We’ve come to the end of another SOWER project and now that I’ve shared about all the interesting sights in the area – like the World’s Largest Ball of Twine and the Barbwire Museum, I guess it’s about time I shared how we spent our working days.
Let me say this – we stayed plenty busy! Stream of God Ministries recently relocated to this small Kansas town after their ministry efforts into Mexico became too dangerous to pursue. As they searched for a new location – their vision being to start an International Bible College (via the internet) and also reach their community with a summer camp program – they were offered a no-longer-used school and adjoining property in Central Kansas. As Ralph, the director, said, it wasn’t exactly the area they were thinking of, but believing that God was leading them there, they jumped in with gusto! The school itself is quite unique – an 8 sided building with the gymnasium located in the middle.

Ralph and a variety of volunteers have been working hard to transform the building (in good shape, but definitely has that institutional/school look and feel) into an inviting ministry center. Dividing walls have come down to make a chapel and a dining hall, hallway walls have come down to allow rebuilding with windows and more open areas. I’m happy to report that we have had nothing to do with the “walls coming down” part. Because to go from this

to this

to this

is a little more muscle power than us old folks signed up for!
Instead we focused on the “building back up” process!
Here’s the chapel when we arrived. The dividing wall had been removed (leaving quite a gap in the carpet) and the wiring had been done for new lighting. By the time we left, the lights had been installed, the carpet patched and the walls had been painted all the same color.
Our first day –

Gary working on the lights –

Gorlyn working on the carpeting –

and Ruthie and I cleaning up the windows.

This was taken before the painting was done (the brown wall is now white), but I think it looks pretty darn good!

Gary also tackled getting all the heaters up and running –

and then I got to go around and clean them and put in filters.
Gary also redid the electric in the areas where the walls had been knocked down and wired up the new office that had been studded in (after he installed the windows.) 🙂

I think it’s just about ready for the sheetrock! Gotta save something for the next group, right?!
Here’s Gorlyn working hard on the painting. He had just enough paint to do all the walls (that needed doing!).

Ruthie and I kept busy being the extra set of hands for whatever project was up that day –
From pulling nails

to helping to hang a chandelier!

With Gary as our fearless leader much was accomplished. But the reality is there is lots and lots and lots yet to do! Ralph has a wonderful drawing of the completed property – with gazebos, a pond, a pool with a giant water slide (he already has the slide!), but for now it’s one day at a time. One wall down, one wall up. One more trip to the Habitat Re-Store to see what else might be of use at the school. We’ll be keeping this ministry in our prayers – and we’ll be sure to stop by next time we’re driving through Kansas to see just how things are coming along!

So what’s next for the Conrads? Well, our next scheduled project is Oakridge Retreat Center in Anadarko, Oklahoma. It’s one of our newer projects and we will be the first SOWERs to serve there.  No pressure. Right.  But before we head to Oklahoma we’re heading to Wilson Lake for a nice long weekend of some peaceful R&R.

Guess what? There are more pictures of the project HERE! You knew there would be, right? 🙂

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OK.  So I’ve shared about points from all around our home base this month, so I think it’s about time I share a little bit about Luray –

Luray is located in the Smokey Hills area of Kansas, pretty darn close to not only the center of the United States (see previous post!), but it’s also only about 20 miles from the geodetic center of North America. Talk about being in the center of things!
Luray is a classic Kansas small town, 30 miles from the interstate, which had it’s heyday in the 1940’s with a booming population of 400+, and now is home to roughly 200 Kansas-ans. Like all towns in Kansas (or so it seems to me) there is the feed co-op

and of course the water tower.

(there behind the RV!).
Here are some shots of the “downtown” area –

The local real estate office.

The cafe/bar that closed a while back

The public library, on the right (and wifi hot-spot!).

The Senior Center (again, the right side only).

One of the side streets

and the old church that is now a museum. We’ve been going to the Methodist church across the street. It’s the only church in town. The folks have been very friendly and the pastor actually goes between three churches in neighboring towns every Sunday morning. Phew.
And then there’s the walk home from church –

So that’s about it for town of Luray. Along with the library, a senior center and the Methodist Church, there is also a post office, a bank, and a mayor (who also has a jingle business). And everyone we’ve met is very friendly – a very sweet little town!

So why have we been in Luray the last three weeks?    We’re working on a SOWER project here that is unlike any we have worked on before.  Stream of God Ministry, a ministry previously located in the Rio Grande Valley, was virtually given the empty public school in town (along with about 15 acres of playing fields, etc.) for them to develop into a ministry center.  The long range plans include a Bible College with a global emphasis  and a summer camp for area children.  I’ll fill you in on just what we’ve been doing for the last couple of weeks (we’ve been plenty busy, trust me), but for now – here’s the school.

And from our parking spot…..

We’ve heard that it’s the first Hexagonal school built in the country (circa 1960). It’s pretty interesting.
But I digress – I’m supposed to be talking about Luray.
I guess you can tell that most of these small towns in Kansas are looking for anything that makes them special (Like the fancy restrooms over in Lucas). This is Luray’s attempt –

Now we know about the Garden of Eden –

but we definitely had to check out Paradise…..


Hmmm….looks a little like a little Luray (with a bend at the end of town…..) 🙂

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