Because the Sojourn is after Camp Bee (which is the unofficial "end" of the Sojourning year), getting a team together for the Sojourn was very difficult. NO ONE but Irene and I signed up last year at Camp Bee. I signed on as the Team Leader so that assured that the sojourn COULD go on and that others could sign up for it. Now, we just needed that to happen.
At the Florida Workshop (like Camp Bee but about 1/5 the size in the number of Sojourners that attend it) one sister who is a widow signed up. Then it just sat there for months until in May I got a request from another individual that I'd never heard of and wasn't in our list of active sojourners that he would like to come to help. I had to check with the office at Camp Bee to find out if this guy actually was even a sojourner. I was told that he was. Phew, now we are up to 4 of us coming.
In August I contacted the office at Camp Bee to find out who was signed up. Al and Glenda Wooten had also decided to work with us again in Theodore. They must be gluttons for punishment. They were with us in Spencer, WV in July and apparently didn't learn better yet. So now we had 6 of us coming.
While we were at the Shults-Lewis Sojourn in September I got word from Camp Bee that Fred and Kay Bowman from the Columbus area of Ohio had contacted the office about working in the Sojourn. God be praised, now we had 8 of us going to be there.
While at Camp Bee for the workshop I thought it best to contact everyone that had signed up to go to Theodore. The sister that had signed up in Florida told me here living situation had changed and she wouldn't be able to make it now. Also, the brother that I wasn't even sure that he was a Sojourner had to back out to teach a Grief Seminar at the congregation he attends. 5 people in the congregation have unexpectedly had their spouses pass away. Now we were back to 6. Dang!
We arrived at Theodore on Friday, October 24th. We left Camp Bee immediately following the close of the workshop at Noon on Thursday the 23rd. When we arrived at the church we had a surprise. Steve and Marie Marshall had signed up AT Camp Bee to work at the sojourn. Hubba, Hubba we were back up to 8.
Our task was to disseminate invitations that were in "door hangers" to the Annual "Friends and Family Day" at the church this past Sunday, November 2nd. We had EXCELLENT help from the congregation. Overall we (the 8 sojourners and about 8 locals) distributed 2,200 invitations to the homes with 5 miles of the church building in 4 days - Monday - Thursday.
The congregation here has about 30 that typically attend on a Sunday. This past Sunday at the Friends and Family Day we had 89 in attendance. 9 of those were visitors from the community. So, about 10 percent of those that attended Sunday were as a direct result of the work we had done last week.
AMEN!
Al and Glenda Wooten ended up having to leave last Thursday. Sees Candy contacted them about opening a new store for the Christmas Holiday in the St. Louis area in a mall. We were back at 6 here.
Today the Marshalls and Bowmans both had to leave. The Marshalls are going up to St. Louis the take over the Sees Candy store AFTER the Wootens get it up and going. They will be there through the first of the year. The Bowmans had to be back in Columbus, OH so Fred can be at work on Friday. And then there were only 2 left - Irene and I.
We will leave Thursday morning. I am teaching here Wednesday night on "Maturing in Christ."
We will be heading up to Red Bay, Alabama - the Birthplace of the Trekker. We will be there until about mid December. We have some warranty work we need to have done on the rig. Hopefully, 5 weeks will be enough time to get it all done. They work on a "First Come, First Served. NO APPOINTMENTS ALLOWED" basis.
In mid December we will be heading down to Disney World to spend Christmas with as many kids as can come. We will be there for a week before we head back to Mission, TX to start our 2015 Sojourner year with our first Sojourn in our new "backyard" at the Church of Christ North in Pharr, TX about 10 miles from our new home.
No comments:
Post a Comment