Tomorrow is the last day of our February Sower project at Coachella Valley Rescue Mission. And I suppose I always say this, but where does the time go?! It’s been a good project – while there weren’t any “big” projects (like building a deck or finishing an addition), the guys worked hard on various repairs and painting projects, and really spruced the place up!

We ladies did a little painting too, but mostly we worked in the office and finished out the project sorting clothes for the thrift shop.

Oh, yeah – We LOVE the Thrift Shop Shuffle!
One of the high points of our time working at the mission was being able to attend one of their graduations. About 15 men and women graduated from their two different programs, and it was inspiring to hear some of their stories and learn of God’s Grace in their lives. We also heard from many of the clients during our morning devotions. Men and women, young (18) and old (55), who found themselves on the street, usually as a result of different addictions and poor life choices. Some arrived at the mission with a little “nudge from the judge”, and some found their way simply because they needed a meal or a hot shower or a safe place to spend the night. The CVRM webpage says – “Not housing the homeless, but ending the homelessness. One life at a time.” And after our three weeks there, we can see that philosophy in action. This is an amazing ministry.
But our time here has certainly not been all work. Aside from our weekend fun (Dates Festivals and such), we had a potluck with other SOWERs in the area (there were about thirty of us!),

we took a drive to check out a camp near Julian that might become a SOWER project

and of course, don’t forget those great Happy Hours -

And while the commute and our “split” parking sites have presented some challenges, it’s hard to even whisper a complaint when we begin the day with this -

and end it with this -

Amen.

Have I mentioned before that we are the SOWER Group Leaders at Cherry Valley Brethren School? Every SOWER project has its own Group Leader. The GL is the main liaison between the host (the folks that run the ministry) and the SOWER workers. They are responsible for making sure that everyone has what they need when they need it, and they’re the ones who get the “what next” look from their fellow SOWERs. We haven’t been GLs for a while (well, unless you count when we’re group leaders when we’re alone on a project. Then we’re just the GLs for us. We’re pretty good at that!). I confess Gary doesn’t enjoy being the GL, though he is really a good one. He just prefers doing the work rather than working at keeping everyone else busy. But most of the GL stuff is behind us, and the only thing that remains is the GL Report. At the end of the project we meet together, go over some questions about the project (Is the information provided correct, were the parking spots “as advertised”, did anyone have any problems – you know, that kind of stuff.) And then we have to summarize what we did in (hopefully) 100 words – or less, they say! Ha!
So here is what I wrote –
We welcomed Gary and Laura “back” to Sowers – they have been off the road for 10 years! It was good to have them back, and we all had a busy month. The men worked their way through a long maintenance list – painting, repairing plumbing, building platforms, leveling concrete and yard work to name a few. They tackled a major remodel of the teachers’ lounge, complete with new flooring and paint, and re-tiled the floor in the ladies’ room. The ladies did cleaning, painting, filing, organizing and generally tried to lend a hand where needed. We also enjoyed several nights of great fellowship.
102 words.
I think I did pretty good – at least in the number of words category. But trying to condense the last three weeks into 100 words is really pretty impossible.
How can I explain (in 100 words or less) how a simple request to remove a broken vending machine from the teachers’ lounge resulted in a full scale remodel. New flooring, new paint, new arrangement.
From this (part way through the destruction phase)

To this.

How can I explain (in 100 words or less) the fun we had on “Spirit Day” when the theme was “The Fifties”. We couldn’t come up with any poodle skirts like some of the staff,

But I think we held our own…..

Do I even try to express (in those 100 or less words) what it felt like to wake up to this one morning?

Not a chance.
And how can I relate (in 100 words or less, please) how sweet it was to end the project today by doing a crafty cut and paste job


since earlier in the project we were doing this –

How can I include (in those 100 words or less) how we (all 8 of us) were blessed to be able to receive free Chiropractic care for the whole time we were there. I had never been to a chiropractor before, but Dr. Bob thought he could help those of us with colds too, so I gave it a shot. Did he help, or did the cold run its course? I don’t know – but I know I feel just fine now! Oh, and we’re all perfectly adjusted too!

And somehow the “We also enjoyed several nights of great fellowship” does little to tell about the great meals we shared

or the fun we had when we got together for games.

Nope, when you only get 100 words you’ve got to keep it brief.

