This is us parked at the RV park in Lewisville, Texas. We can barely see the Lewisville Lake behind us.
The week went well for us. We are doing fine. Tuesday night, I gave a 20-minute power point presentation to the Lewisville C of C ladies at their holiday party. I've never been asked to be a guest speaker at something like this so I was excited to do it. My theme was "How we can make a difference in someone's life." My focus was on the six orphanages we operate in China and the change of life for about 600 children. They come from extreme poverty and sometimes abusive homes and they now live in a building that is like a five-star hotel with friends and people who love and care for them. There was a lot of interest in my talk and it was so good to meet some of the childrens' sponsors and make friends with some other wonderful ladies.
Friday night we went to dinner with Greg, Paula, April and Curtis, members at Lewisville. We met them at 6:30 and were driving back to our home at 10:30 p.m. I could not believe we spent that much time together. We had a lot of interesting conversation and it was so good to get to know these two active and wonderful couples who are deeply interested in mission work. They have been to Africa and India on mission trips (probably other places as well). We shared a lot of funny stories about our travels.
A lady who works in the camp office owns a very big dog (the biggest dog I have ever seen). She lives in a small camper nearby, so I think the dog takes up about half of the space inside! Yesterday morning a coyote came around the office and she was out calming her dog down. She said she didn't know which was the most scared of the other - coyotes run when they see this big dog but the dog is also very fearful of the coyote. Almost everyone in the park has one or two small white dogs. I've never seen so many little white dogs in one place in my life. I saw a man walking a small solid black dog so maybe he is like the "black sheep" in the bunch.
When we were waiting for repairs at Camping World, a man and lady came in the waiting room with three small dogs. I think that's a bit much for one of these mobile homes. One thing for sure, dogs don't mind where they live or what the circumstances are. They are always happy. Wish I could be as contented. On Friday afternoon it was about 70 here so I took advantage of the warm afternoon and walked all around the park. I saw people cooking out. It's a bit more trouble than I want to do, however.
I did count my blessings on my walk this afternoon, however. Past the trailer park, there are camping grounds all around the lake. I saw one man and his dog with a tent (he had an outside fire going - perhaps cooking some food). I didn't get too close and didn't take a picture because I didn't know if he was a friendly sort of person and I was a bit isolated in this section of the park and didn't want to be the next casualty of someone disappearing in a park.
It is a bit cold at night to be sleeping in a tent. Although it's been in the 40's the last two nights, it will dip back down to the 30's Saturday night. Perhaps the tent camper is just here for a couple of nights while the weather is nice. On the other hand, he may live here full time. It's probably better than being homeless. When we parked at the Waterview church last Sunday night we were told they had a night watchman. Actually, they have a man who lives in his car that parks in their lot every night. We didn't see him. however.
For the life of me, I cannot figure out why anyone would leave a nice home to live in a camper. I have not yet seen the benefit for anyone but us. It is saving us money in the long run because of the expense of hotels and eating all meals at restaurants. I know people say they love to go places and see things but when you park in an RV park and just stay there most of the time, they aren't seeing very much.
Most of the people who do this are as old as dirt! They are in their 70's and 80's (grey hair, grey beards, walking sticks, etc.). Maybe they are just escaping very cold weather. Many of the campers seem to be settled in for a long time. I think some are winter campers (from NY, Colorado, Washington, but a lot from Texas).
On my walk this morning to mail a letter, I went past one RV that has an outside storage shed, a pavilion to sit under and eat, with an outdoor stove (stacks of firewood nearby), a grill, and all the comforts of a backyard patio. They have bird feeders, flags, trinkets in the yard, etc. There are outdoor rugs, chairs and stuff around their campers that look like they have been there a long time or plan to be here a long time. I'm not even sure how they close it all up to go empty their black and grey water tanks. The RV's have to do that but maybe these "snow birds" use portable sewage tanks that they hook to their vehicle to take it to the dump.
Since we've never done this before, I guess it is very interesting and sometimes a mystery to me. It is a totally different life-style than what I have always known or dreamed about. I have never thought of myself as a camper. We went with our children a few times but they never seemed to get into it very much. It was a lot of trouble and we ended up with mosquito bites and little sleep.
Well, I guess that's enough for me to sound off about the life of campers.
We will continue to visit churches in the Dallas area for several more weeks. Ron is getting some appointments to speak but when we don't have an appointment we just visit a different church. They are always asking what brings us to Dallas so it opens up a door to tell a little about our work in China.
Wednesday night we went to the church in Colleyville and we met several very interested people. They want Ron to come on a Wednesday night to give a report on our work. That's the way it works sometimes when we just "visit" a congregation. We have actually been to a few where they asked him if he could give his report right then.
Continue to pray for our success in raising funds for the work in China. It takes a lot of money to keep it going. The sponsors pay for the support of the children but we have to come up with money to pay the 100 or so workers we have in China who care for the children at the different locations. If you had 100 children, you can imagine that you would need 12 people to help you care for them. It is a very big family and it takes a lot of money to maintain the buildings and pay the power bill also.
Thanks to my wonderful readers for your interest and love for our well-being. May God bless you this holiday season with a lot of joy, good health and good family times.
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