Our Place and the Tile Team

So here is part of the C Residence, we live on the second floor in the far right unit.

Our room is really big, just shy of 400 square feet! We have two small walk in closets that have tremendous storage space that feels like pure luxury. And if that isn't enough space, we have two small storage lockers down the hall and in the basement (in case we have a hankering to start a fishing or kayak hobby or even a hoarding habit). 

Here is from our entryway and you can see we have great windows with light all day.

Here is the "furniture wall". A long-time Bethel friend, Jeff, (you may remember he was in our wedding) found the mid section to a sectional sofa set and gave it to us.  So we now have a comfy chair.  In the future we hope to get a small dining table when friends come over to chat and snack.

One surprising thing is that on our tv cable selections there is a Watchtower station that plays organizational videos continuously.  I guess we forgot how many videos there are to watch nowadays.

The hide-a-way {glass paneled} Murphy bed on the far right wall and then you have our kitchen.  And if you know anything about me you should understand what a thrill it is to have an oven! 

 

When we told Barbara and Molly about the oven, it was no shock they sent a care package full of baking/cooking goodies.  Have you EVER seen a bag of choc chips this big? It's four pounds! Our morning worship table and the tile crew will be chowing down on chippy cookies and brownies in no time! And for months, it looks like. {We really aren't expecting that to be a big issue}






Speaking of the tile crew... here are some of them just after our morning safety meeting,(that's why everyone is so clean). - and fyi: the meeting that day was on hard-hat protection. Did you know hard hats really should only be used from two to five years and then should be replaced?  And even sooner (Chad told us) if an I-beam should have fallen on it recently.Has that happened to someone recently?????

Sadly Jeremy had already left to start work and I'm taking the picture!  A few of the crew here are one week to one month temps so when you see other crew shots don't be surprised to see the faces change.  There are an absurd amount of Wisconsin brothers tiling right now.  Like ten out of the twenty of us. 



Ryan and Abigail were temps for 3 months then got extended for another three. We are glad they are still here because we really enjoy working with them. Abi and I are setting baseboard and Ryan and Mr. Goose are checking on our work.  They were recently in Ecuador for four years as need greaters so we have been swapping stories of places and people and food.

From left to right is Elvis, Denver and Alexis. They are get-it-done guys and always ready to help.  All three have been extended as temps for another year or so.

 

A little about Wallkill

Some things we have learned:  A lot of us think of Warwick when we think of construction here in New York. Yes, construction of the world-wide headquarters is going on in Warwick, NY. But Wallkill Bethel, also known as the farm - and still is to a degree - is having a huge amount of construction.  (by the way - there are about 1000 head of cattle here for beef.  Ten are butchered each week to feed all the Bethelites in all 5 areas -Brooklyn, Patterson, Wallkill, Warwick and Tuxedo! And there are apple orchards and peach orchards and blueberries ...)

This map gives you an idea of the scope of construction here.  The F Residence is now completed.  It houses about 600 Bethelites! (we are living in the C Residence so you see the small hike to get to morning worship and breakfast. Jeremy's locker is in the white bldg on the farther right {vehicle maintenance bldgs}, whereas my locker is back in C Res. So immediately after breakfast is over at 7:30 we go to our lockers to get into construction attire and head back to the E Residence to work by 8am.)

The offices needed expansion so a large five story building was just finished that is next to the dining area.  Also the residence bldg, known as  E Res, was gutted and is in renovation.  We are tiling in E Res.  Currently helping to finish the fifth floor. Res E is above the dining area. (in this picture on the far right is the new offices with E Res and dining more in the center and left.)


The laundry dept just finished a HUGE renovation and are handling about half the Wallkill family laundry.  The rest is trucked down to Brooklyn still. 

The auditorium has been completely gutted and will be set up as  a temporary new lobby so the well-worn lobby can get a much needed overhaul.

The infirmary is in line for construction too.  They plan to double in size. 
Plus other residence bldgs will need to be renovated soon. 

Right now the Wallkill Bethel family is approximately 2200 persons counting all the temporary volunteers.  As you can see from the dining area, we are a monstrous group!  And can you believe those faithful brothers who are assigned as waiters can feed us all in 15 minutes?!  Plus they can clean it all up and set up for lunch in amazing speed. 

There is a lovely pond in the courtyard area that is encircled by the dining area and some of the residence buildings. We walk thru it on our way to morning worship at 6:50a.m. It's incredible to see so many chipper brothers and sisters at that time of the morn. And for most of us it's BEFORE we have had our coffee!

One big thing Bethel doesn't mess around with is safety! We have spent hours and hours assigned to classes on various aspects of safety. For example we had fall prevention and respiratory classes this morning and last week we had propane safety and personal protective equipment education. Actually every morning at 8am we have a meeting where an overseer reviews various safety hazards for that days work.  And that doesn't touch the training we received on how to support Bethel family arrangements. Don't be scared with this photo - it was our class test to see if we wore our respirators properly.  Happily we all passed.

 

 

One more exciting thing happened!  The old Wallkill/ Watchtower sign in front of the whole complex was replaced with this eye-catcher!  What do you think?

 

 

From the top

From pioneering near the "Niagara of the South"...

 

  to the REAL Niagara!

 

 Between the two, we helped Katie with the new clubhouse and went to Saginaw, MI to see Erin's Gram

She's in her mid 90's