Tag Archives: Odosagih Bible Conference

The Weekend and the Wrap-up

Here we are, once again, at the end of another SOWER month! We put in some extra hours (remember all those days Gary started at 7?), so we’re scooting out a day early (i.e. tomorrow). But what a great month we’ve had! Although we are very ‘pitiful tourists’ these days, we did make the trip over to Letchworth State Park (which some say is the nicest state park in the country!) this past Saturday. It was a beautiful day in a beautiful park, and we enjoyed the day immensely! We checked out the Middle Falls, the Upper Falls, the restored restaurant (exterior only – it seemed a little fancy for our hiking gear!), and took a stab at the Lower Falls. Unfortunately, the sign indicating the 127 stairs to get down to the falls (followed by the 127 steps getting back up from the falls) was not met with great enthusiasm. After all, we had just hiked way more than we’d hiked in months, so it seemed reasonable to grab a couple of ‘close to the falls’ pictures, and call it a day! (Besides which, Gary claimed he’d already seen water falling over rocks twice that day already. Like I said – pitiful touristing!) Here’s a little slide show of our hike –

We’ve been blessed abundantly by the speakers and concerts and special music that we’ve been able to enjoy here at Odosagih Bible Conference. This summer they are celebrating their 100th anniversary – so they were pulling out all the stops!
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This is a little hidden gem in Western NY – and surely hope that God continues to bless them for the next 100 years (or until He comes again!).
On the work front, we continued painting the second floor at the Bethany House in anticipation of new staff. Sometimes we were very cozy –
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but mostly we were working on our own sections, trying to finish up the job. Remember that banister they took down and rebuilt?
Original-
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in Process –
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Collecting stuff
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Finished product –
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My only part in this transformation was the final finish on the top, but I really do think it came out nicely!
While I was finishing up with the polyurethane, Gary moved outdoors yesterday and today to help install a new electronic sign –
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Still needs a little finish work –
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but it’s up and running. And the good news is, it’s someone else’s job to actually make it legible!
It was a fun way to end up our time here, and to be honest, Gary was pretty happy to put away our paint supplies! The team next month will be working on the first floor, and our Odosagih friends have promised to send us photos of the completed job. I can’t wait to see what it looks like with its new flooring!

So what’s next? Well, we’re taking September off from SOWER work, but have filled it with visits with friends and family, a couple of routine doctor visits, and will be finishing it off with some Cabin time. The very best way to end a summer in my book! So busy times ahead – but good times to be sure!

Thanks for stopping by!

Steph

Four Day Work Weeks

Let’s be honest, there is nothing NOT to like about only working four days a week.  And let’s remember they are shortened days at that – 6 hours for Gary,  about 4 for me.  So every Thursday afternoon we are happy that, for us, the work week is over. This week I must confess we were not only happy, we were H.A.P.P.Y.  Not that the work was especially hard, but it seemed that the reentry back into ‘real life’ after two weeks at the cabin was just harder than usual.   My body seemed to be constantly calling for a nap, and I was so achy that I actually took a COVID test to make sure that that little gift hadn’t returned! Negative. Phew.  By Wednesday (and our little styrofoam adventure) I was beginning to come out of my achy fog, and I’m happy to report that things are pretty much back to normal.  I probably had a touch of ‘something’ – but it seems to have moved on, so for that I am thankful! Sorry for the whining. If that was over-sharing, my apologies!

