Two Calvin Community Events - 1. Caldwell Lunch Prep. 2. Youth Group and Games Night @ 220 Viewmount

 

This past week we had two different groups serve our community in completely different ways, but with the same goal:  

To bless to be a blessing.  

The first event was for some of Calvin to take a Saturday morning and prepare 200 sandwiches that would be served to the residents who stopped by the Caldwell Chaplaincy that lunch hour. 

The second event was our youth group going once again to 220 Viewmount to play games with some of the residents there and fellowship over food as well. 

Below are some pics and explanations about both.  

Enjoy !! : ) 

Lunch Prep. for Caldwell

Pastor Ron purchased the lunch supplies. 

Lots of Clementines and luncheon meats.

100 Yogurts

Lots of loaves of bread for the 200 sandwiches. 

And Juice boxes and lettuce. 

On Saturday 6 of us gathered to prepare the 200 sandwiches for the 100 Lunch bags. 

Here's Julie getting the lettuce washed. 

Each bag would contain:

1 Juice Box

1 Yogurt

2 sandwiches

1 Clemantine

Here's Nellie and Wilma and Al starting on the sandwich prep.  

Well, Al is looking like he's working : ) 

What a card Al can be :) 

All of us now preparing the sandwiches. 

Ray, Julie, Al, Wilma, Nellie and me. 

Yes, I did it too :) 

They were then transported to the Caldwell Chaplaincy and put together and handed out.  No pics for that.  Sorry.  

Blessed to be a blessing! 

Games @ 220 Viewmount

At least once a year we go to 220 Viewmount and play games with the residents there. 

COVID prevented that for the past couple of years, but this past Tuesday we were able to go back.  

Whoot!!!!!  

Here's the group settled in and having FUN!  

We played Chinese Checkers

RummyKub

Eukre

And let me tell you THIS was a lively game for sure : ) 

Lots of quips and laughter from young and older : ) 

Apples to Apples was enjoyed. 

as was Mexican Train. 

I missed the scrabble game that was also going on. 

Oops. 

All I know is Grant got stuck with Q and Z and, well, it wasn't pretty : ) 

And I played some Euchre with Miranda as my partner.  We lost 10 - 0 BUT we have fun!! 

Everyone who came out LOVED it and they want us to come back again soon : ) 

Sweet. 

Blessed to be a blessing. 

Thanks youth for investing in our more mature folk.  

Calvin's FIRST bridal shower - March 2023

 This past March 11th Calvin blessed three couples to be with a bridal shower.  This was the brainchild of the chair of our Fellowship Committee, Rachael P.   

The event was well attended and from the pictures below it seemed like a good time was had by all.  

Some pictures are explained below
Rachael, as well, I wasn't allowed to attend :) 

Enjoy!!  

As you will see, this is a foreshadowing of things to come : ) 

Seems like everyone was having a great time socializing as the brides-to-be opened their gifts.  

And the brides-to-be were having a great time unwrapping gifts.  

I think Rachael must be getting things going.  

As you can tell, these are not in chronological order : ) 

At this table, guests were encouraged to guess the number of kisses in the jar (left) and write date ideas or marriage advice for the couples (right).  

The food Table.  

Yummy! 

And gifts table.  

I assume one table per bride?  

A game was played called "Paper Bride." 

Everyone was divided up into 4 groups and chose one group member to "dress" in a toilet paper wedding dress. 

All four paper brides turned out beautifully, the three brides-to-be chose Annette's (on the far right) as the winner.  

This was fabulous Rachael (I mean the idea, because, well, I wasn't invited to attend : ) ).  

Thanks for planning this event and blessing those in Calvin in the way you did.  Whoot!!!! 

2023- Spring Break Learning Opportunity - Calvin/Calvary - Plymouth North Carolina - Day 7

 

Day 7 

Friday

Final work day 

Beach Day

What! 

I got up and no Sam or Ryne? 

Ah, Here is Sam. 

Our Birthday Boy! 

There we go.  : ) 

Good morning Sam and Ryne

Final Devotional Time. 

Thanks Pastor Craig for your wise words each morning. 

Always something to ponder. 

Breakfast is served one last time. 

Tomorrow we are leaving at 6 a.m.  

No real breakfast. 

Good Morning Tia.

Always a smile each morning. 

Made my day each day  : ) 

Another shot of Denise ready to go.  

This time smiling  : )

We arrived at Brenda's home at 8:45 a.m. ready for 1/2 day of work.  

I went to get fuel for the van and decided to give you an idea of what the small town of Windsor looks like. 

Our group got to work pretty quick. 

The goal today was to finish the roof and continue on with drywall. 

And we also cleaned up the outside as best we could. 

Denise is having a great time putting up the drywall. 

Andrew is ready to secure some drywall. 

