Arkansas Wrap-up

Our means of communication may have been rather poor at the Glenhaven Ranch but our transportation was second to none, don't you agree? The women had access to this cart and because the Ranch was built on several ground levels we appreciated not having to walk up and down. Actually, I thought walking up the hill to make a phone call was about as much exercise as I wanted to give for such activities. But I'll have to admit that the view from the "phone booth" was pretty good.

Laurie and I were assigned to paint the pump house as I related in a previous blog. The house had been sheet rocked with untreated screws or something like that. Well, the screws were rusting the sheet rock. In trying to "fix" the problem we were to paint the walls being sure the screws were well covered. As you can see the detail work finally ended with us painting with water color brushes or something equally small. It was a little tedious so we hope it takes care of the problem.

This is Scott, he was our Ranch supervisor. He is maintenance or operations manager of the Ranch. Many of the staff have many jobs, each one is asked to fill in for various jobs and some have been doing those jobs for years now. The staff are more like a family with each pitching in when necessary. Scott also led the worship at Tues. night chapel. His wife is the principal and teacher of the school and they were house parents a few years back. Yes he is Hawaiian and grew up there but answered his call to ministry to come to Glenhaven. He and his wife, as well as all the staff, are dedicated to helping those who have had disappointments in life in the past reclaim their goals and ambitions and with a Christian worldview.

It is hard to pick out a particular staff person but I picked Scouter for a special reason. He has several jobs but the main one as far as I could see was to care for the horses on the Ranch. The horse barn was taken care of by students who have to do a meticulous job with the stalls. They even have a monthly award for the resident who does the best job. I assume there is more to the barn cleaning then giving the kids a job. The level of cleanliness and perfection of there work certainly was teaching a lesson in following orders and doing a job well. And Scouter was such an influence to the kids. Anyway, 90 days before we came to the Ranch they had received a horse from the wilds. They worked with him and especially one girl who worked endlessly with the horse. Now 3 months after getting the horse she not only made the horse tame but also trained him to be shown in competition. She showed him in competition and received an award a couple of weeks ago. The whole Ranch celebrated her accomplishments and hopefully that will be an inspiration to others. Another resident played the violin for us and did a great job.

This is the man that Dad worked with most of the time. They really did jack-of-all-trade jobs but working together they got a lot of odd jobs done. Dave and Wanda, his wife, were our project directors and, as always, did a very good job. We worked with Dave and Wanda, who come from

South Dakota,and the other couple, Bob and Laurie from Ohio, 2 years ago in Florida. That is one of the interesting aspects of RVICS. As we all criss cross this country we do meet up with those we have worked with before. Since we spend much time with the other couples in a group our relationship deepens. (most of the time anyway.)

Tuesday night at Chapel was an emotional time. We had become friends of so many and our feelings were very evident that night. To hear the young people state how much the Ranch had done for them and how they witnessed to their love for God and wanted to follow Him no matter the cost was awesome. The Chapel service was spirit-filled. Praise GOD.

Love to all, Dad and Mom Wilmer and Marilyn