So – our week. We’re on our own this month – and there is plenty for us to do! Our primary project is the Bethany House – an older home right across the street from us that has been anything from staff housing, snack shop, accommodations for retreats, and who knows what else. It’s getting a major overhaul to turn it back into a single family dwelling in anticipation of the arrival of a new program director.
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This is the same house that the guys were concentrating on last month – pulling up the carpeting and other miscellaneous flooring
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and getting started on prepping the upstairs for painting.
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Two coats of primer, two coats of finish. They got a good start on things last month, but we knew there was still plenty to do! We returned to a small addition to the list – all the closets and all the trim (in all 5 rooms, hallway and bath) needed to be painted white. So – two coats of primer, two coats of semi-gloss. Like I said, plenty to do!
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Here’s the hallway – the one area that kept its paneling-
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The two of the best parts about this job is that Gary starts earlier than I do and when I arrive, he has my bucket filled with paint and just directs me to the trim in need of some semi-gloss. (In other words, I have a really great boss!) The other plus is that since all of these floors are being resurfaced we don’t have to worry about the getting paint on them. And let me tell you, that is one long line of cutting in that just doesn’t have to happen! We’ll take all the blessings we can when it comes to painting.
Next week – we’ll be painting. When we started out as SOWERs, I really didn’t like painting. But after we did that little reno in Waco a couple of years ago, let’s just say paint and I have come to an understanding. Especially with white semi-gloss! Even with my yucky start, I think we still got a fair bit accomplished by the end of the week. God is good!
By Friday I was more than ready for a couple of ‘no alarm’ mornings. The laundry was wrapped up, the credit card statements were printed and reconciled, I got a good start on the SOWER newsletter, and several naps were logged. Tonight started a new week here at Odosagih Bible Conference where we enjoyed a concert by Sherry Anne. It was quite a concert/inspirational evening, especially given that Sherry Anne was born with a bilateral hearing and speech impairment. We were blessed indeed!
Pretty sure tomorrow will be a ‘no alarm’ morning as well, since church is at 10:30, and it’s across the street. Every week, along with a Saturday night concert, there is also a different guest speaker. And we’ve been fed the Word at each service we’ve been to.  How kind it is for God to have placed us here!

OK – that’s about it for the week. It had a pretty slow start, but it all ended well! Once again, God has proven faithful!
Have a blessed Lord’s Day, friends!
Steph

Home is where the heart is

Well, even though I often feel like my heart is actually tucked away at that little cabin in Vermont,
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I’ve been looking through some pictures from our Cabin time – so be prepared for some additional stories about that little red cabin up on the hill!

Thanks for stopping by! Praying that tomorrow brings you blessings as you spend time in corporate worship with fellow believers!Steph

 

A Fine Finish

I do believe these months go by faster and faster and faster! (Of course, this “SOWER month” started the last week of June, so it’s really no surprise that here we are, on July 15th  already
at the end of it! And the good part about that timing is that now we get two weeks off.  But I digress….)

What a blessed three weeks we had at Odosagih Bible Conference, working alongside of our new friends, Dick & Linda.  After a very fun Fourth of July weekend, which included (but was not limited to)  fireworks over Lime Lake
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family (Dick’s parents came for the weekend)
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and food( undocumented, but the scales do not lie!), we were back to work before we knew it! As I mentioned in the last ‘work’ post, the guys have been primarily working on refurbishing a home for an anticipated new program director. Two coats of primer later,
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they were finally able to start with some color!
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I did catch Gary laying down on the job
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but I’m pretty sure he had a paintbrush in his hand. (And he would’ve needed a pillow to really get comfy!)
The guys did a couple of other miscellaneous jobs around the campus to break up the painting days  –
Gary worked on repairing a couple sets of stairs
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and Dick tackled the pool cleaning chore several times!
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By the end of our final week most of the upstairs rooms had at least one coat of color on, and Linda jumped in on the last day to do a little touch-up on some of the trim.
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And apparently she had some encouragers too!
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Most of the time, though, Linda and I were on our own. We continued doing some windows and general cleaning, tackled some hillside weeding –
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and finished out our time doing something I really enjoy – being “Sewing SOWERS”! We were asked to make new curtains for one of the cottages, and they gave us carte blanche (within a budget, of course) to do what we like.
Before –
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and after –
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We were able to sew right in the cottage, which made it easier – and fun!
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Yes, it was a lovely month! We worked hard, we played hard, we were blessed by speakers and wonderful musicians, and most of all, we made some lasting friends! Oh, and we did a lot of laughing!
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From Vidler’s Five and Dime (the world’s largest, doncha know!)
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to the Beef on Weck, a Western NY classic
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to blessings in the Tabernacle
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this SOWER month will be one to remember!

