Temp work closure

Hello again!

Amazing that we could go a few months and not report properly.  *this is just one sad reflection of my time management skills*

Basically our update is this:  many more lovely things and special spiritual programs and dilligent work assignments have come and gone.  Too many to share now. 

But, if your terribly interested (and you live in KY) you can ask us in person in another week  because we will be back with our home congregation in Williamsburg.  If you live in Wisconsin you can find us there in two weeks and yes, you dear Maryland people, we will be there soon too.  We have trillions (give or take) of photos to share and stories to tell, just ask. ;))  [[And if you are in some delightful theocratic assignment internationally, well, your just gonna have to call! ]]

Our last week here at Bethel, Jeremy and I both got moved to the structural crew which is hard at work gutting another residence building.  The infirmary needed expansion and updating so demolition is in order to start the project.  We come to our room completely covered in dust and insulation and drywall and... but how nice it is to work hard at something so productive.  And honestly, you can't have a bad day by messing something up, when the whole purpose is to tear it all out! So it's pretty stress free. :)

So {for now}  the blog may be in a holding pattern. 

Thanks  for caring enough about us to peek in from time to time.   Warmly, Toppings

Snippets

Dear Friends Who Wonder What is Happening in Our Little Bubble,

We have enjoyed a few nice little "things"  in our routine and we wanted to share with friends. :)


Circuit Assembly:  a couple of weeks ago our congregation was assigned to the first one day circuit assembly in Newburg, NY.  It is a beautiful assembly hall and we have noticed it is the one in all the organizational videos.  Here are our friends the Beanes* (the two boys on the front left are what we call "little beanes") in the main hall. 

There is a huge mural of the Hudson valley on the entry wall which is stunning . But what is one of the nicest features are the chairs and the leg room.  OH WHAT GLORIOUS LEG ROOM!

*We had intended to introduce you to the Beane family  [to the right  Becky, Eli and Josiah -- eating fresh beans -- shocker]  over a month ago and forgot. 

We spent the weekend with them in Aug. and had a lovely special campaign day with them. Below  is Eli (little beane) and his dad, Doug witnessing to a man who owned this cute produce market.  Here is the man watching the Bible study video, took the tract ......

 

  


and later asked and received a Bible!







Gilead Graduation:  On Sept 13th we were able to attend the Gilead Grad.  Of course we were in the dining room of Wallkill, watching the program on the tv, but the re-enactments of the field service experiences by the Gilead students, the talks by the branch committee and Governing body and illustrations were so upbuilding! 

There was a sister from Denmark who is a  missionary for the Arabic group in Italy who was interviewed.  She basically said:  I'm a Dane.  We don't talk all the time. This non-extroverted Danish background made the communal people setting of Bethel a real challenge.  But she reflected that with Jehovah's help she could do it.  She also has learned this powerful point:  if you focus on what you are personally sacrificing while serving Jehovah, you will loose your joy.  However if you dwell on the privilege of service to Jehovah and the joy it brings you - you will not be sorry for any sacrifice.
A couple who is serving at the Malawi branch was also interviewed.The wife in particular explained while she was growing up (while Witnesses were under ban) it seemed normal to attend meetings at midnight and to clap by rubbing your hands together.  The ban never stopped them from serving Jehovah.


Raymondskill Falls:  One Sunday afternoon we had the opportunity to check out this short hike and waterfall in the Milford territory.  It was a perfect day and a breath-taking waterfall! 

  We followed the trail a little and found a few more falls and this delightful creek.  (by the way this is my first try at panoramic photos!)

We also zipped up to New Jersey's highest point.  Logically called High Point.  They have a veteran's monument and a great view. Actually you can see 360 degrees from this spot, but honestly, this was the nicest view to me.

We actually climed the 291 steps to the top of the monument and the windows were too dirty to see out of, which was a lot of work and no photo opportunity!   But I like the shot I got of looking up all the stairs we took. :)

Work progress:  Well, time has run out so I'll have to share those next time. Sorry to disappoint but it's a guarantee I'll write again! 

On with the construction!

OKAY!   Here is the update on our little sphere of Wallkill construction:

Let's just start by letting you know the E Residence is scheduled for completion Oct. 2014.  This has caused a general blur of activity in most crews.

For Jeremy and tile this has involved bouncing around quite a bit on the basement level.  Why?  


Because the commissary was moving into its original location down there. Tile didn't touch the flooring, IC (industrial coatings) crew made a ribbon pattern and created a terrazo flooring.  It was so beautiful that we hardly believed it was just for the grocery store! 

