Tag Archives: Sower Project

Skill Stretching

I’ve been a SOWER (Servant on Wheels Ever Ready)for over 16 years. And if you’ve been stopping by for awhile you know I’ve done a myriad of different jobs. From landscaping (yes, I got to use a zero-turn mower) to pool cleaning to inventory counting (everything from T-shirts to airplane parts) to general cleaning to office work to painting. Lots and lots of painting! But somehow, through all of those job assignments, I have never had to paint a ceiling. Until now. Continue reading Skill Stretching

Wheeeeee! Week Three!

This is not a Wheeeee – Week Three, thank goodness its over.
This is a Wheeeee – Week three – man, that was fast and fun!!
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Although it’s always hard to see a project come to an end, there is always something satisfying about packing up your tools, and reviewing what was accomplished during those 12 short days of work. Sandy and I used our paint brushes every day (basement craft room, 6 doors and 3 sets of closet doors, and three lodge rooms), and it was great to know that those were things that the maintenance staff did not have to worry about this summer.
UntitledThe guys moved through a long list of plumbing, electric and carpentry items without hesitation. Some jobs, like that well/pump re-do, had been on the back burner for a very long time! Although summer will look very different this year (thanks to the pandemic) for this camp and many others like it, maintenance still has to be done. We were honored to be able to serve here – and give them a hand with some long overdue chores!

But as it happens every SOWER month, all good things come to an end.  We left this morning after a lovely time of prayer (but sadly without the hugs that we really love) for a short 30 mile drive over to Montrose Bible Conference.
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We aren’t here at MBC as official SOWERS this month, but more as ‘friends of the conference center’ since we’ll be in and out as the month goes by. Gary will be working on their refrigeration situation, and for the first part I think I’ll just be catching up on life here at home. (The third load of wash is already underway!). Next week we’ll be heading to The Cabin for a spell (insert happy dance here!) and then it will be back to Montrose until it’s time to head to our August SOWER project. We’re thankful for this lovely spot that has become as close to home base to us as anything these days.

As we wrapped up our time at Rock Mountain, we posed for an official “Group Shot” by their sign.
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And then for an official “Sign of the Times” group picture!
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Thank you, LORD, for a good month! For good new friends and for being able to do the work you have for us to do!
And thank YOU for stopping by!
Steph

Through Week Two

Did you have a good week? We did! The weather was beautiful and work worthwhile!
It was back to the paint brushes for us SOWER ladies this week! We finished up our craft room painting and moved to painting doors in one of the lodges.
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Eight doors and three sets of closet doors later….
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it was decided that those freshly painted doors made the walls look pretty tired, so we’ll be moving on to wall painting starting Monday! Ah, job security!
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And the guys? They’ve been busy doing electrical work and fixing some plumbing issues and even did some trim work in the dining hall. None of which I have any pictures of. (Gary has zero interest in documenting his work, bless his heart!)
Next week they start on untangling the piping mess in the pool pump house.
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Now there’s some job security! I’ll be sure to post some ‘after’ pictures as I’m sure the transformation will be quite a sight to see!
Have a good LORD’s day, friends – and a happy Father’s Day to boot!
Steph

Finishing up and packing up

Yep, it looks like a departure tomorrow morning might just become a reality! Today was super productive –
I finished cleaning up the inside panels of the front sign
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and then Gary installed the new LED bulbs.
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Once we checked to make sure the lights worked (always a good idea before you put something back together!), we recruited some helpers and put the sign back together.
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(It really was heavy, though my face might be just a little more expressive than it needed to be! We had to hold it up while Gary screwed it in at the bottom.)
We left the cleaning up of the inside of the outside (behind the glass, that would be) to the church folks, though a part of me really (and I mean REALLY) wanted to straighten out those letters!
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Once the sign was done, Gary worked on cleaning up his tools and I consolidated my sewing stuff and worked on moving it from the church back into the house. Then we headed off for one last trip to the laundromat and supermarket (masked of course), and we wisely returned home the way we came! The rest of the afternoon was lovely and quiet – the real rush to pack up and go will come in the morning!
Once it got dark, we went out to see how the sign looked.
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Oh, my! A beacon in the night!! The guy who does the letters better get on the job – there’s no missing this mish-mash now!
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(Full disclosure – the letters on that side of the sign looked fine until we laid it on the ground to do the electrical work. The other side looked just fine!)
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As we turned around to walk back to the rig, I was struck with how nicely lit the exterior was –
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Gary didn’t chose the placement of those outdoor lights, but I’m so glad he got them installed! And I know the folks here at FCOG are delighted too!!

Tomorrow we’ll be up bright and early to finish up our ‘getting ready to move’ chores. Gary’s been itching to be on our way for a while now, so it will be good to be finally moving. As a bonus, we’re hoping to be able to see some friends and family along the way – in a responsible socially distant kind of way, of course!

Praying you have a blessed Sabbath, where ever you tune in!
Steph

 

Mondays are for (recent) memories – Camp Horizon


There goes another one! Our tribe is thinning out! Of our eight SOWER couples working this month, there are only three of us left. Four couples are heading home – some have already arrived (thank you, LORD!), and one couple is working their way to Oklahoma where they will be serving next month. Even though most of the ministries SOWERs has partnered with are closed, many have offered their parking spots to SOWERs who need a safe place to be during these uncertain times. We’ll be heading to one of those later this week. Hopefully we will still be able to serve in some way while following the guidelines for self-isolation and social distancing. We are leaving it in the LORD’s hands (after carefully washing ours, of course!).
But since Mondays are for Memories – how about a little bit of wrap-up from this past month here at Camp Horizon? March 2020 will long be remembered as the Month of the Coronavirus, but it will also be remembered as a great SOWER month for us! While our group was over the current ‘legal limit’ of 10,
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since we considered ourselves family, we still were able to accomplish much for the camp and the LORD during our time here!
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See what a good job our guys were doing at social distancing? Can you find the 6 SOWERS in this picture?
Their primary job was to rehab (grinding, welding, painting) the steel trusses for a metal building that had been donated (but had sat for too long!). It was a big job, but in the end –
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There was quite a pile of shiny red trusses waiting to be assembled.
Here’s a little slide show of the men working….


The ladies did mostly cleaning, with a little organizing thrown in as necessary!
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Even when we were enjoying an afternoon dip (man, it got hot here, and we were VERY thankful for that pool), we were practicing staying apart!
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Here’s a little glimpse of the ladies working –

Of course, the beauty of our SOWER work that it is never All Work and No Play. This month was no exception, but I figured I’d save something for future posts.  I can’t promise another ‘post a day’ spell, but as long as we have internet (and aren’t we thankful for that!!) I’ll probably be a little more diligent with blogging.

Take care, friends! Keep washing those hands and trusting in the God of our yesterdays, today, and tomorrows.

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me.”
John 14:1

Steph