Since our last update we’ve been keeping busy. I was able to get the Fisher’s home dried out and then sprayed it to ensure all the bacteria and mold would not grow. They’re still going through their personal belongings and will be moving stuff back down in their basement. We’ve had several large rains since I installed the new sump pump and made the roof repairs. There’s been no issues with the new pump and the roof is no longer leaking, praise The Lord! Bobby, the worship pastor at CC Crossroads does construction and he’s going to fix the ceiling in the bathroom.
Before I could get their house finished another relief opportunity presented itself. Cedar Ranch has several RV spots where people who aren’t part of the church/ranch live. Some of what I do on the ranch involves them. Due to freezing temps, we’ve set up precautions on our end so that the water still flows throughout the property. You may remember that we dug up and installed almost 2000’ of water line and installed several new hydrants last fall. I still had a little to learn with how the hydrants work to keep from freezing, but now have all of that worked out.
Since we too live in an RV and have done so in several cold climates, especially when we first got ours and were in Colorado where it got below zero for days on end, we’ve learned a lot about how to stay warm and keep the water flowing. I’ve instructed all the RVrs on the property how to “survive” the freezing temps. Part of this includes letting the water drip if it gets below 20° as there’s only so much you can do to keep it from freezing. Those who’ve followed my directions and not messed with our setup have faired well. We had a couple of them who tried to change up how we set up our side of the system and ended up with frozen hoses and a couple of them didn’t get heated hoses, and unfortunately, they had some issues, but nothing we could do.
One of the RVrs is a single mom with a 5 year-old son. She followed all the directions I gave her and was doing great until one night she forgot to open her gray tank drain lever. Unfortunately, she woke up to a flooded trailer. Mary Jo has been staying in touch with her, trying to make a Jesus connection, and she’s skeptical with all this Jesus stuff. She contacted Mary Jo in a panic and had no clue what to do.
As soon as I could I got down to her RV and there was frozen water everywhere under it. She had already taken off for the day so I called her and said that we could start tearing into it from below and see how bad it was. I explained that I had a few problems with water in our RV, one that was major, and of course all our flood remediation experience over the years. She told us to see what we could do.
It was a mess. A couple of the guys from the Ranch helped and it took us several days to get everything cut out and all the insulation removed so that the wood could dry out. Lots of tight areas caused quite a few cuts on our hands!
She called her insurance agent once we found all of the damages, and it was going to cost more for materials than her deductible was. She asked if I thought they would total it and was afraid if they did, she wouldn’t get enough money to get another one and didn’t know what to do.
The adjuster showed up and couldn’t believe what he saw. He’d never seen anything get done to an RV that was this thorough! He told her that we not only did a great job, but since we were so thorough and were able to get it done as quickly as we did, we probably saved it from being totaled! She was ecstatic and repeatedly said that she was thanking God. She said that she knew that God had brought her to the right place at the right time and had this happened elsewhere, she’d be homeless!
We’re working on drying it out completely and will be putting it back together in a couple of weeks. It will be hard to dry out because we can’t seal it off, but thankfully the current climate will keep any mold/bacteria from growing quick enough to do any damage before I can spray it out! Mary Jo will continue to reach out to her in hopes that they will come to know Jesus!
Otherwise on the ranch, we’ve been pressing on with different projects that can be done in the cold and “muddy” grounds!
Our 5th wheel had a 12vdc electrical issue. In an RV the 12vdc system runs all the lights, controls the refrigerator/freezer, ac units, and the furnace and runs the blower. It would just totally shut off and then a little while later come on again. After doing a lot of troubleshooting I decided to replace the converter/charger which was from 04 and the battery that was over 7 years old.
It was going to cost about $500, but through a series of God events that even the manufacture couldn’t believe, I got it for $300! I replaced everything and it seemed to be working fine then all the sudden it went out again. I was checking all the wires, connections, voltages, etc. and discovered that I didn’t tighten one of the main lines to the new converter. I redid all of that and since then it’s been working great! Still have some leak issues to take care of on it, but the weather and me aren’t quite ready to tackle that yet!
Mary Jo’s van had a couple more issues. The computer went out and there were a couple other things that needed fixed, and we ended up spending about $2k on that and finally everything seems to be running good, praying it stays that way for a while. V10’s been running good, just need to get the oil changed this week. I’m still waiting for better weather to start replacing the fuel system in the diesel. It’s still running so I use it from time to time, but don’t trust it to go far or shut off while using it. I’m going to need to replace the 2 batteries as well.
Currently we’re headed to the Southeast Calvary Chapel Pastor’s Conference in Merritt Island, FL. We stopped for the weekend to visit Nick, Brittany and the grandkids. His church had their men’s Bible study and the leader was sick so I was able to jump in and do a devo with about 10 of the guys. Was a great time of discussion in Ephesians 1:15-23, Paul’s prayer for us. Everyone had something to say and we ended with a great time of prayer for one another! Simply teaching God’s Word simply!
Nick will ride with us to the conference then stay at a hotel with a couple of guys from his church and come back with them. We’re then headed to Sarasota to visit with Mary Jo’s mom and some of our friends, head back to see the kids for a couple of days, and then back home to VA. While in Sarasota we’ll be at our home church in Sarasota on the Sunday’s and the Wednesday we’re there I’ll be teaching at Faith Community Christian Fellowship, a CC in Nokomis. If you’re in any of these areas, we’d love to see ya!
Physical stuff for both of us is still about the same. We both went to the dentist this past month and have a few issues. Mary Jo’s have been taken care of, but I need to get 2 teeth pulled that may result in a couple other things. The Lord blessed us with finding a Christian dentist who’s given us a great discount, but some of the work that needs done they don’t do, so there will be some expenses there that we haven’t figured out yet. Still waiting for someone to tell us how to be on “light” duty in the middle of life and living for The Lord, but we do our best!
Please continue to keep us in your prayers for guidance and direction from The Lord in all we do, opportunities to disciple others, and for all our needs to continue to be met! The Lord has been and always will be faithful to us, we pray we’d be faithful to His call on our lives!
Please let us know if there is anything we can pray for you about and we’d love to see you in the field, plenty of stuff to do! We’ve got some larger projects that require a short-term team to accomplish so let us know!
If you’re interested in growing in The LORD as you selflessly serve others alongside of Calvary Relief for future disaster relief or at Cedar Ranch, please let us know! For more info on joining us, click here.
If you’re interested in helping with any of the expenses with Calvary Relief, please click here.
Here to serve and disciple until He calls us home,
Curt & Mary Jo
