Rainy Monday, Last Work Day of the Trip

Derek and Lester in the tool room.

 

It rained almost all day today but it did not stop us from getting in a final full day of work today. There was one final salvo of painting in the recreation building byr Becca and Nancy, finish carpentry and drywall sanding/painting in the camp director's residence by Denny and Ken, more brush clearing for the gazebos and wood cutting for the fire pit by Wally and Tim, and more caulking in the showers by Don and Ed. Charlie inspected the gas heaters in the cabins, and replaced a ballast in a big light outside the cafeteria. Lester and Derek helped Denny and Ken in the morning and built a cover for the firewood by the fire pit in the afternoon. Mary once again did more laundry in a day than I think is humanly possible. Connie and Jan worked in the kitchen with Becky Livengood making three more awesome meals. I saw Ed and Derek working on a siding project outside the mess hall. There were other projects I am sure I am missing. Debbie got some amazing pictures of the wild life today. I worked on the blog, and drove tractor to haul away brush and helped stack fire wood to earn my keep.

The highlight of the day for me was dinner. We had salmon caught by members of our team and moose. For most of us this was the first time to eat "Bullwinkle" (sorry, inside joke for the team). After dinner we got final instructions about our schedule for Tuesday. We will spend the morning cleaning up after ourselves in the lodge and getting packed. Right after lunch we will head into Anchorage to do some final sight seeing and shopping and then we will have dinner at "The Sourdough Mining Company" restaurant (named after a famous minor named Sourdough, not the famous bread).

After dinner we will be off to the airport for a 12:30 AM flight to Seattle. Then we flight from Seattle to Minneapolis, and then on to Columbus. We should be at Port Columbus shortly after 6PM Wednesday evening. It has been an awesome experience being in this amazing "final frontier" for two weeks. Connie has done an amazing job organizing our trip. Chuck and Joanne Nicholson have done and incredible job coordinating the work and keeping us all busy using our particular skills and abilities. We have worked hard, played hard and ate too well and too much. God has blessed us with new friends from Oregon, and from Alaska. God has blessed us as we have tried to be a blessing to the people here and to people we may never meet who come to this camp in the future.  Terry Livengood (Camp director) tells us there are groups here the majority of the weeks in the year. So there will be a steady flow of people who will benefit from the work done by this team.

We came to help make Camp Maranatha a better place for people to encounter the presence of God. In the process we were blessed by God. Thank you all for your prayers and support and we will be home with you again to share more stories and many more pictures before you know it!

Ken finishing the baseboard on the new flooring in the director's residence.

Denny painting the drywall facade he and Ken built around the steel beam.

One room of the Camp Director's residence was the saw room today.

Don caulking one of several shower surrounds.

Charlie changing a ballast on an outside light, important for those long Alaskan winter nights.

Jan displaying the fresh caught salmon we would have for dinner Monday.

The bonfire pit is back to normal but now with lots of firewood thanks to Wally and Tim.

The new smaller gazebo now has a clear few of the lake thanks to brush clearing by Wally and Ken.

Don and Ed's staircase is done and in use.

Windows and trim by Denny and Ken, paint on the trim and door by Becca and Nancy.

The large gazebo now has a clear view of the lake thanks to brush clearing by Wally and Tim.

Derek repairing siding on the mess hall.

The campfire wood has a roof thanks to Lester, Derek and Kenny.