KEEPING TRACK OF ERWIN & GAIL: 2014

Wednesday 24 December 2014

Christmas in Yuma

I’m sitting here trying to find a way to tell you all about the things that have happened to, with and for us since I last blogged, without it sounding like I’m bragging about being someplace somewhat warmer than most of you are on this, the day before Christmas. I don’t want it to sound like, as someone suggested, Blah… Blah… Blah, we’re here in the warm shirt sleeve weather and the snowless driveways and you’re not, so get over it, like suck it up princess, play the cards you’re dealt. No, no, I don’t want it to sound like that at all, but, I just want to explain, never in our wildest dreams would we have ever dared to imagine a year in our lives like the one our mighty God has laid out before us. 2014 will be a year we will not soon forget, and that’s a lot to say, since we are both approaching that age when forgetfulness is often a fact of life. So, now having bragged about our life on the road and before you quit reading in sheer disgust, let me tell you what has happened since we last bragged, I mean blogged.

The fourth week at the Gleanings we spent filling, leveling and forming the basketball court. We were slowed up by some much needed rain and the amount of help available was limited, but, with the help of my awesome wife and a couple of other wonderful volunteers, we managed to get it all ready with the rebar in place before the week was over. The following week our concreate specialist and his boys were back and with all the help we could muster up we poured the first half on Monday morning and the second half on Tuesday. They were real long days for the finishers but when all was done it turned out to be a super job and a job well done. We striped off all the forms, cleaned up the area on Wednesday and got ready to make our escape.

Thursday morning right after breakfast everyone gathered around us and prayed us off and we headed to Las Vegas. No, no not to gamble, although just going there could be a bit of a gamble. We camped at a KOA camp ground next to a casino, now let me tell you, if you are anywhere in Las Vegas, you are next to a casino. Four of our children and two grandsons met us there for an awesome buffet meal in the casino and the next day we all spent time on the “strip” where we had an awesome kind of pre-Christmas day together, including a gift exchange. We said our good byes and the next day we moved out to Mead Lake where we spent a week camped. We saw some awesome sights like, The Hoover Dam, the Valley of Fire, the Red Rock Canyon and the Davis Dam. We walked on the old railroad trail that was built to haul material to build the Hoover Dam, with its tunnels and its awesome views, especially the views of Mead Lake, the lake formed by the dam.

Saturday morning we moved from there to Yuma, where we are right now, and set-up camp at an RV resort called the Arizona Sands. The first night, we went to the annual Christmas bonfire and met many of the guests here, including many Canadians. We have seen many of the sights around Yuma and made a trip into a small town just across the border in Mexico and bought a poncho, the price was a hundred US dollars but after all the dickering, I bought it for $15. The lady explained that her children were going to have to starve because of my cheap-skatedness, but because it was Christmas she would forgive me. We bought a couple of other things we didn’t need, far below the asking price, just because we had the power to starve children. J It was probably the least expensive sightseeing trip we have made up to this point. We have several other points of interest to visit before we pull out of here on Saturday. Tomorrow we have signed up for Christmas potluck dinner with the other guests and staff of the resort and that will be the extent of one of our few Christmases away from our children or a place we call home.

Now, let me tell you some of what the near future has in store for us. As I have said before, planning is something we have tried to avoid doing too much of during this time away from time, but we stepped out in sheer courage and made some plans. We had been invited to volunteer at a Christian retreat centre in Florida and planned to make a slow trip across the south of this great nation, taking in some of the sites along the way and enjoying the warm weather as we travelled. But alas, “mighty are the plans of man”, due to some delays in communication, the RV sites at the place were all booked up and there we were, with a good plan and no place to put it into action. So, without suggesting that we are making plans,it appears that we may head back to the Gleanings for the Hungry before we make our slow trip East. Don’t hold me to that and if it should change, or even if it doesn’t, I will keep you posted.

