Have Lord - Will Travel: Eustis, FL - January/February 2012

2012, the start of my second year of projects for United Methodist NOMADS; serving the Lord by helping others. Last year, beginning in January, I scheduled my first three projects alternating with a three-week break between projects. I learned my lesson then. I quickly found myself returning to West Virginia between projects and putting many unnecessary miles on my trailer. This year, I booked four projects back to back, which would take me away from West Virginia for three months. This was a test to see how I would like being on the road for a long period.

My first and second projects brought me to the Hearts and Hands Ministry in Eustis, FL. From January 8 through February 17, I was at the same location for six weeks. The team leaders changed with each project and all but one couple changed. Since one delightful couple scheduled Projects #1 and #2, I had good company throughout the stay. The team for the first project brought four couples from the same church. I believe they were all from Illinois. They were a nice group of folk and reminded me of my family in Oklahoma.

For the first time in my two years with the NOMADS and six projects, friends from one of my previous NOMADS projects joined me. First, I should say that technically speaking the delightful couple that stayed over for a second project is included in this distinction. Outside of them, a couple from Hawaii (yes, they travel in an RV full time and no, I do not know how they drove it across the Pacific Ocean) who worked with me at the Boy’s Ranch in Gore, OK, joined me in Eustis, FL. It was great to see them again.

After living 20+ years in a marriage where me having my own friends was somewhat challenging, I am SO happy to now have friends of my own. That might sound rather strange, and if it does, well, so be it. In any event, I have made such great friends through NOMADS and the locations my adventures have brought me. I have great friends in Florida, Maine, Michigan, South Dakota, and all across the country. I guess the NOMADS is something of a ‘country club’ where I can meet people, enjoy their friendship, and share the love of Christ, all at the same time. It’s great!

Ok, back to the NOMADS projects. My first two projects brought me to Eustis, FL, to serve with the Hearts and Hands Ministry. The Ministry offers food pantry, thrift store, and outreach in the local community for home repair. My work was mostly in home repair.

Our first task was to paint the exterior of a storage trailer. The trailer, like one a semi pulls across the country, was full of lumber, paint, and home repair ‘stuff’. The team leader divided us into small groups for each task. I was in charge of painting the trailer. We had the paint, supplies, and workers. We first power-washed the trailer, which was done in short order. Next the painting. However, my first challenge was deciding who could get up on top of the trailer to paint a black trim. Surprisingly, a man from another task came by to get supplies from the trailer. Next thing I know he is climbing a ladder, before anyone else could hold it for him, and he is on the roof leaning over the side and painting trim. Oh, he is the oldest team member at 84 years. Makes me wonder why the people in the church I attend in West Virginia say they are too old for mission work and they are in their late 60’s and early 70’s. Well, the Lord does not call everyone to do mission work.

We got the trailer painted, after a fashion. Most of our painting group dispersed to other tasks of higher priority. One very nice touch was lettering on the side that gave tribute to NOMADS and Hearts and Hands. My neighbor, a very nice woman from Illinois, did the lettering and artwork. She has real talent. She also amazed me by telling me she had retired at 67 from her job as a nurse some years before. Geez, I thought, you don’t even look like you’re 60!

A significant surprise during the first project was my daughter visited for the day and worked with the team. (To do this, she had to join NOMADS officially. So, she may well be the youngest NOMADS member!) She lived about 30 miles away and blessed me with a visit. It was wonderful seeing her.

Another wonderful thing that happened during my first project was a visit from a couple I met while serving at the Outdoor Wilderness Learning Center, Louisiana Children’s Home, near Ruston, LA. As it turns out, the couple from Maine is good friends with one of the couples on the team. They stopped by to visit. We had a short but wonderful time talking about what each of us was doing and sharing a few laughs. It was so good to see them. I learned that they had been following my ‘progress’ in NOMADS and encouraged me to become qualified as a NOMADS Team Leader.

Another NOMAD and I worked on siding of a woman’s home. The structure had been her grandmother’s home and was now in dire disrepair. I could tell the original siding was wood, now covered by weathered shingles. We wanted to tear off all the siding and replace it but we were only able to make repairs, not remodeling, and replacement was considered by someone as remodeling. We had a little difficulty finding anything solid to put a screw into so we used four-inch screws hoping to find something solid. Though it took nearly three weeks, we managed to put new siding on the north and south sides. The woman who lived there, who was a grandmother herself, was very happy.

The second project gave me an opportunity to go where man, well at least this man, has never gone before, and that is up on a roof. One of the homes in the area was to be painted. It also had a hole in the roof. No one was anxious to volunteer to do the job, so I did. I had been on a roof only once before and that was within the past year when I helped a friend in my home church repair a roof in our neighborhood. He taught me so much, including the confidence to climb to the top of the world, well, the top of the roof. Now, my team leader and I ventured upon the roof. Here I was, with my new tool belt but otherwise void of any sense of confidence, standing on a slanted roof trying to appear as if I had some slight idea of why in the world was I up there, fixing to take off some old shingles and examine the hole beneath them. After minimal guidance from my friendly pro, I was soon removing shingles, cutting out wood and replacing it with new wood, covering it with tarpaper, and replacing old shingles with new. Very cool! Now, I can say I do roofs. (Thanks, friend in Hedgesville.)

Another task involved hooking up a sewer line from a house to the main sewer at the street. One of the three of us on that task was a retired plumber. I later learned that he was at least as old as my dad would have been. His demeanor intimidated me. Perhaps it was because I wanted to learn or whatever the reason, he calmly instructed me on what to do each step of the way. The third man and I hand-dug a trench from the edge of the house to the street. One challenge was an open hole in the front yard where the septic tank was overflowing with raw sewage. Not daunted by such trivial challenges, we dug the trench, lay the pipe as the seasoned plumber fixed the connections, and later covered it all up. This was the second, ‘Very cool!’

At that same house, I helped install three ceiling fans, a kitchen cupboard, and a hood over the stove. I had the occasion to do some electrical work for the first time. Third, ‘Very cool!’

Over the course of six weeks, I was able to do many things that I had never done before. The team leader was great in letting me experience and learn, and use my own tools. This was a great double-project. It brought me from being rather uneducated in carpentry to at least knowing how to know what a soffit is, how to fix one, and the confidence that I can do it. The Lord blessed me greatly by bringing me to these projects and putting the right people in my path. Wonderful! Praise the Lord!