And now that our July SOWER project has come to a close, you might guess where Gary and I headed bright and early this morning.
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Of course –
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We’re looking forward to enjoying two weeks of wonderful Cabin-Time.

Thanks for stopping by and reading through such a long post! You know it’s going to be really quiet here for the next couple of weeks – or I might just get extra chatty! Just depends on the coffee intake, I think!
Have a great weekend, friends!
Steph
If you’d like to see some additional photos from our time at OCC, you can check them out HERE!

 

Where does it go?

Time that is! Week One Done. Again!

One of Gary’s favorite quotes is Look back and thank God. Look forward and trust God. Look around and serve God.

 

So let’s see how that plays out for just the last week of June, our first week at Odosagih Bible Conference.
Looking Back we have so much to be thankful for! We ladies started out with washing windows in the porch of the dining room.
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I was thankful that I had washed innumerable windows just last month, so I was fully qualified. My co-worker Linda also had lots of experience so the task was completed without incident! From there we moved to cleaning the Gift Shop/Book Store.
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Just a couple of windows there, but plenty of dust to be found lurking on those shelves. An added bonus was checking out the books and other goodies that they offer. We were thankful for opportunity to spruce up this area before their busiest season begins!
The guys were beginning the job of rehabbing this home, getting it ready for a new (yet to be hired) staff person.
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First out were the rugs. No pictures of that actual activity, but you can see the rolls of dead carpeting on the trailer. But it wasn’t just carpeting. There was also sheet linoleum and those pesky, glued down, floor tiles.
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Those guys were mostly thankful for having the right tools and frequent breaks! They were also thankful that they got to move from flooring removal to removing a rickety railing
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and replacing it with a much safer half-wall.
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Their early Thursday job was to help uncover the pool.
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For that they were thankful no one fell in.
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(Though I did take a video because I was pretty sure it was inevitable!) And much to my amazement, that pool will be ready for swimmers and splashers starting tomorrow!
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It was a good and safe first week of work – and for that we are most thankful!
But there’s more….
Friday we were thankful for the chance to visit a brand new SOWER project – Longview Camp – in nearby Arcade, NY.  The camp has over 50 years of history in sharing the Gospel with families, and it was originally the summer home of Fran Striker, creator of The Lone Ranger and Green Hornet.  It was great to get a tour of the property and see the vision for having this camp serve area churches as it strives to be “a place of decision in the areas of salvation, full surrender, and consistent Christian walk.”
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Lord willing, we’re hoping to serve there next summer!

We arrived back at Odosagih in time for a quick nap (more thankfulness!) and then a boat ride on beautiful Lime Lake. It’s a relatively small lake, entirely spring fed, with its shores filled with picturesque cottages. It was such a lovely day – from start to finish!
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Looking ahead, we are trusting that God will continue to bless the works of our hands here at the Bible Conference. We ladies will be joining the men at the house project – wielding our paint brushes as they continue to refurbish things! We are also trusting God to bless the many families that will be arriving this weekend for the beginning of their Family Camp season! Concerts and speakers and fun activities (all of which we are invited to if it fits in with our schedule =) ) will be filling the next several weeks!  May He get all the Glory as folks are drawn to Him!

Which brings us to looking around and serving God. Since we played most of yesterday (Saturday One in the SOWER world), today I’ll be serving God by catching up on things! This blog, the checkbook, emails, housework, SOWER newsletter, etc.  Even though we live in only 300+/- square feet, there is always something that needs to be done!

With that being said, I guess I better get started! At least I got one thing checked off the list – updating this blog!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a grand 4th of July weekend, dear friends!

Steph