If there is a chance anyone of you should not be able to avoid reading this blog, would you drop me a line and let me know what you think, good or not so good, so I know I’m not just talking to the wind.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! God Bless. With love

Erwin & Gail

Just a few more things and we are ready

That's it, bring on the trucks

Prayer "Oh Lord Help"

Let's get this show on the road

First drop

That's it for day 1

Quick start on the second day

Coming down the home strech

Setting in for another long night

Saying good-bye to a family of 14 (Three older kids not present)

Cleaned up and ready to go

On the road again

New home for a day or two

The Strip

On the Strip

It might be Paris but its not France

Home for a week at Lake Mead RV Village

The hoover Dam (Just like any picture you've ever seen)

This one from the lake side

Old rail bed to the dam

Oh its good to be home

The Valley OF Fire

Road through the Valley of Fire

The Red Rock Canyon

Davis Dam (same river)

Here we are home for Christmas

That's Mexico just beyond that line

Sunday 30 November 2014

still in California

Last time, I told you about our trip South and our arrival at, Gleanings for the Hungry, here in Dinuba (near Fresno CA). Well after the first week was finished we had packaged more than 1.3 million servings of soup but that’s not all that happens here. In the quilting room the ladies made 31 quilts and we shipped a container filled with soup, quilts, dried peaches, raisins and a truck load of love to Liberia. Each time a shipment leaves this place everything stops and everyone gathers around the truck to pray, we pray for the load, we pray for the truck and even, though it may make him feel uncomfortable, we pray for the driver. We pray that the shipment would arrive at its destination in a timely manner, we pray against delays at the hands of some corrupt and greedy border guard or port official. We pray that the love of God will radiate so far around that container that anyone coming into its presence will have their eyes, ears and hearts opened so that they will know the love of God with which and by which that container is filled. Every day here is filled with something, from 7:00 AM to 8:00 PM, whether it be work, eating, worshiping or listening to special guests. During the week you meet many new people, make new best friends and then have to say good bye. Friday is always a joyfully sad day.

After the first week, which was really supposed to be the only week, we went up into the mountains Saturday morning and spent the day seeing the largest living things on this planet. These huge sequoia trees are thousands of years old, reaching heights of over 250ft. The largest of which is one called the General Sherman. The General stands 274.9ft high (83.8m). It has a base circumference of 102.6ft. (31.3 m), it is 36.5 ft. (11.1 m) wide at the base and at a point 180ft. (54.9m) above the ground it is still 14ft (4.3 m) wide. The general would weigh more than 2.7 million lbs (1.2 million kg).A branch that fell off in 1978 was over 6ft (1.8m) wide and was at least 140ft (42.7m) long, this branch alone would be among the largest trees anywhere else in the USA. Even though the General is the largest living thing in the world it did not seem to be a giant when compared to the hundreds of giants standing in the vicinity. After an amazing drive to get there, it was an amazing sight to see, in an amazing place to be, followed by an even more amazing return trip.

We started the second week, having decided to do one more, because, well because it’s an awesome place to be. Gail carried on with some general housekeeping chores and working in the soup plant, I asked if there was any wenches that needed pulling and found myself building a basketball court. It turned out to be an overwhelming project and halfway through the week Rod, the construction dude around here, told me I couldn’t leave before it was done. I immediately thought “well there goes the rest of this winter” so after a week of scraping the ground and digging with a Bob Cat while Rod worked the back hoe we had most of the footings dug out. We decided then that we would have to play this, one week at a time and just rested for the week end.

Although the next week was only a three day week due to the Thanksgiving Day holiday, God started the week out with a miracle of provision. He provided us with the help we needed in the form of a Saskatchewan farmer who could operate any kind of machinery available and a concreate specialist, from Montana, who brought with him, his sons, some of the hardest working boys I have ever met. With that amazing amount of help we finished digging, forming and pouring the footings before Tuesday was over. Wednesday the footings were striped and most of the fill placed. But that’s not all that has happened here, during those two weeks, more than a million and a half servings of soup was packaged and two more shipments went out, one to Mexico and one to Kenya and each time we stopped to pray.

On the weekend, we went East to a place called Death Valley, a place well named because there is very little alive there and very little that can stay alive in the place. We visited Scotty’s Castle, a place built in the middle of nowhere in the early 1900’s because of the climate supposedly being good for one’s health. It is suggested you don’t go there in the summer as apparently it’s not so good for one’s health. We saw deserts, ghost towns, mine sites and did I mention deserts, Josuha trees, cactuses, mountain passes, oh and, deserts. On the way back we took a different route and drove on some of the most winding roads we have ever seen. Kelsey got so tired of trying to maintain her perch on the counsel as the truck swayed from side to side with each curve; she just decided to go to sleep to avoid the hassle.

We will start our fourth week tomorrow and play it by ear from there. I will post a few pictures then see if I can find enough internet access around here to post this blog.

God Bless. With love

Erwin & Gail