We were blessed to be the Group Leaders (GL) at Glorieta Adventure Camps in October serving with these wonderful new friends! Dennis & Diane Simmons and David & Brenda Roquemore – this was the first SOWER project for both couples! Welcome to the SOWER TEAM, you are amazing!
So the story is that several renegade squirrels found their way into the coffee and snack shops and found the sweets! (Then went back and told their friends!) The ladies worked hard to clean up after them, such a mess! They also sorted out any expired inventory and organized the shops so they will be ready to go next spring.
The guys were given a dorm house to prepare for the coming college staff in 2021. We removed all the wooden bunk beds and replaced them with metal ones. There is now a very nice dorm house (among many others) on campus that will sleep 48 staff members comfortably. It was a very physical task loading and moving all of those old bunk bed structures to the disposal yard and the new metal ones from storage to be re- assembled in the two level “house”. We were told there is well over 100 staff members every year along with many volunteers. They would normally be hosting over 1,000 guests every week! This is a BIG adventure camp that intentionally exposes everyone to God’s truth through Adventure, Relationships, and the Word. Impressive!
A little change of pace for the ladies for the second week we were there. They finished the folding and inventory of the t-shirts and hoodies that were started during the first SOWER project in Sept. They also were able to get them to the storage/warehouse area and label them for the coming year. In addition, they were given some office work of laminating and preparing handouts for next year. Again, we were amazed at the quantity and size of this camp’s operation. It will be fun to come back when the guests are here!
OK – lets do something relaxing and creative while we’re here! Dennis got out his paints and did his first “plein air” oil painting. It was fun and he learned a lot – he’s looking forward to doing this more often! Lorree has picked up crocheting and is working on some “made-with-love” gifts and continues to finish her new quilt! We both enjoy having the weekends free to either explore, be creative, or to just relax. (Then there are those weekends you have to work on the RV as well – there is always something to work on!)
More physical work – but it was fun! We were assigned multiple “little” jobs including building some shelving, installing 60+ shower heads in one of the “hotels” on campus and rebuilding a 3-sink cabinet in one of the public bathrooms. We were also challenged with painting the trim including all the touch ups outside of the huge dining hall. I don’t think we ever really got used to the tall ladders and overhead rafters -but we can say we finished that job!
Washing windows…..over 20 foot tall? When Corinn and Josh walked by (Camp staff) they saw the difference – they didn’t know this was on the “list” and commented how beautiful the windows were now. Good job ladies – you got this! Let the sunshine in!
Our finale – three weeks of hard but rewarding work – for the Lord! We were able to check off the list of things given to us to do, plus more! We moved and stacked heavy timbers, cleaned and straightened two of the maintenance shops, and ended up painting benches in the Prayer Garden in preparation for the camp’s “Garden of Eden” adventure next year. We are tired – a good and rewarding tired. The camp staff shared they were blessed by the SOWER’s Ministry and were looking forward to many more experiences with SOWER’s in the future!
Our fellowship was sweet with heartfelt devotions every day – most of them were personal life stories of God working – so inspiring! We enjoyed a few meals together (with social distancing of course) what a wonderful group to work with! Looking forward to many more adventures ahead!
If you want to know more about the SOWER Ministry check out our website: www.sowerministry.org “A Christian Couples RV Work Ministry” ~ RV With a Purpose!