Spring is Here!!

The grass is turning green and the trees are beginning to bud here in Dothan, Alabama. It is getting warm enough to spend some of our free time outside without the very heavy, warmer clothing. Forgotten is the extreme weather we experienced driving down here the first part of January! In just 4 days, we will be packed and ready to head back north once again for springtime in Indiana. Can we be saying goodbye once again to new friends?!

This week was another productive week. The stairways are now finished. Don has been painting new bathrooms, utility rooms etc and now has 6 rooms completed. The floors have been installed in all of those rooms too. The new water fountains are installed and working. The men are now finishing up putting new sinks in multiple rooms and the plumbing that goes with that job. In just the short time we have been here, much as been accomplished.

Sunday was a special day for the women. Seven were baptized in the new robes that we had been sewing. However, after the baptismal we decided that sew on the Velcro. The iron on just didn’t hold after being in water and we had to re-sew them on by hand. That should work!! Now, all 17 of the robes are on hangers waiting to be used. Our last sewing project was to make coverings for the new acoustical panels to be installed in a room that has a bad echo. We finished them on Thursday morning and they look great. However, when they were checked the guy who had cut them out, he discovered one of them was the mirror image of what it needed to be! Sooo, on Monday morning we will be doing one of them again.

This was a week of celebrations. On Wednesday evening, the church held a dinner in our honor. That was a very special time for us. These people are so thankful that we came to help them. On Thursday evening, we spent our last time together as the 6 couples who have worked together these past 3 months. (One of the couples left yesterday to go to a family function.) We had a cookout that we all contributed food for. In addition to our group, we invited Chester (associate pastor) and his family, Steve & Ann Loveland (a church member who has worked alongside the men) and a retired RVICS couple, Richard & Barbara Walker. Yesterday for our tour day, we drove to Marianna, Florida, and date lunch with the 3 RVICS couples working there. We have worked with all 3 couples before and it was great visiting with them again!

Sunday will be our last day to worship with these wonderful people. However, we know that we won’t be forgotten nor will we forget them. When we travel this way again, we will stop in for a visit.

Right now, we are looking forward to seeing family once again and having a full summer. But, we know, that come September we will be more than ready to do it all again!!

Wow---what we are getting done!!

The title of the blog says it all----Wow!!! Much has been accomplished this past week. The list of things to be done was very long when we arrived at Dothan Community Church and some items will be undone when we leave. However, the church and our RVICS team feel very good about the differences we are making in our work. The goal of the church is to have enough of the new addition done that it will be in use by the end of summer.

The men have been working multiple projects. One of them with a church member dug ditches with a backhoe (one did this in his past life)and laid a new main line to the church and new water lines to the RVs out back. The new lines are now working. Don painted more bathrooms plus with another man hung dry wall in the new stairways. Others have been building and installing the new stairways. Hopefully, both of them will be finished when we leave.

The women have their sewing machines buzzing. The church has requested 17 baptismal robes be made. Five of us at a time have been working on them. With many projects we don't see our work actually being used. This morning we will see those robes being worn because 5 people will be baptized!! One lady, at a time, is still scanning slides. We will be doing that on the very last day too.

With all the work, we haven't missed out on playing either. Monday night found us pooling our resources and enjoying a lasagna meal. What fun!! Friday night, a retired RVICS couple treated all of us to a meal at the Golden Corral. Lastly, yesterday we met another RVICS group that is about 30 miles away and spent the day at an ag festival. We have worked with all those with the other RVICS group. That was special to end the week in that way.

With the blooming of the spring trees etc, there is a new spring in our steps. We are once again looking forward to the coming week.

Springtime!!

The sunshine is back and brought the nice, warm springtime weather with it. It seemed to lift everyone's spirits. Even with all the tiredness and stiff muscles, there are smiles on everyone's faces. We are all enjoying our time at Dothan Community Church.

After hitting the road running on Monday, none of us let up with our work the whole week. There was much accomplished. The men are doing numerous jobs with laying of tile (both stone and vinyl) on floors, installing a vent in the new kitchen area, installing some plumbing and water fountains and painting a couple of bathroon areas. The women cleaned a closet, cleaned and repaired the chairs in the sanctuary, sorted and filed historical documents, covered 3 panels with fabric and scanned slides into a computer. What a productive week!!

Also, this was a good week because we were able to pull the lawn chairs out and soak up the warmth of the sun. "Pop on the Patio" came back! This is a time after work when everyone sits outside together and just relaxes and talks. With all the cold and wet that we experienced the past couple of months, this hadn't happened but a couple of previous times. We miss those times of just doing nothing and talking when we can't have them.

The schedule is filling up for next week. Our list has gotten smaller but isn't done yet. We have fun things to look forward to for the weekend but are looking forward again to Monday.

Dothan Community Church

This is the third and last stop of the set of RVICS projects. Dothan Community Church in Dothan, Alabama, has been one of our most anticipated. The report is true. These are some of the most loving people in the world. They definitely live the word of God.

The church was started 22 years ago by 2 recent Dallas Theology Seminary graduates. Dr. W. Charles Lewis grew up not far from Dothan, one of many children with a single mother living in poverty. (His father had been murdered.) A godly woman at a nearby camp had a powerful impact on his life turning him toward Jesus. The second graduate was Chester McFarland. They describe their relationship as David and Jonathan but being this is a southern church it is important to know one is black and the other white. Today, they still minister together and have added to their staff. The congregation has grown to around 200 or so. Just guessing, it is probably it is 85-90% black.

