More Play than Work

March 29, 2009 This week was filled with various experiences and feelings. We have enjoyed the beauty of the sky so often on our trip but sometimes the clouds can seem ominous. That is the way our group felt this past Monday. That morning one of the men of RVICS fell several times and seemed to be tracking poorly. Other men noticed that his work was so unlike him, it just wasn't meeting the standards of what the work required. After some time and effort the team project leader finally got the man, John, in his pickup to take him to the doctor. After many hours of waiting in the ER he was taken to a bigger hospital in Gainesville and diagnosed as having bleeding in the brain. He did fall off a ladder about 6 weeks ago, Dad saw him fall, and hit his head. John did not think it caused a problem and did not want medical attention. That fall must have caused the bleeding but the bleeding had stopped. They drilled several holes in his skull, inserted drainage tubes so that the blood could be drained off. They did many other tests but the fall of 6 weeks ago seems to be the problem. However, we wonder why he fell in the first place. Many here had noticed some difference in John lately but I don't think the doctors have diagnosed anything else at this time. He will be under the doctors care here for awhile before heading home for West Virginia. RVICS is out for them for now. Our project here is over as of Tuesday but the project leader has promised to stay with John and Lola until they can go home. We did see John who is back in his RV now at Park of the Palms. In spite of his shaved head and staples on the incision on his head he looked good. He is very weak but the lameness on his left side seems to have improved. He was in good spirits this morning and is looking forward to getting back to West Virginia as soon as he gets doctor approval which might be several weeks yet.
On Wednesday we went to see I-TEC, (Indigenous People's technology and Education Center) the company started by Steve Saint, and I think his son Jesse, to make dental, eye, transportation products,etc. to help people in indigenous settings. However, his approach is different then what we normally think of when helping the people in these countries. He is the son of Nate Saint, one of the five missionaries killed by the Auca Indians in 1956, and Jesse is his son. He wants the people to become independent so his company makes products which they can ship and easily set up and then teach the people how to use them with their own people. The only dependence they would have would be for more products, etc. Steve sees this as the way for all missionaries to work. Work and teach until the missionary works himself out of a job because the people of the country can take care of their own needs. Steve has a book out called The Great Omission which details how Steve sees it working. One guy took us on a tour of more then 1 1/2 hours and really helped us see the start to finished process and the vision of making the people of the land independent. He is the one who suggested the picture of me drilling a tooth in dad's mouth. You will notice that my mouth is as wide open as Dad's. Do dentists do this too? The chair dad is sitting in is a very efficient dental chair that folds all up and fits in a back pack.

The contraption dad is standing by is, literally, a flying car. It has been streamlined to be light and is called the Maverick. If you want more detailed information there is much on the Internet at I-TEC. They are already working on one that is even better. They both hold 4 people. The tour was extremely interesting. They believe the meaning of the Great Commission is to establish churches that are self-supporting, self-governing and self-propagating. Great Goal!

Then on Thursday we set sail from Port Canaveral for Nassau Port in the Bahamas. We sailed all the time except Friday from noon to 5 the next morning when we were able to go ashore. We did not take a land tour so walked around for awhile in the "tourist trap" of shops and got back on the Carnival Sensation, our tour ship. It was a wonderful change of pace and, of course, an adequate supply of food available at all hours. The weather was perfect and just a couple of hours we could notice a slight problem with walking a straight line. We docked Sunday morning and were back at the RV by noon. We are now heading toward home. Plan to make it by April 9th. Us seniors are really slow!

The smile on this little face is a joy to see. Smiles do not always come easy these days but she sure works at it and manages to do surprisingly well.

Hope you are all going well and looking forward to the celebration of Easter. What anticipation and hope that brings to us even as we

struggle with the temporary trials we endure now. God bless You, all.

Love, Dad and Mom/Wilmer and Marilyn

Last days of our Florida "vacation"

March 22 - This past week found Wilmer and Bob doing more dry walling. They have been doing this most of the time we have been here at Keystone Heights. This house had been vacated so it had been torn down to the studs. Then Wilmer and Bob had the job of drywalling after the initial plumbing, electrical work, etc. had been done. They will not finish it before we leave but they got all the ceilings done and some of the side walls. Good thing they were both even fussy about measurements because you can see that each sheet they put up had to have many openings in it. The ceiling was the hardest part but even that had numerous openings. Probably good they didn't finish because then they would of had to go on to mudding which isn't much fun. The apartment will not be finished until someone buys it so the new owners can have some say in how to finish it. We have had so many people ask us to consider living here and not just coming for a few weeks. While the place has merit as a home base it is the wrong direction to go to be closer to family. The Park's median age must be 80 or close to it so few drive a car. However, it must be the "in" thing to have a golf cart and take that every place on the Park grounds. This is a scene outside of church on a Sunday morning. First it seemed humorous but since most of the people do not leave the Park unless someone takes them to the doctor the golf cart makes sense.

