Painting, Painting, Painting …

In his posting for last Sunday John Dobbs talked about the group that spent the afternoon, assembling lawn mowers to prepare for mowing lawns and cleaning up yards. Someone put a comment on this posting that said “Mowing, mowing, mowing …” and then went on to say they were thinking of “Rawhide” - Well in the same vein, if I had some talent I could do a takeoff on Rawhide that had the line “painting, painting, painting ..."

However the good news is – Linda said to-day “I think we can finish tomorrow and those who know her will realize that means we are going to finish tomorrow.

There was another baptism here yesterday as well as a wedding – you could see John’s s journal for details (and pictures) if you wish.

I had a great visit with John (Dobbs) this p.m. He had given us a ride to the “house” this morning. And I suggested that if he had time he could bring us coffee in the afternoon so we could chat a little. I was very interested in his view of how Katrina had “transformed” the church here –and how they were dealing with the turmoil, and hard work that had come their way. He told us a lot of his personal story and the impact of having their own house flooded, dealing with that while at the same time spending so much time meeting the needs of the people in the community. As he says each week – the folks here are “bone tired” but when a new group comes in and they see their energy it means that the people here can continue for another week– so they take it a day at a time -- a week at time and for 7 months they have served (almost) 24/7.

We also shared a lot our thinking on church leadership and directions – I was blessed to have the time with him and I hope that having someone to talk to was helpful to him as well. We started talking at 3:30 and the next thing I knew it was 5 and time to come back to the building. (Roger – you likely can relate to this from our experience at the Tuesday breakfasts!!) ).

At noon we realize we needed some more paint so I knocked on the trailer and got John (Kelly) to go pick some up. We hadn’t seen any sign of him all morning and we hadn’t seen him since Wednesday. We were a little concerned whether something had happened to him so it was good to see him. When he brought the paint we talked a little and Linda showed off the bathroom that she had finished painting and cleaning this a.m.

Another couple -- Jim? and Sandy Williamson from California -- showed up today with their motor home. so there are 2 machines parked here now.

Robbie, one of the guys who is staying here at the building stopped us on the way out from services this evening and said he wanted to make us something. He uses palm reeds and made Linda a rose and a cross to hang in the motor home—really neat gift. from a neat guy. –

For someone at Pinehill please pass on to Linda's "kids" from her Sunday cless - that she is missing them and please share with them some of what she is doing her.

Well it’s past 10 and that’s my bedtime

Good night & God Bless
Charlie (and Linda)