Harvest Ministries 2

Hi everyone--Thanks for the comments

We have been very busy--only one more day to work, then Saturday we will be heading to MN. Hope to get there by next Wed.

Internet service has not been dependable so haven't posted any pictures. I hope to post pictures when I ge back to MN--must get back to the RV--morning comes quickly. nlsower.

Harvest Ministries-1

Hi, everyone. We are near Carson MS at Harvest Ministries for our April project. This a rather small facility--four bunk houses, a dorm building and a lodge/chapel. There are four SOWER couples working here--three of the four were at Dothan AL last month. The ladies are cleaning the kitchen--deep deep cleaning. Two of the men are repairing plumbing (frozen pipes), fixing a roof (tree fell on it Monday night), repairing bunks (stop the wiggling). The other man and I have been working on a one-bedroom house that the ministry recently acquired--it is on property but they didn't own the house. It is to be used for missionaries or pastors or a single family. It sits right on the edge of the reservoir--the deck even extends out over the water. The house is built on piers since the water may rise 8 feet during a heavy rain. The present deck gets flooded during high water so they would like another deck up at floor level of the house. We are replacing the flooring, extending the bedroom in to the old bathroom area and adding a bathroom. We have to stop our remodel and replace part of the roof that blew off Monday night. The setting is beautiful--60-ft pine trees, plants blooming several cardinals at the bird feeder. As I write, there is a goose sitting on the dock. Saw three deer last night. I am sitting in the lodge waiting for the clothes dryer to finish. There is one washer and one dryer so we have to share with the other SOWERS. I have some pictures but we have had trouble with the Internet so I haven't gotten them posted. We think the Internet problem is solved so will get busy and post some pictures. Bye, nlsower

part of the first two weeks

Where has the time gone? We have completed two weeks at Dothan Community Church. We have had a fun time working and visiting with members of the church. The church is located in an industrial and agricultural area. They are in the process of completing a children and youth wing. They do the work in phases as the funds are available. Future plans are for a new sanctuary--today the church was full but the present project is only about one-third completed.

This is the main entrance--most of the church is off to the right and the addition is behind this original part.

BC taping in the hallway.

CC and Kathy in the kitchen after they had gone through all the cupboard--cleaned, stove, refrig and discarded out-of-date food.

There are five SOWER couples on this project--from Wisconsin, Nebraska, New Jersey and South Carolina. Of course, Minnesota.

Bye nlsower

Dothan Community Church first two weeks

One of the murals in the hallway of the completed children's addition--we did not paint this. We are working on the next phase--three class rooms, the library and hallway.
The church is having a rummage sale to raise funds. CC is marking the donations.

SOWER lady painting door frame in the new hallway.

SOWER installing suspended ceiling--like the wall color?

boat update

Hi. Rusty and I were able to get the boat motor going. We ran the motor for five seconds with diesel oil in the crankcase and transmission then drained them. We then filled them with the correct oil and ran the motor for 4 hours. The motor ran better than it did before sinking--no exhaust smoke and smooth idle. After the 4 hours and cool down, Rusty changed the oil again. The hardest part was getting the fuel pump primed. The fuel tank didn't get any water in it.

The hull of the boat needs to be coated with a new flexible epoxy. The process involves taking the boat out of the water and completely drying it out. And then coating the hull inside and outside. There is a place that does this but the cost of the material alone is $8000. Rusty's ministry doesn't have that kind of money yet.

We are relocated to Dothan Community Church where we will be finishing rooms in the children's addition. Our organizational meeting is tomorrow morning. At that time we will learn the details of what work we will be doing.

nlsower

sail boat

Hi everyone. On Monday morning I headed down to the dock to help paint the 65-foot sail boat only to find out the boat sank on Sunday night. Thankfully the bay is only about five feet deep so the water was only up to the main deck. We used three large pumps to raise the boat. The bad part--the diesel engine was completely under water. Pray that there is no serious damage to the engine. Rusty took the starter to be cleaned.

Tuesday morning I helped Rusty remove all the soaked beds etc. Then scrub the deck with dawn dish soap--works good to remove the oil.

Today we hope to paint the deck--there is a wedding planned for Thursday. Tight schedule.

CC has been beading each morning--I think she is addicted. Ha.

Tomorrow we will be moving to our March project.

Bye nlsower

Camp Baldwin and Community

Elberta/Foley/Gulf Shores is an area that has been affected by hurricane Ivan and also the oil spill. The beaches have been cleaned up but there are crews working on other beaches. The boat below was beached by Ivan. Camp Baldwin lost about 200 trees during Ivan.

Camp Baldwin is blessed with many tall pines and these live oak trees. They stay green all year but shed leaves continually.

This is the sign that greeted us on hwy 20 as we approached Camp Baldwin. This camp is a ministry of the Baldwin Baptist Association. It is both a summer camp and retreat center. The facilities are continually being updated and is well maintained. It is located on Wolf Bay about 8 miles by water from the Gulf of Mexico. The camp is developing a new outdoor program including sailing and boat building. The programs director has a dream of building a lighthouse for the classes. He lived on his sailboat for ten year sailing much of the Gulf.

This is the 65-foot sailboat that Rusty uses for his classes. He took us for a two-hour ride in the bay. As we were getting ready to set sail, a dolphin swam by our boat--about 30 yards away.