVs is quickly becoming a carpet of leaves.

Come Friday morning, we will head the truck south again toward home.   After 23 projects, we have found that saying goodbye to our RVICS friends is never easy.   This combination of couples will never again work together, even though we might work with each of them again down the road.  But, it will be good to be back home with friends, “kids” and grandkids.   With a free month before we head out again, it will be a refreshing time of rest and anticipation again!   Plus, this time around, we might see more of the changing into fall down in a southern state for November!

What a Difference in a Week---

Fall arrived this week.   No, not by the calendar but with the weather!    Brrrr!!    It was definitely cooler and  very windy and rainy.    Plus, a couple of morning there was "frost on the pumpkin"!    Isn't it too early for all of this?   I guess after the very hot temps of the summer our blood has gotten too thin???    The trees are going through their physical changes also.   When the trees in the area where we are parked are hit by the evening sun, they are a beautiful gold.

The "high" work on the dining hall was completed this week.     The new coat of stain/paint on the pipes for the sprinkler system and the beams around them now brand new.    They moved on to replacing and painting a door on a pump house and repairing a floor under a cabin.   Ugh!!   The reason for this is to keep the mice out!!     Yes, I think it is the time of year they are moving inside.

The ladies, also, brought out their paint attire this week and began work on sleeping rooms in one of the buildings.   The had a very unique look when we began.   Bright colors for every room from every color in the rainbow!   They were a challenge to the eyes!     The work has begun to make them a nice neutral brown.   The last day of work, the rooms were occupied and we, once again, found ourselves counting.   Counting bandannas and folding them---1368 in all but that job will be left undone for awhile.    Next week,  we pick the paint brushes back up again and try to get more rooms done.

This is definitely a group of practical jokers.  (Can't tell because it will probably be done again.)  The Snows have been the brunt of the worst one.   Oh well, we have made up for it a little bit!   There is good to balance work and play and worship.    On our team tour this week, a stop was made where the Old Rugged Cross was written 100 years ago.   Yes, we did sing the song before leaving.

Next week is week #3 and we are looking forward to it!

Off to a Good Start

Yes, the waiting is over and the work and (as you can see above) the play has begun.    The Hoosiers are definitely outnumbered in this group.   We find we are the only members of this team without a Michigan heritage of some kind.    Two of the couples are currently residents and the third couple have deep roots in this state.   However, we all of the related in Christ!!

Spring Hill Camp in Evart, Michigan, is massive in physical size covering nearly 1000 acres.   With the large physical size, it reaches many age groups in many different ways year round.   In our small way, over the next month we will make some parts of it better.

The first week found the women counting, counting and doing, more counting with the inventory of the camp store.    Some of us, also, found some things we felt we just couldn't do without and purchased to take with us.   The men spent their week replacing &/or repairing soffitt on the dining hall.   Along with that job, one or two of them stained some pillars etc. on the same building.   It looks much better.  Variety is good.   Next week will find the men and women doing different jobs.

The weather was absolutely perfect this week to do about anything outside.   As a group we took advantage and had a campfire one evening---yes, there were s'mores.   For tour to finish the week, we got a real inside look at the Amish community located nearby.   It was very interesting to visit inside 3 of their factories and spend time in their school.

For the weekend, we have gone our separate ways but come Monday, it will be time to help out once again.

Ready and Waiting

Ready and waiting.   That is now our theme as we prepare for another season of RVICS projects.   After a long very hot, dry summer, September has arrived with rain and cooler temperatures and a trip north to Michigan.  This month we are spending at Spring Hill Camp, near Evart, Michigan.    This is a camp ministry we have heard much about over the years.    Three couples have joined us and, one way or another, they all have ties to this area of Michigan.  (We are the outsiders!)

From the pre-project meetings, we feel this will be another productive month that will benefit the work of the Lord.    Our readiness preparations yesterday included being "licensed" to drive golf carts.   It was almost like applying for a state license.   This camp covers many acres and we appreciate not having to drive our huge trucks around that "drink" the fuel we put in them!  

Another "another ready and waiting" are the trees.   When we arrived we were very surprised to find some are beginning to sport some color.   The tree shown is just outside our window and we will be able to watch the changes that will take place.

Tomorrow, we become a "team" as the ones who had to leave for the weekend will return.   All the ready and waiting will be worth it come Monday.

I'm So Glad I'm a Part of the Family of God----

------That is the theme song for the RVICS organization and is it ever true to all of us. In 2006, as Don and I were thinking of retirement and what that might look like, we found out about RVICS. After prayer and God's leading, in May 2006, we knew this was the leading of the Lord, when a truck and RV became available. This was the biggest step of our new commitment to our future. Our "camping" had never been done in anything but a tent! After applying to be RVICS missionaries, being accepted and with a schedule in hand for the 2007 year, we were a part of this new "family". As we began our first project, we arrived minus a bedroom window in the RV and in the third month with a group that had been together the previous 2 months. No fear, however, we were definitely a part of this new family. The past 5 years have sped at the speed of sound, it seems. However, during that time the friendships we have formed will last the rest of lives. This past week, there was a reunion of RVICS at a member's home in Michigan. There we met prospective members, retired members, a brand new couple yet to work a project and many friends we have shared much time with on projects. What a great time we had---not working---but just seeing each other and catching up on one another lives. We are so thankful for that day in 2006 in which we made the decision to become a part of the RVICS family.

Perfect Ending

This is our last day of work (and fun) here at Lake Swan Camp. Months always fly by but particularly this month. However, our time is over and tomorrow morning we will point the truck north and head back to Hartford City.