Tile went on a few of the walls in the commissary. It didn't take them too long.

 

 

The next HUGE project was the basement hallway.

These three sides of the E Res basement connect to:

the dining room

 two elevator areas

 the back end of the kitchen

 men & women locker rooms for kitchen & waiter staff

 two public bathrooms

 the personal laundry area for those who live above

 the commissary

 the new barber shop

AND

 loads of technical rooms housing electrical, plumbing and maintenance systems.

 

 

 

  The traffic in those hallways was non-stop! Once again IC handled the terrazo flooring,  tile crew was responsible for blue coating (a movement-control membrane that helps adhere to the plaster walls ) and tiling five feet up the walls making this  4,000 SQUARE FEET of tile!

 

Below is the tile on the walls with no wallpaper above or a finished ceiling.  The other picture shows how nice the terrazo flooring looks too.

 

 

But lets not forget all the other tile that has gone in this basement: locker rooms, the public bathrooms, the laundry or cleaning stations...  Trust us -- this basement is LOADED with tile!!!  

Here is one of the elevator areas before and after

 

Jeremy and Elvis early in August.

 

 

 

 

 Here is the personal laundry area for the residents of E.

(I got to grout these walls last month)



Then, you may remember the showers in the locker rooms Jeremy worked on a couple of months ago...
(I was caulking these for a week and just finished up now that the door frames are in)

And just this week he helped tile the two public bathrooms:

(floor tile was 20x20)

Public bathroom (womens)

Jeremy with Eric above and Denver, Osiris, Jarin and Alexis to the right in public bathroom (mens). 

Grouted!

My jobs have varied between tile and laminate all this month.  I've got lots of practice caulking tile showers and now I'm in the process of caulking the top and bottom of the tile in the basement hallway.  Earlier in the week I helped put down laminate in residence rooms here:




 So now you know more than you ever thought you could know.  :)

The fast track update

   Well hello all! 

Sad to say I have neglected the blog during the exciting and historic JW.org campaign in August.   Happily I am well prepared  to blog now. 

Rejoice all you lovers of brevity because I will be only able to skim all the activities we have been a part of. (in the interest of honesty:  I will be brief in my review of items but I don't think the number of items are few)

Up first is a nod to our darling Milford congregation.  We had wonderfully productive ministry days and even when my special yellow tract was rejected by a bakery owner, he graciously gave me a fresh loaf of his best selling olive bread! 
Here is one dear family we joined and as you can see, the 3, 5 and 8 year old girls are utterly adorable!  (I have plans to share my secret popcorn ball recipe with them in the future - so more to come on that!)






Then there is 6 year old Ethan who was helping his dad direct the parking at the hall one evening.  He takes this assignment VERY seriously.





Early in the month we had a congregation picnic where everyone could play something: sack races, tug of war, a scavenger hunt, volley ball, football, frisbee and then exclusive use of the community pool!

 

 

 

Jeremy and I also had a hankering to join Ryan and Abbi and take a Branch tour of Patterson.  It isn't a normal tour of the branch but more of a backstage tour.  As temporary Bethelites, we have access to all facilities in any branch in the world and Patterson is only an hour away...

Out of all the neat things we toured -- we found one highlight was posing with Caleb and his family

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back at Wallkill we had to say goodbye to some very good  friends!

  To start, Alex, who has volunteered 9 weeks from California was heading home.  We all ate cake after his last day of work in honor of his willing spirit and labor. {He is sitting in the right corner}

 

 

Ryan and Abbi had finished their six month assignment and Elvis was being reassigned back to his native Puerto Rico branch while Stewart was transferring from the tile crew to the furniture moving crew.  All those goodbyes required one good sized farewell party! 

 

And obviously called for another tile crew photo!  {Stewart is in the center -- you can see why furniture moving wanted him, what couldn't he lift?}

 

 

 

FINALLY!  After waiting over a month,  my scheduled morning to pick blueberries arrived! Naturally it was a gloomy stormy day, but the brothers supplied us with raincoats and it never really rained.

  Apparently that very day was the last day for sisters to pick because the following day the bushes were open to the whole Bethel family to pick any leftover. 

 

Here I am with my sweet friend Keri [ we were partners in the picking that day ]

 

If it crossed your mind we may have eaten more than we picked, well, we wondered that too.

 

Keri and her husband Brian have also completed their 6 month assignment here. But we are confident we will see them again soon!  