Outside clean up. 

There were lots of pine needles around Brenda's place.  

Nate and Ryne carry on with the bedroom and closet. 

And Andrew finishes off securing the sheets. 

Hello Pastor Craig. 

He worked hard in the living room removing nails from the walls, etc. 

A small crew finished capping the roof.  

Denise and Mitchell measuring.  

And hanging drywall. 

John was done on the roof, but that doesn't mean he's done working.  

And the same goes for Cadie. 

Megan helping out Ryne.

Ryne (I think) decided we should write our names on this piece of drywall and place it in the bedroom ceiling.  

And so we did.  

The roof is DONE!!! 

It was a hard time on the roof at times, but this crew and the Islamic Relief USA crew got it done.  

Awesome work.  

The end result. 

Hopefully Brenda will be dry in her home for years to come. 

Things wound down at about 11 a.m.  

Just not much to do anymore. 

And yes, a game then breaks out. : ) 

Pastor Craig moved on to taping for a while.  

A very satisfying job. 

Hanging out. 

The IR USA team got cupcakes for Sam's Birthday. 

We sang Happy Bday

 

Some group pics of all those who worked on the house this week.  

We came home at noon to get ready for the beach. 

Beachware greeted us.  And cookies. 

Sam got a nice bday balloon.  

And Malan rejoined us. 

Yesterday he had a little mishap with a nail gun and his knee, but he is on the mend and we are grateful that he is doing well.  

At 1 p.m. we left for the outer banks.  

About an hour and 20 min drive

It was a nice drive. 

Here we are heading to the ocean.  

Lots of homes on the beach

protected by dunes.  

Milan is coming along at his own pace. 

The ocean is calling some for a swim.

Ryne and Jason thinking about going swimming. 

A nice long and pretty clean beach. 

And in goes Jason, Ryne, and Mitchell. 

While others looked on. : )  

Craig and John in constant discussion : ) 

That might have been Mitchell being swallowed by a wave.  

Malan is soaking up the sun. 

Others decided to go in after a bit too. 

Ryne was pretty cold coming out, but he enjoyed it. 

Oh, look what John found.  

Mitchell finally decided to come out after a good 15 minutes.  

He's a better man than me : ) 

Some keep-away broke out soon after. 

And Jason and Mitchell brought their gloves along to pass the time. You have to look hard to see Mitchell. : )  

The ocean is an amazing thing. 

The sound of the waves was soothing and this flock of pelicans swept by us in single-line formation.  

Time to build a sand castle.  I mean, what else would you do : ) 

Oh, and Megan wanted to go in too, with Cadie, but she may have gone in in a slightly unorthodox way. : ) 

The sand castle (Canadia) taking shape. 

Ryne wasn't the only one who worked on it, but he was the only one around when I took this pic. 

Oh, and yes, of course, SAM was there too : ) 

The two wise men : ) 

Canadia pretty much finished.  

A final view of the group before we head back home.  Supper is at 7 p.m. 

We will have hamburgers tonight and do some final team building stuff and then it's off to bed and up for a 6 a.m. departure. 

Speaking of hamburgers, a huge THANK YOU to Jennifer and Cathy for cooking for us this week. 

Your gift to us helped us feel well fed and good. 

Supper time. 

John was cranky before his dinner tonight.  

But he's happy to have his food now. 

The last gathering of the table of 11. : ) 

Making lunches for the trip tomorrow.  

In honour of Sam's Bday. 

His favourite. 

Mint chocolate chip. 

We closed out our night by sharing together how we felt about our week. 

Some nice comments were made. 

Thoughtful comments.  

End we end with an affirmation exercise. 

Then it's time for WHACK!!!!! 

This will be the final blog entry for the trip.  

Bittersweet : ) 

This trip has been great in many ways. 

1. It has been great to see our youth bond. 

2.  It has been great to watch the positive attitudes of each youth as we moved through each day.  

3. It has been great to see so many adults come on this trip too and give of their time to invest in these youth.

4. It has been great to help two homeowners with their homes.  Though they are not completed yet we were able to move things forward for them in the hopes that soon they will be able to be in their homes and free of damp walls carpets and ceilings.

5.  It has been great to learn about a new area of the United States that is different from our own place in Ottawa.  We observed things we will ponder and learned things that were challenging at times. 

6. It was great to interact with the Duke University group that bunked with us, and the Islamic Relief USA team over the week and learn different life perspectives as we filter them through our own faith background. 

7. It was great hearing the youth in the "fireside" room chatting it up before going to bed.   

 

We go home now, hopefully ready to share our experiences with our family and friends. 

We hope you will listen to us, encourage us, learn from us and pray with us about this week. 

Blessings to you all. 

I hope you've enjoyed spending the week with us.  : )