Week Four Happenings

Our MDS site is located at Camp of the Hills approximately 15 miles from Marble Falls which is located in the heart of the Texas Hill Country on the Colorado River. Camp of the Hills is a fairly large Christian camp which hosted 602 inner city kids during the summer months. It has seemed rather quiet here now in fall except for the occasional weekend group. We have explored the camps trails and features and have discovered the crosses on the hilltop and tomb for their weekly Passion Play. The cabins are located on one side of a ravine with a trail down and 140 lighted steps back up to the other side to the dining hall.

This view from the hilltop shows our MDS camp in the valley below.

We very much appreciated our new MDS office trailer which gives us the extra room for our assembly area for morning devotions, group activities and meals. Another big bonus is the laundry facilities in this trailer.

We have enjoyed the leadership of Jake and Verna and the rest of our team this past month.

The rafters and the roofing were done by a private contractor allowing us to work on things closer to the ground.

This week has seen a variety of jobs getting done like the house wrap, windows and exterior trim, fascia, hurricane straps for the rafters, and a fair bit of the wiring.



After kidding Jake about his frequent trips to town for supplies and a donut he finally rewarded us with some donuts for morning break.

Service has it's rewards

On Saturday we went to Fredericksburg, a very touristy town for our monthly MDS outing. We started at the Wildseed Farm where we participated in a Tag & Release Event for Monarch Butterflies. We got to watch and tag our own butterflies. Then we went to what they call their “Trade Days which is really a giant flea market and spent two hours looking at all the wares. We also spent some time walking and looking at some of the unique shops downtown Fredericksburg after which we went to a nice Bavarian restaurant for our supper meal. We concluded the evening by going to an Old time Gospel Sing.
Then on Sunday our group went to a Cowboy Church in Llano which is an hour away from us so that meant leaving here by 7 a.m. because church was to start at 8 a.m. A bit early for a day off. The church service was at an outdoor tent setting beside a river.

After the service they served everyone a free breakfast of biscuits and gravy made over an open fire.

After the breakfast we went to see Buchanan Dam but Homeland Security would no longer allow anyone in because of the possibility of terrorists. We also stopped at the Inks Lake fish hatchery and had an hour and a half tour of the Longhorn Caverns.

Waiting for the tour guide at the entry to the cavern.

Monday morning came too soon because it seemed like we still needed a weekend to rest up.

This week the exterior walls were built and set-up. By the end of Wednesday the front porch was almost done and some interior walls were in place. On Thursday more of the walls were up and we were ready for the rafters to be put up.

We have been enjoying working outdoors in temperatures in the high 20s everyday with cool nights to refresh us, knowing that at home it is colder.

Week Two Accomplishments

With the MDS RV group we work four six hour days and cook our own meals. We then have three days off to rest up, do our grocery shopping, explore the area and get to know our co-workers by visiting, playing games, going to church and going out for meals together.
The landscape and vegetation in the Texas hill country is very different with mainly trees grasses and cactus and brightened in fall by these yellow sunflowers.

After our first week here in Marble Falls Jim and I decided to do a driving tour through the Texas hill country stopping at Bertram and Burnet. In Burnet we stopped at Fort Croghan where they were re-enacting the period of the 1850’s. We spent about two and half hours here enjoying different displays and music.

On our second Sunday we attended the Marble Falls Baptist Church service. Since this was the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend our group decided to celebrate with having a potluck supper together and sharing what we were thankful for.

On Monday, Delores T., the homeowner of the house we are building brought us a big lunch of Enchiladas, Tortilla & Beef Casserole, Fried Rice Dish, Green Salad and a Peach Cobbler for dessert. It was a very tasty meal.

The house is coming along well.
The men were putting up the floor joists and the women nailed the joist hangers on Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday we had a rain day because it rained quite a bit throughout the day. Then on Thursday and Friday we screwed down the plywood floor. The front and back walls are built which will be put up next week.

Marble Falls, Tx - October 2008

Leaving early Wednesday morning, October 1 we enjoyed the winds that came from our back pushing us south faster. We overnighted two nights at Walmart’s and stayed one night with friends in Holt, Missouri.
After traveling almost four days we arrived at Camp of the Hills near Marble Falls, TX where Mennonite Disaster Service is located.
We were welcomed to the MDS site with a lovely supper prepared by one of the ladies. We enjoyed our first meal together and started to get acquainted with each other. For the month of October we will be four couples, one from Ohio, one from Indiana and two from Manitoba.

Our MDS RV camp is located in the Texas hill country near the Colorado River.
For our first Sunday, we were all invited to a local church by two gals that are on the County Disaster Recovery Team that our Directors work with. It was a black church called Smoking for Jesus Ministry, meaning they are “On fire for Jesus”. The service went for two hours with the first hour standing and singing. Very lively and loud with much clapping and movement. We were told that 75% of this congregation evacuated from New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina hit and then as a group decided to stay in this area.
MDS will be building a new home for Delores, a Hispanic lady whose house flooded June 07 and then a few months later a tornado hit it. Then the city officials condemned it and her house had to be taken down. The house she will be getting is 26’x 38’ in size with two bedrooms and one bathroom. She is so thankful that she is getting help.
Monday morning, our first day at work an Austin TV Channel was out to interview and photograph the homeowner Delores and MDS at work.

We have finished our first week of work with completing a variety of work.
Started out by the women pulling out nails from previously used 2x4’s that were to be used for the forms and the men setting up batter boards, layout string got lined up and locations for footing pads were decided.

We dug out for the forms and built forms, and cut the steel.
On Wednesday we started pouring cement which was all mixed with a small portable mixer. We had fifteen pads and fifteen sona tubes (columns) to fill. Big job!


All in all we have had a great week of hot days, a few rain showers at night and cooler nights. Terrific weather!!

A new home begins to take shape

It's been a good opportunity to learn about setting up insulated concrete forms "ICF". The tornado safe room in the basement corner will have a concrete ceiling and steel door.
The home owner comes by to check on the progress of her house and is excited about the volunteers and their progress.
Bret cuts the infill piece to complete this layer of blocks.
Dale and Isaiah, the oldest and the youngest on this weeks crew foam in the joints to finish the first layer of the six inch blocks. Both the basement and main floor will have concrete and steel reinforced walls. A great way to build when you live in tornado alley.

This morning the construction site is a beehive of activity as final preparations are made before the concrete truck arrives.
John our contractor/advisor gives instructions to his rooky crew on tapping the forms to prevent voids as the concrete is pumped into the forms.
The concrete pumping truck sets up to do the pour. The world's largest hand-dug well is Greensburg's tourist attraction. At present it still awaits repairs before being opened to the public.
Many helping hands have brought hope to Greensburg Kansas residents. In a few days the community will come together to remember May 4, 2007 and how that experience has changed their lives forever.

We found it necessary to leave the community a week before our scheduled departure due to Annette's dads operation and serious health situation. Our three weeks here have been a time of making new friends, learning more about home construction, and being stretched in our faith.