 

 

We have run into some delightful old friends this month!  Here is Bill Beechly who volunteered for a couple of weeks from Tennessee!

And friends from Oregon, that we worked with in Ecuador back in 2008, have just arrived for a six month assignment! Don't worry, you will surely see photos of them in good time. :)

 

 

 

We also had the opportunity to visit my Great Aunt {she is 95} in Albany.  It was only a few hours north and she really wanted us to see the old home place.  She has lived in this home all her life.  And she told us stories of how my Great Grandfather Taaffe had it built - the first house on Park Avenue. 

Walking through it brought to life the charm and culture of that historic time.

 

 

 

This brings us up to our visit to Maryland last weekend.  Jeremy and I enjoyed  sweet     R and R!

With Molly's help we coaxed mom  into a kayak!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 No surprise that Jeremy and Molly bonded with some local geese!

 

Mom also sponsored a Christian-oriented talent show for her congregation and we had a blast watching, listening and participating.

 

 

Some of the little ones, then young men and later all the elders sang a song from our songbook.

 

 

Several of the families supported Bible dramas like Eliezer  observing Rebekah watering the camels in answer to his specific prayer;  Abraham's willingness to offer Isaac (with a ram in the bushes); the story of Jephthah's daughter and an in-costume Bible reading.

 

Tiffany played her violin to song 110 while we all sang it to her.

Molly offered Bible Jeopardy and we had a few hilarious skits too.

 

But we also had some moving personal experiences.  Rita, in her 20's explained how she learned to choose Christianity over her cultural Nepalese religion and another sister described severe hardships and challenges growing up in Ethiopia as a Witness and how greatful she is for her parents faithfulness.  How encouraging to learn of a 12 year old boy in Liberia who was so impressed by a Witness in his school that he preferred to walk to the Kingdom Hall by himself each week while his parents attended their own church!  We also heard just a little bit from Rose, a dear 95 year old sister who has a lot of experiences to share!

 

It was just the uplifting type of gathering we were hoping it would be!

 

With all these activities you may be wondering if we worked in construction at all last month.  I'll be sure to bring you up to date in next weeks blog!

 

 

More on Milford

So about three months and we are finally getting acquainted with the town where our congregation is.  And we think it's time to give you a some  of the  Milford backstory.





It was established in 1790something.  Milford is really an appropriate name since there truely was a mill over the ford.  It burned down but was rebuilt and it is still a working mill and a cutesey little restaurant in part of it.

 After service a few weeks ago our cargroup made a stop to check it out.

Okay here is another interesting bit of Milford history. One area of Milford is called Dingmans Ferry.  You may remember we shared some pictures of Dingmans falls a while back.  Well apparently there is a special bridge in that area called Dingmans Bridge (i guess where the ferry used to be?) over the Deleware River.   What makes the bridge special is that it is the one of the last privately owned bridges in the country!  So it is manned by this one family and they personally take the $1 toll fee per car and they do all the maintenance on the bridge year round.  Apparently the state monitors the care VERY closely because they want to own the bridge but can't.   

And THEN there is this:  Milford was the home of the start of the US  Forest Service and Nature Conservation!  The man who essentially got it started lived in a beautiful palace (quite literally) called Gray Towers in the heart of Milford.  It was privately owned until recently when it went to the state as a historic location.  But Mr. Gilfford Pinchot used his home as the brainstorming location for all sorts of naturalists of the time, like Mr. Muir (of the Muir Woods giant redwoods park in California).  In fact Mr. Muir named one of his famous redwood trails Pinchot Pass.

Anyway Gray Towers is now used as the backdrop location for all sorts of natural and cultural expos.  This weekend featured wood cutting.  Have you ever seen some homeowner take a partially chopped down tree and have it chopped up by an expert chain-sawer (I don't know if that's a word - sorry) into an art form?  Like this:

It's pretty cool. [and not cheap]






So we milled around the grounds this afternoon and admired the landscaping and the stone walks and arches and gazebos and the trees and the 75 year old wisteria vines and the general splendor of the place.  It is incredible to think that this man (who died in 1940 something) had a bare hillside and he and his wife transformed it into this!  One interesting quote from him before he died was: 
 "By George, I'd like to come back a hundred years from now and see my trees."

It's neat to know he will. :)

 

So here are some of the photos of the outside tour. It's probably an excessive amount of pictures, but when have I ever been in moderation when it comes to communication? {don't answer that}

 

 

 Hope you all are enjoying the natural beauty around your neck of the woods!