We have enjoyed the church experience here and the director of the Park of the Palms said to us at noon lunch that he was glad to see we felt comfortable with blending right in with the people of the church and worship with them. The reason for the remark by him was that he knew we were from a very different background than the Brethren but we still worshipped with them. We were fortunate to be here with the Bible Conferences although the last speaker was a hermeneutics "nut" and we were disappointed with his presentations. The rest were all so very good. We do eat our noon meal with the Park people on Sunday. It is a buffet, so to speak, and rather expensive but they feed us lunch Mon.-Thur. for free so we feel we want to give back something.

We chose not to go see the space shuttle take off but we could see part of it right from the Park. The picture is not spectacular but it was a thrill to see. Those that went to Titusville that night could see the shuttle's take off right from the ground but it took almost 6 hours of driving to see that and we chose to get a more distant look.

On Friday we toured with the group. We went to Devil's Millhopper State Park. It is basically a sink hole that has developed in the middle of the marsh and brush. It is a geological occurance that is now 325 feet deep and 500 feet wide. Surface water, over time, has weakened the limestone and created crevices that have developed into this sink hole. As we usually do, we took our lunch along. We are getting pretty good at fixing these picnic lunches, will it be warm enough when we get to Iowa so we can picnic in Children's Park? Probably not.

This 70's baby has a much bigger crop of hair now. A few other things have changed in the last 36 years as well. We won't go into all of them, okay? You fill in the blanks.

We work Mon. and Tues. and then are finished here. Then the cruise as I said last week and then head north and west. We are going to stop at Carl on Tuesday, we are looking forward to visiting with him once again.

Hope you are all doing well. We won't have an address for a few weeks but we will always try to have internet and email access.

Love to all,

Dad and Mom/Wilmer and Marilyn

Adaptions and appetites

This is the motley crew we work with at Park of the Palms. The couple who lost their son a couple of weeks ago are back with us again. They are from Michigan and are in the middle of the seated people. This day the group was going to tour to St. Augustine, a tour is planned for most Fridays. We did not go along because we had spent several days there on our trip down here and we had other things that we needed to do. Some of the group think all activity must be done as a group. We are not quite in that mind set and do occasionally like to prioritize our needs and desires for activities.

I work in the kitchen with the woman who is standing up on the left side. That has been an experience as well. I have never worked in a large kitchen so it is a learning experience. We have made many pies but the ones that got the most attention were the ice cream pumpkin pie and the turtle ice cream pie. They really went over well. Then this week we made a huge apple cranberry strudel. And our ultimate was making 4 different cream cheese pies in a morning. Good thing it was a morning when we were working good together because it was a big task. Again, the best was probably our chocolate pecan caramel cheesecake. We ate at the cafeteria here at the Park this noon and had a piece and it was good and very rich. The man next to us knew we were leaving in a couple of weeks so he suggested we make a bunch of the cheesecakes and freeze them so they can continue eating them. Wonder what caloric creation we will have to work on this week. We don't do any cooking, just baking and it has turned out to be fun, at least when the other woman doesn't decide I need to check my brain at the door. I know the picture looks like I just did!

In May last year we were in Washington D.C. to see the Cherry Blossoms in full bloom. This year we are in Florida but didn't really know that the azaleas would give us a fantastic dazzling show of color and beauty. Most are dark pink or rose color with some white and lighter colors. They just started blossoming last week and are at their full beauty right now although some pedals have already fallen on the ground.

One morning when we rounded the corner of the building for our devotions we were amazed by the scene in the picture to the left. The sun was rising over the low land and small lake but the haze made the scene so beautiful. What a lot of fantastic creation scenes we have seen in the last 8 months. We stand humbled and amazed at the privilege.