After starting in Dr. Lewis’s home , they moved to this facility in 2001 which is an amazing story in itself that involved Tony Evans and Andy Stanley. Approximately 5 years ago, they started a major undertaking in the building of a children’s wing onto the church. RVICS have been involved with this from the very beginning. This wing is 300 feet long, very wide and tall. They are doing the work as the money comes in. In other words, cash only with no loans. It is now totally enclosed and finished on the outside. The inside will be completed in sections. The church members have started completing the first phase in this addition. The RVICS men are continuing in this work. Today, Don and the men are installing a ventilation system for a cook stove, water fountain, putting drains in the floor and other misc. jobs.

The women got off to a very good start today. Sharon and another lady are doing computer work----hard to believe! We are scanning slides into a computer. This will be a major job since there are, at least, 1100 to 1200. Some of the ladies, cleaned and sorted a closet and have begun to thoroughly clean and sort nursery items.

Even though we are working with the same couples that we have worked with the pior 2 months, this is the first time that we have been 6 couples at once. What fun!

As you can tell, we are really enjoying it here. We will have more later.

Finishing Well

We are now just one day away from saying goodbye to Southwind Younglife Camp. Today, the sun was shining and the temperatures actually felt more like Florida should this time of year.

The women finished their work just before quiting time. This allowed the women time to take pictures of some of the men working. Also, we had a group picture taken outside of the dining hall. Oh yes, they fed us a excellent meal today served with tableclothes and cloth napkins.

Tomorrow, we end up here. The packing has begun for our trip on Wednesday as we all travel to the next project. Our next blog will come from Dothan, Alabama.

Our Wintertime at Southwind

Wow---when I logged on to do this blog, I noticed that I have done only 1 blog for this project and we finish this project in just a few days!! Time is flying because this, also, ends our second project of 2010. The dynamics of our work and socializing are totally changed also. We haven't even had our "mandatory" group picture taken yet!

Lake in the Forest (an RV park) is our “home” for the month. This time of the year it is totally retired northerners parked here. The RVICS family is scattered throughout the park and are sharing all the amenities. There have been no campfires for sharing with one another, only shared space for our social times and Bible studies. We are referred to as “the Christians”. For the most part, we notice lost people. All we have seen these retirees do is walk their dogs, sit around campfires and drink booze. So sad when that is all there is to life.
Working at Southwind Young Life Camp has been the most unusual RVICS project that we have done to date. With our work, since the men work all day, they have been packing sack lunches and staying at Southwind. Since the work is so physical, the men normally catch a quick nap before resuming their afternoon assignments. That hasn’t happened either. Verizon cell phones are the only phones that work in this area. Cell phones are our life line between the group and to the world in general. About half the group are without service. Also, many of the group have experienced sickness that comes with winter. Even Sharon was classified as injured. On the second day she pulled a hip muscle but didn’t miss any work. That muscle is getting back to normal now. Our group leaders drove the 1075 miles from here to Smithville, Texas, for the annual RVICS meetings this week. Shirley is on the board of directors. They will return to us on Monday.

Don and the men are hard at work on the huge deck. They are afraid that it won’t be near done when they leave. It is always good to see a job to completion. Sharon and the ladies have nearly finished changing the size of mattress covers, have hemmed rags and other misc. jobs. The last week Sharon and Esther have worked on shin guards for use with the weed eaters. Vinyl is very difficult to sew. The results were worth it though.

As with many parts of the US, Florida has had a very cold January and February (not our coats in pic). We have dealt with frozen water, coats and gloves. However, last weekend we had some R & R time away visiting our friends from Hartford City, Larry & Gaylene. What a wonderful time we had on the Gulf Coast, hiking, sitting on the beach, playing games that included shuffleboard. On the way back to Oklawaha, we played tourist. The weather cooperated too!

On Tuesday, we bid this area goodbye and head about 300 miles mostly north to Dothan, Alabama, and a church. We are very excited about working there since we have heard nothing but good things about it. About a year ago, we visited it. We will fill you in about our time there later-----------

Southwind Younglife Camp

Our second project in this set of 3 projects finds us at Southwind Younglife Camp near Ocklawaha, Florida, Actually, it is in a very rural area in the middle of Ocala National Forest. This forest consists of many live oak trees and pines that are covered with Spanish moss. There is lots of wildlife around. We have seen coyotes, peacocks, sandhill cranes and other water birds, wild hogs with little ones and, we have been told, bears. Our RV is parked under thick live oak trees.

As well as the animals, we have been told that many homeless people, including families, live in the forest. We are guessing that the mild winter climate is better in the wintertime. This month our RV is not parked at the camp but at an RV park about 6 miles away. A guest at this park has started a quilting ministry to give guilts to the people living in the woods.

Southwind Camp is a beautiful oasis for campers that are involved with Younglife. Younglife is a ministry for youth from middle school through college. We, also, were told of a ministry they have for handicaped individuals. They ran a camp one week specifically for them. This included renting a lift to take them to the top of a very tall waterslide! They never get to play in that way. The staff ended up being just as blessed by them as the ones they were serving.

Once again we are a group of 5 couples. However, one couple from last month didn't come with us but another was added from New Hampshire. For Sharon, it is fun---sewing! We are patching and re-sizing cotton covers for mattresses. There are many to do. Don started by taping walls for painting. The men didn't have to actually paint them because some other volunteers were doing that. Their big project for the month is building a new deck. They have started the process but have a ways to go before conpletion.

As a bonus, we saw the night launch (last one scheduled) of the space shuttle very early Monday morning! Even though we are approximately 50 miles out, we could hear the faint rumble of the engines but definitely saw it for a long time.

We are looking forward to another week of work beginning Monday.