Just the facts, Ma’am. Just the facts.

Since we’re having a classic rainy weekend here in Southern California, we won’t be getting out to see any sights (other than those on the way to Home Depot and maybe Joann Fabrics!). But I thought you might like to see a little bit of our project this month – both what this camp is like, and also just what we’ve been busy doing.
Indian Hills has quite a facility here. Their target age group is 8 – 14, and the camp does a great job of appealing to those kids! There are lots of fun options for sleeping -
Cabins
-
Tents

Tipis

and Covered Wagons.

For activities they start with a couple of pools

(This one is closed for the season – but I think you can get the drift!)
and great playground.

Plus they have archery, dirt bikes courses, and rock climbing, along with hiking trails and all your standard ball fields. Oh, and they also have one of those Human Foosball Courts!
While they have groups in over the weekends during these winter months, this is definitely their time to catch-up on lots of maintenance and upgrades. The guys have had quite a variety of ‘chores’ – from building bunk beds in the tipis

to rebuilding the steps to the office,

to patching cracks in all of the cabins and bathrooms.

Right now they are almost all working in a kitchen remodel.

As you can see, they have all been kept plenty busy!
We ladies, likewise, have not been wondering what to do. Pretty much we’ve been spending our time painting bathrooms. They have three bath houses -you know, four sinks, three toilets, three showers or some variation thereof. Here’s one side of one -

And then there is one building with 6 individual wash rooms and 6 individual showers. So far we’ve painted everything but one side of one of the bath houses.
Oh, and when we would run out of paint – there was always bathroom CLEANING that we could do. Now I don’t want you to think that all of the showers looked like this because they didn’t. But sometimes by the end of the summer, the soap scum just wins. This one was especially bad.

Much to the amazement of the janitor (a very sweet 22 year old guy – really, what could he possibly know about soap scum?), we managed to get this one looking like new!

Nuttin’ like a little Sower Lady Elbow Grease!

We celebrated the end of our second week (actually I think we were actually celebrating the start of our long weekend!) with a trip to Dairy Queen.

Now that’s a group of hard workin’ Sowers if I’ve ever seen one!

We spent our Thanksgiving day on the road. But since it was almost all New Road, it was still a very good day! (And we did get to talk to our kids and we have a turkey ready to roast tomorrow, so there will still be leftovers!). We were only going about 200 miles from the Coachella Valley down the east coast of the Salton Sea, south to El Centro and then west along the bottom of the state (almost into Mexico) and then a little north to swing around to Jamul (there are mountains in the way of actually getting there more directly). Here is what it looks like on a map -

Here’s what it looked like as we drove it -
Down past the Salton Sea

The north end of the Salton Sea is in the Imperial Valley – a real fruit (and vegetable) basket area of California. This field was ready for something!

Although the Salton Sea is increasing in it’s salinity each year (along with becoming more poluted), it is still home to about 30% of the the remaining American White Pelicans.

(If you’d like to know more about this lake (the largest in CA) there is some info Here on Wikipedia.)
We soon left the lake behind us and continued through the desert – but we knew that mountains were in our future!


Oh, yeah, mountains ahead. We were going from about 300 ft. below sea level to over 4000 ft. above sea level. Not the highest pass we’ve traveled by any means, but believe me, it was one long climb!



And what goes up, must come down -

and down -

and down.
We passed some majestic windmills along the way -

and pretty much continued to wind up and down and over and through mountain after mountain.

We eventually made it to the outskirts of The Big City – but I bet you can all picture Thanksgiving traffic. It wasn’t very photo worthy.
We finally settled down in parking lot near a Kohls in El Cajon. We figured if they asked us to move we would just say we were waiting for it to open at 4AM. Fortunately, no one bothered us so we didn’t have to actually get up and do it! (But I must say, many others did! And without the comfort of having their bed in the parking lot!).

Today we moved into our December project – Indian Hills Camp. We haven’t seen too much of the camp just yet, but I can share with you my new picture window view -

I don’t think we’re done being thankful just yet!

600 Chairs
Two People




and our Just Desserts…..

(aka Lunch)

Watch out – here come the tables!

Tomorrow is the big Turkey distribution – they have over 1000 turkeys (along with all the trimmings) to give away. Should be an exciting day!