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| Maine - a peaceful, serene, beautiful state |
I have yet to travel through all fifty states but I have
been through quite a few, mostly east of the Mississippi valley. Prior to the project I just finished, I had
never set foot in Maine. This state may
well be the most beautiful state in the union.
Most prominent of its many positive attributes are the
people. I found them very friendly,
courteous, inviting, and caring. In
terms of friendliness, they are on par with the good folks around Ruston,
Louisiana. The ‘main’ language aside, I
would have thought I was in another country.
Yes, they talk a little differently up this way. Many of the lower forty-seven states, as you
might call them if you live up this way, have their unique dialects and thankfully,
most of them relate to English. Now,
understand, I have not traveled through many of those forty-seven states …
yet. Still, it was a short distance
inside my visit before I experienced the native language. Like the neighboring states just south of
here, the vocabulary seems to thrive without the pronunciation of the letter r.
It took me a couple of weeks before I thought I overcame the
language barrier. That is, I thought I
had. It may well have been that the
local folks became accustomed to this funny-talking down-lander from Texas,
Oklahoma, West Virginia, or who knows where.
I recall once when my daughter caught me humming and occasionally
singing a few words from a tune that served as a ringtone on my son’s cell
phone. The tune was some rap song about
California, I think, and between my hearing loss and my inherent inability to
understand any words emitting from the minute speaker in his phone, my daughter
remarked, ‘Dad, you sound like some country hick trying to sing a rap song, and
you’re making up your own words! That’s
not how it goes!’ I thought I was doing
fairly well. It was a catchy tune, to me
at least.
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| United Methodist Economic Ministry, Salem Township, ME |
I spent three weeks with the United Methodist Economic
Ministry in Salem Township, ME. It is
located about fifty miles south of the Canadian border, near the Sugarloaf ski
resort, in the northwestern area of Maine.
The nearest city, called a city rather than a town, is Farmington. Closer are towns that I found very
hospitable, like Kingfield, Phillip, and Strong. I heard the town of Strong was once the
‘toothpick capital of the world.’ If you
ever find yourself in this part of the world, you might find yourself returning
waves to folks passing you along the highway or returning a greeting with a
smile and hello when passing someone on the street. I also found that when I pulled over on the
shoulder of a local road, the neighboring folks would stop and ask if they could
help. Gracious folks, in my book.
You will likely become accustomed to living without a cell
telephone in your ear while you visit the Salem area. With the mountains and hills surrounding the
Salem valley, cellular signal is a challenge to find. The local folks seem to adapt very well, if
they ever had to adapt to cell phones in the first place. The local folks have a well-known pull-off at
the top of a nearby hill where one may drive, park, and talk to your heart’s
content with a clear signal. While
traveling around the area I noticed several homemade pullouts strategically
located where cell signals are the greatest.
Modern technology, you got to love it.
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| I could watch this all day and then some |
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| Where's my KAYAK!!! |
Another fine attribute of Maine is clear water flowing
freely and abundantly through several rivers.
It is quite commonplace to see kayaks on the tops of cars. I noticed an abundance of camping trailers in
the area too. Leaves little wonder why
the motto for Maine is the vacation state.
There are plenty spots along the country roads to pull over and gander
at the pleasant expanse of greenery, stretching over hills as far as you can
see, which is quite a distance compared to the smog-ridden panoramic views of
Virginia.
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| Salem United Methodist Church |
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| 'The General' Store, maker of fine sandwiches and other stuff |
A wide spot in the road goes by the name, Salem. It is a quaint little place. Drive past the place at high speed and you
would certainly miss it. Scattered along
the highway coming from Kingfield you would first see the United Methodist
Economic Ministry. It consists of a
thrift store, food pantry, and workshop for home repair in the community. Just past the Ministry, you will see an old
cemetery. The average date on
gravestones is the mid-1850s and the cemetery remains well kept still
today. Next, you would see a high
school, a small church, a few houses, and a general store aptly named ‘The
General.’ The store sells sandwiches,
drinks, and what not. You might think of
it as the local diner of sorts – a fine place to eat if you want to sample true
local hospitality.
Aside from this being my first visit to Maine, this project
represented my first opportunity to lead a NOMADS team. This was my 12th NOMADS project
and through the year I noticed that some projects were in danger of being
cancelled due to lack of leadership. I
had years of leading mission teams so it seemed right that I become certified
as a project leader under NOMADS. I was
fortunate to participate in a training session, while in Florida earlier in the
year, provided by the Chairman of the Board for NOMADS. Following the training and some casual
discussion, he recommended I lead the project in Maine. That was one of the locales on my ‘bucket
list’ so I was anxious to sign up.
To my surprise, two couples who worked with me on their
first NOMADS projects signed up for my team within a week of meeting me. I guess, I was either considerably charming
or they were grossly mislead, or perhaps they were too new to know better. In any event, I was truly appreciative.
Concurrent with the timing of the NOMADS project, mission teams
visited from such places as New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. Although we NOMADS did not work with them
closely, we enjoyed our sharing of worship time and the weekly community
dinner. As the Lord would have it, a few
of us became friends, or at least exchanged contact information for future
endeavors through our faith in Christ.
Their welcoming smiles, friendliness, courtesy, and kindness were very
nice and comforting.
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| Roof and Wall covering an existing ramp |
During our stay in Salem, the NOMADS worked on four
tasks. We built a deck on the side of a
mobile home, replaced skirting around another mobile home, painted a bit, and
built a lean-to roof and wall along an existing handicap ramp. I found the recipients of our labor to be
nice folks. They were especially
appreciative that we had traveled so far to help in the community.
Aside from my leadership duties, I found occasions to learn
something new. From my previous NOMADS
projects, I had picked up a few carpentry skills and this project gave me many
opportunities to apply those skills. In
little time, I felt like I had moved from novice to seasoned carpenter. I know there is so much more I need to learn
but I can certainly see progress in my abilities.
Overall, this was a wonderful project. The beautiful countryside, the wonderful
people, the ample supply of snacks provided generously by the homeowners and
Ministry coordinator, oh man, what a place!
This is without a doubt a project I will seek out again and again.
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| Wire Bridge, near Kingfield |
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| Downtown Philip, ME |
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| Typical Maine home |
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| Home is attached to barn for cold winters |
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| Mega snow plow - watch out for this guy! |
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| Beautiful Maine |
