Monday, May 21, 2007

Invitation to Send Off

Invitation to Send Off
Grace Community Church in Goshen wants to see us as an extension of the church and has asked if they could give us a send off. We are very excited about being on the road, yet still being a part of Grace Community Church. The send off will be June 3rd. If you can come it would be great to see you. I believe they will have a send off at each of the three services 8, 9:45 and 11:30 AM. The church is located on Indiana Avenue south of the Goshen Middle School on CR 36.
We are preparing for the trip and getting lots of loose ends tied up. Kim is doing lots of paperwork and I am getting the rig ready. We purchased a new twenty foot enclosed trailer last week and are getting it painted to match the coach this week. We have been spending time with family lately and that has been good. I have been speaking a lot lately and that has been rewarding.

Friday, May 11, 2007

Goshen Rally, Mold and Ministry




Kim and Sarah Brooks - Keith & Frank at Amish Supper


Rally in Goshen
We have a Holiday Rambler motorhome (MH) and have joined their club called the Holiday Rambler RV Club (pretty creative huh?). The club has many chapters including one called the Rambling Diesel Pushers. We joined the chapter and they have an annual event in Goshen that is a maintenance seminar. People started rolling in last week and it finished last night. I believe there were about 250 coaches and lot of people will be leaving today. One really exciting opportunity for me was that several days before the rally began we were walking around looking at people’s coaches and we stopped to talk with a lady. It turned out she was in charge of some of the planning for the rally and said the regular speaker couldn’t be here and asked if I would bring the Sunday morning message. I spoke to about 120 people Sunday morning and really enjoyed getting to know the great people here. Kim and I have never felt so welcome and accepted as we did at this rally. RV’ers are generally friendly people that enjoy conversing and getting to know others. Kim and I have about six open invitations from people in different states to visit them and hook up at their place when on our trip this next year. They want to show us around. Kim and I attended many of the seminars and gained so much knowledge. Our unit has many of the same systems of a home and there are lots of things to learn to keep things operating smoothly. I attended classes on inverters (an electrical component that converts 12 volt DC to 120 volt AC), toilets, refrigerators, air conditioners, heat pumps, leveling jacks, slide outs and many more. Kim’s highlights were the interior decorating class, two cooking classes and she took a driving class and drove a coach with an instructor. I know I’ll never get the wheel back now. Just kidding. Kim did drive about 20 miles on the way back from Alabama last week. She did fine but doesn’t really want to drive the MH much though. I can understand. It’s quite a bit to handle if you’re not used to it. Another highlight was when Kim and I went through Sarah’s MH. She taught the decorating class and has really done lots of things to make her coach feel like home. The one thing that Kim and I did to make the coach feel more like home was to go to Wal-Mart and buy a small round wooden table with screw in legs (for $5.88). We threw away the legs, placed the table on the steering wheel that tilts so the wheel is level. Then we put a tablecloth on it and a lamp. It really gives the coach a homey feel.
Mold
A few days ago we started to get a moldy smell in the coach. To make a very long story very short, after about five days we found the leak and have stopped it. It was the ice maker hose behind the refrigerator. Mold is a big enemy in a coach and I have taken steps to begin to go after it.
Since we’ve been back in Goshen we’ve been getting things around to leave in June. Grace Community Church, where we attend wants to give us a send off with prayer. Of course we welcome that. We see ourselves as an extension of the church and so does Pastor Jim. We have set a departure date of June 3rd after our church send off. We'd love to have you come and visit. Our first stop will be at Kim’s brother Matt and his wife Kim’s home in Kalkaska, MI. They are always fun to visit with and make us feel at home – and we laugh a lot.