We begin a new Bible Conference again this week. The speaker is Dr. David Reid and his messages will be a series on Hermeneutics. Sounds dry as hay, right? From what little we have heard him so far it looks like it will be more interesting then what it sounds. He takes a miracle or parable and then goes back to the context of the story and finds its meaning from its context which may be quite different than what we have previously thought. We are really liking the opportunity to learn from so many different speakers at these Conferences. And we are warmly received by all the people and we don't feel the need to "fit in" by having to wear a head piece of some description on our head during the preaching. Such things are interesting but the message far eclipses the different traditions we have.

Last night we went to a restaurant that serves fresh catfish. Of course, they abound here but we were told about one that was suppose to be so good. It was. An abundance of catfish, hush puppies, cheese grits (for me, baked potato for Wilmer) and cole slaw. The whole meal was delicious but the catfish was superb.

Guess who our cutie is today? No, I don't think I have goofed this one up. Looks like she is in motion and she hasn't slowed down ever since. The next question probably should be, "how many countries has she been in?" I don' know the answer to that but guess she does. It is a few!
So long for today. We are doing well. Have a big birthday to celebrate next Sunday. The numbers just keep adding up and we appreciate the fact that they do. Have until the 24th here and then we go on a 4 day cruise to the Bahamas. Then start heading for home with a few stops along the way.

Hope you are all doing well. Enjoy your calls and catching up on all the families. What a terrific family we have, each one unique and interesting, each one busy and involved with their family, each one doing what they are called to do at this particular time, each one loved by us so much. May God continue to shine his light on your path!

Love, Dad and Mom/Wilmer and Marilyn/whatever

What a Privilege!

Our first week at the Park of the Palms was full of activity. Wilmer and the other men were kept busy with putting sheet rock on a building that will become the exercise room or gym. There are assisted living residents as well as independent living residents here so they are anxious to have this room finished. They also have rooms for people who come for the Bible conferences that they have each winter for 6 weeks. After the sheet rock comes the fun of mudding. Wilmer had his first experience of doing that this week. On Monday all the women were given the assignment of cleaning the showers in the assisted living rooms. The best part of that was we got to interact with the residents in those rooms. I really could find no other "fun" in it but it was helping the Park in their mission to the residents so it was okay. Then on Tuesday Nancy and I were assigned to the kitchen to do the baking. We mostly make desserts and, of course, must make huge amounts. Coming into a commercial kitchen the first day without a clue where anything is was a little bit scary. Nancy had other jobs for the first while so I was alone and felt like Lucy in some of those I Love Lucy programs where she is suppose to be helping but food and everything else gets thrown around because of her ineptness. Our chef is helpful but also believes we know our way around a kitchen which is nice of him. My first assignment was to take store bought pie crusts, let them warm a little and then roll them out to fit the pie pan of the kitchen. Then use another crust and fit it to the top. Since we just had dark cherries to work with he said to just put as much artificial sweetener in as you think is good and then boil them down a little to thicken the juice. Okay! I did it and believe I passed the test. We made 8 pies. We also made a ice cream pumpkin dessert, a pecan cake roll with cream cheese filling on other days. It beats cleaning windows and showers so hope we can keep the job.

There are beautiful walking and biking paths and we try to get a walk in each day. This town of Keystone Heights is strung along the highway for a long distance. This path takes us along a lot of those businesses. If we really feel ambitious we can take a side road to a fresh fruit stand. The fruit is mostly freshly picked and is really like it just came from the garden. That walk takes close to an hour so we try not to do that on the hot days. We have had a few days that the temperature only gets into the 60's but I don't make a big deal of it that the locals call it cold and we put on an extra layer of clothing because I know some of you are in MUCH lower temps. The last couple of days have been in the 80's, we can handle that. No wonder many of the RVICS projects in the winter are in California, Arizona and Florida.

As I mentioned last week, for 6 weeks in the winter the church here holds Bible conferences. Each week is a different featured speaker. The one that ended Thursday taught on the book of Hebrews. He has been a teacher and Bible scholar for all his many years, he must be about 80, and it was evident in his teaching. What a blessing he was to us. RVICS also has activities Mon. Tues, and Wed. evenings so we had to choose sometimes what we wanted to do or have RVICS begin their activity earlier so we could still go to the Conference. None of the others wanted to go to the Conference, guess it was too scholarly or something. We were intrigued with his teaching and learned a myriad of things from Hebrews in a new light. This week the speaker is teaching on Daniel. From the taste of it this morning we will try to get to as many of his lectures as we can this week. We feel it would be sad if we did not take advantage of this opportunity. Dad said the speakers know how to put a hook in the Sunday morning message so we want to keep coming back.