Our final week of work has been a very unique one. Lake Swan Camp has been the destination of our high school youth group of our home church in Upland, Indiana, for Spring Break (leaving the winter behind) for many years. This is our third trip to do a project here but the first time we have actually been here when the UCC youth were here. It has been so much fun seeing the camp being used by them to meet their spiritual needs to just being fun. As in previous years, the youth do a service project (aka work day) for the camp. Yesterday, they joined some of our RVICS members in doing work at the camp. Some of the pictures show them in their work.

At many of the projects, there is always an endless "to do list". The men added repairs and replacement of some of the swings on the playground. A small bathroom was added to the ladies list. Those 2 projects will be finished when we leave. However, there is a large fence to be cleaned etc. The work will be have to be finished by those volunteers to follow us.

Once again, we leave our fingerprints and, in some cases, a little blood behind but thankful for the opportunity to have been with our team members in just helping out.
On one hand, it is very hard to leave but exciting to look to the weeks to come. In our case to see our "kids" and grandkids soon!! In the fall, we will start all over again.

Finishing Some Jobs

This has been a good week with seeing the completion of a few of the projects that we had started. Whether we are at home or with RVICS, being able to see the results is always fullfilling.

As always, the men seem to get more done than the ladies. (They do work more hours!) One of the men worked nearly all week with electrical projects. The building of a part of a fence and gate (including digging the post holes) was accomplished by the others. All of the demolition has been finished in the one building. There is one less water leak too----that is not to say that they found another one that will get their attention come Monday.

A few of the ladies added painting to their list of duties this week. With the painting done, the gift/snack shop is once again open for business. It is a more pleasant place to shop now. Work was continued on the mailing that we have been working on since are arrival. The director was excited to tell us of his praises. Already, he is getting response to the flyers.

Life does continue even as we are away from home. It was sadness this week that we had to bid goodbye to one of our couples as they got word of the death of a close relative. We, as members of one team, in the course of a month experience both laughter, tears, good news and bad. They become our family away from home.

With 2 more days of work, we are looking ahead to being able to once again be back in Indiana and to see our family again.

Good Week!

Time is flying as we continue serving here at Lake Swan. This week was typical of the many weeks that we have spent doing RVICS. There was lots of work accomplished, lots of socializing and lots of play time as well.

The ladies are continuing to address and prepare mailings to market the camp. This project has been the least labor intensive we have ever done. However, that doesn't mean that it is less important than any of our other previous jobs. The snack/gift shop is nearly completed (maybe a day of work left). The lighting and finishing details always take longer it seems. The other men got into destruction this week. A "cabin" type building is going to be renovated and, of course, one of the first things to do it tear down parts of it! However, after taking out a wall, the ceiling dropped. Maybe it wasn't like they were told----"It isn't a load bearing wall". No major damage was done. Work will continue on this building the coming week.

This week we invited the staff to a carry in meal. This is always a special time to get to know them better. An added bonus this time, since it has been so warm, was to have it outside. On our various projects, many times a "theme" game has emerged for the team. This group has taken up horseshoes. It is fun to see the competitiveness of the men (and yes, a couple of the ladies). Our socializing this week, also, included a trip to the ocean. Great, fun group.

As before, tomorrow begins another week of work. Our time is rapidly winding down but we are cherishing each and every day here.

Beginning a New Year

Our RVICS projects had to be delayed a couple of months for the beginning of 2012 but we did arrive in Lake Swan Camp, Melrose, Florida, willing and ready to go. The other 4 couples came in from 3 different RVICS projects to join the group with Michigan, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and Indiana represented. For the first time ever, we have worked with every member of the team previously. However, other members are meeting new couples for the first time. Great group!!

It is exciting to see everyone with diverse backgrounds come together and make a solid team of workers. Our commonalty is always our Lord Jesus Christ. They, all, thoroughly enjoy their work. After all, they are all retired and 100% volunteer missionaries. It would be easier (and yes) much less costly to sit at home etc.

Lake Swan Camp has much that needs to be down in the short month that we are here. The first week was very fruitful. The ladies are busy with the bulk mailings marketing the camp. From the stack of addresses we have, it will continue into next week. The men have been working up on a ceiling in the snack/gift shop. The usual prep work always takes longer than planned and the finish up work also. Monday will find them back at it doing the finishing work. When that is all completed, there is a huge job they will begin in totally renovating the “long house”.

We have done work here on 2 prior projects. It is always a joy to return. This year there is a new director and he is a workhorse with a real zeal for the ministry. His wife works alongside him and make a great team.

After we rest up this weekend, we will be ready and excited to begin another week-------

Friendship

Friends---the Lord certainly provides. Friends are there no matter what (in good and bad). We are thankful for all of those we call friends. Each and every one of them is precious.

This past week, we had the opportunity to spend it with couples from Indiana and New Jersey. The friendship of the men goes back MANY years but the wives have become the best of friends too. We were able to spend a few days on a mini-vacation (within a vacation!) to Key West which was a first for all of us. It was a great week. We are so thankful to have had the time together.

Life in January Without RVICS

The past few months, we have found that out plans aren't always what God has in store for us. Once again, we found are plans derailed with further surgery and down time for Don. However, we have been blessed to be able to travel south and, once again, enjoy warmer, better weather outside Indiana in January.

Our RV already was in the south as we were able to park it in Dothan, Alabama, after our October RVICS project. That was 750 miles that we didn't have to pull it. On Monday, we picked it up and headed to Palmetto, Florida, at an RV park. This is a great place for walking, biking, etc. We are so blessed and thankful to be here.

We miss our RVICS friends and, yes, the work. However, with God's care and protection we think this will be a good 6 weeks of restoration and fun.