 Pictured to the left is our excuse for coming to CA! That's Justin Lord with Courtney and their baby girl Emelia. They lived in Middletown prior to the Valley Wildfire, evacuated and returned to a pile of charred debris. Justin is a mechanic and all his tools were burnt in the fire. He said it was so hot his aluminum car jack was just a puddle. Our latest adventure to help build a home for CA wildfire survivors started out with delayed and rearranged flights. We arrived at the Rancheria about 24 hrs after our journey from Birmingham, AL began only to find that the home we're supposed to be framing was just an empty lot; no dirt work, no concrete.... We often say "flexibility is key" so we got to put that "key" in action. Long story short- we met with a concrete contractor the first day (his proposal was accepted) and took the forms off today. In the meantime Monte built a storage shed to unload the packed tool trailer and organized the tool trailer and shed. As you can see in the photo above, we've had to deal with off and on rain. And the COLD! It was 34 degrees here yesterday morning with windchill of 26. Who thinks of cold and CA in the same sentence?!!
We're learning and seeing new things being in a new part of the country- different building codes and materials, culture of people, bureaucracy and big government, high prices, etc. All the people have been friendly but we're definitely not in the Bible belt anymore. Kim's phone has zero service and the wifi here is sporadic. The nearest lumber yard and Walmart are a good 1/2 hr away and Middletown has no franchises. It's kinda remote in that sense with the locals being at the mercy of the small town convenience store or making an hour trip to a bigger city. You folks who have Menard's don't know what you got! I KNOW you're taking them for granted! You are spoiled! As I processed the supposed "setbacks", the first thing that came to mind was the reason why we do what we do. It's not about building a house but about building a Kingdom! We want to be about our Father's business. Our desire is make him known; to introduce life in Jesus Christ to those with little hope outside of Him. We struggle like many others with how to do that, when and what to speak, when to keep out mouths closed and not "force it".... Please pray for our testimony to make a difference in someone's life here and that we'll be bold. May the Lord grant us opportunities to share Him with those we come in contact with here. May they see a difference in our lives that is appealing. And please ask for protection and guarding of our hearts as we are surrounded with new experiences and culture. As I look over this paragraph I see a bunch of "christianese" but that doesn't change the realness of the desire! Comments are closed.
|
The Brennemans
Archives
May 2018
Categories |
RSS Feed