This is the blopper of the blogger. Last week I used the picture on the left and put clues that would indicate that the picture was of Kim. Well the keen Rensink eyes questioned the authenticity of my words. I knew I had taken the picture from the file with kids in the 60's and so this had to be Kim and I knew she wore that dress as the picture on the right verifies. And I know that Kim and Darren are close to the same age so how could I be wrong, HA! However, my cycling of clothing and lack of attention to what really mattered, faces, made me wrong. Sorry for those who looked closely and wondered how I could mix them up. Note that the girl on the right does have an itching problem. That should have been my clue last week. And the girl on the left is Linda.

We are both doing well, enjoying good health and enjoy the ministry among the people of the Park Of the Palms, Keystone Heights, Florida.

Love you all,Mom and Dad/Grandpa and Grandma

Transition Time

The time has come for us to move on from Miramar. The Florida Bible church and School treated us lavishly. The lunch on Monday hosted by the Pastors as I said last week. The flowers shown were given to me by the teacher I worked with. Gifts were given by the church to men and women. And the church people were so grateful. What a blessing they were to us and evidently the feeling was mutual. Such a small contribution on our part, we are so thankful we have a part in this ministry.

But like so many things there is a down side! When the kids were getting ready to leave the classroom on Tuesday morning they all had an opportunity to show their feelings for me. The hugs and words were almost more than I could take without crying with them. No, I didn't do amazing things with or for the kids but I did love everyone of them and they need that so much. The sentiments on the cards were precious. And one little girl who's Mom is going through chemo for cancer would not even look at me but cried. The teacher didn't seem to think that her personal situation should have an influence on her school work so didn't mention it to her or take it into consideration. The little girl had not been able to stay with her mother for weeks so she was really hurting. She needed to have someone to share her story with and I was available. Such a small effort but so important to the little girl.

But when they left and I looked at the empty room I felt very sad. I would like to know what each child in that room does in life, I would like to know how they do in school, etc. but I may not have an opportunity to know that. So we move on and pray for what we left behind.

I mentioned to some of you that we would be closer to Orlando after the move. Well that is true but we are farther north than that. We are at Keystone Heights at Park in the Palms retirement village. So the next 4 weeks we will be working in the midst of retired people. A long way from 1st grade for me. The women will be doing cleaning in the rooms and laundry room, etc. May have an opportunity to work in the kitchen some as well. The men will be putting up dry wall in some refurbished apartments and then doing to walls what needs to be done such as mudding, sanding, painting, etc. We will have a better idea after tomorrow just how this will all wash out. Sounds like we will be given a noon lunch each day in the dining room. That sounds like a good perk.

Keystone Heights is a small town that is a huge contrast from Miramar. There is a WalMart 14 miles from here so that makes it feel like home, just kidding but we do appreciate them when the local stores are sparsely stocked and not very appealing. There is an abundance of fast food places close and we can even walk to the McDonald's so that is good. It looks like we will like it here and know the work will be helping the people.

An added blessing is always to be able to be a part of the local church. The church at the Park is closely connected with the Brethren community. They are having their Conference weeks now so have activities all week. Last night a quartet from N. Carolina sang. They were so good. At the end they each related a personal story and then each sang a song that had been brought to their mind as they thought about the story. That was powerful. This week the speaker will be talking on Hebrews. If this morning was any indication of how he presents the message the week will be very good. Hebrews is not often preached on but packs a powerful punch that we are interested in.

With all the pictures we take and improve you would think I would send a different and better picture. I will later but it is so hard to get on the internet here that when another team member put a booster on the internet signal and I suddenly got on the internet I did not want fiddle with pictures and let the internet slip away again. The picture is from the back window of our RV. The trees are "dripping" with moss, there is a pond of water in the background and the sun is just coming up - at least then we know one direction! We park so many different places and directions that to know directions is a rare moment. It is a pretty sight and will improve on the picture of it later.

Who could resist this little rocker? Now if I could only remember if she said a few days ago that she has long hair and small buns or short hair and big buns or neither of the above. Never mind the dimensions she is still a sweetie who writes comments but probably not as docile as she looks here. Can't see if her arms are covered with rash so that isn't a clue, right?

Enough already. Hope you are all well, we are enjoying the work and the weather.

Until later,

Dad and Mom/Grandpa and Grandma/ Marilyn and Wilmer - whatever.