Moving on

After leaving YWAM in Texas we had the opportunity to attend a Volunteer Celebration at a church in Dothan, Al., a project we worked over a year ago.  This is their 25th anniversary and have requested those who helped them build their church building to come and celebrate with them.

When we got to Dothan we found out where the robins go in the winter.

Here we are, home sweet home in the same spot as we were when we were here before.

It was a great service.  The Pastor and his wife (back left) and the Pastor who acted as the general contractor for them (back row right) were hosts to Sowers (us), RVICS (next to us) and MMAPers on the right.  God has each in the body as He chooses.

On the trip from Texas to Alabama and baack we crossed over the Atchafalaya Basin, an area which is mostly swamp.

There are really people who live there and if you watch Swamp People on TV you may see some of them.

A lot of the area was quite lovely for a swamp---

---and it contains real swamp creatures.

We are back at the Acadian Baptist Center ready to work.  This is one of the ponds on the camp.

Meet the Sower family working here this month.  Doug and Amy Heilman have joined us for the February project.

There are a lot of leaves everywhere and Doug attacks them with the leaf blower.

There seems to be a red light glowing on top of the sewage lift station.  Not good.  So we start pulling pumps and find out that one is locked up and the other is full of "stuff".  After clearing the "stuff" we were able to get the one pump going again to empty the station.

Amy loves to paint so she jumped at the chance to paint the dividers in the boys locker room.

There are a couple of old quansit buildings which are rusting and coming off of their foundation piers.  After a couple hundred feet of steel bar stock and two days of welding I believe they are stable enough for the next Cat 2 hurricane.

The rooms in the hotel need to be cleaned and made up for the next set of guests and who does a better job than Billie.  Answer--NOONE.

You will have a few more slides to go through while trying to guess what this is.

On the weekend we visited the private island belonging to the McIlhenny family.  They were the inventor and manufacturer of, you guessed it, Tabasco.

This is a model of the island where they live and produce the Tabasco and mine the salt they use.

Some of the island has been turned into a very large garden with flowers and trees and critters.

Who is this beautiful couple?

Did I say they had critters?

Are they somewhere down this road?

YES THEY ARE!  

On land and sea they are watching you.  We saw 4 or five while we were driving through.

And we saw some lovely sights as well.  The flower is pretty too.

Even in February there are flowers blooming.

The island also has a bird sanctuary especially for the egrets.

More blooming trees.

Back at the house, we have again attracted the fiches.

The major summer crop here is rice.  Yes, rice.  But in the winter these rice fields turn into a place to harvest crayfish.  These pots are baited and checked regularly for the little mud bugs which have moved into the rice paddies.  Oh yes, the photo you have been wondering about.  It is a crayfish mound in the yard at the camp.  They burrow down a couple of feet and live there.

It has been raining here for the last several days, 2 3/4" in fact, and with a grand elevation variation of 5 feet across the campus we have a little water standing.  Sunny tomorrow.

Closing out at YWAM

We have finished our time at YWAMand have the opportunity to attend a 25th anniversary celebration at Dothan Community Church on January 27.  They will be holding a service to honor those who helped them build their new addition.  But, before that we have a couple more shots fromYWAM in Lindale.

Lindale has a very nice museum donated by a Lindale resident.  These articles are all from his personal collection.

 

 

This is an actual working line shaft which they use to grind grain. 

Before we leave the property there was a bit of finishing to be done in the Village, a job that started before Christmas and had to be put on hold for a group of Koreans who held an event there between Christmas and New Year and for the remodel of the hotel room.

A little caulk, a bit of tile grout and---

---a new coat of paint---

---and we have a bathroom ready for use.

Now comes the preperation to get under way.  How come the basement always gets in such a mess in only two months?

Of course we did take a little time to hang a hammock for a friend and neighbor---

---and entertain a couple of Crossroads ladies and their "little" pets.

Here we are again, Dothan Community Church, Dothan, Alabama.  After the service today we were treated to a wonderful lunch and we are waiting for the time when the fund raising is complete so we can come back to Dothan to help them build the youth areas. 

From Christmas through the first week of the project.

We had a very lovely Christmas here at YWAM.  We had an experience on Christmas day.  When we got up in the morning it was pretty cool and raining.  After a walk in the rain it turned to snow and covered the ground with about 1 1/2 inches of snow.

AS you can see for yourself, the day after Christmas was "COLD". But it was really beautiful.  God provided a perfect morning to remember the SON.

Just a little taste of South Dakota! Did we remember why we are on the road?

But the birds (tufted titmouse)--- 

---the herd of does and fawns--- 

---and the "big" guy himself were enjoying the day. 

On Monday, January 7, we began the January project. The GL and LL (Group Leader and Lady Leader) here on the left are beginning the morning devotions on this first day.  Across the table are Lyn and Penny Allen, Sowers, next to them, Patty Beck from YWAM, then Ron and Shiela Coombs, Mission Builders and Sower coordinators.

This is the first major project.  The bathroom---

south wall of the bedroom---

---and north wall.

I showed you those walls because this is how they look now.

Some of the rebuild is done and now it is time to connect the drain of the new bathtub.

This is how the rest of the walls looked at the end of the week.  More later.  Have a blessed 2013.