The first good news I have to share is our joy at having a daughter-in-law. On September 24, 2011, Georgia Olis and Ronald Brown married in Tanjay City, Negros Oriental, Philippines. Their reception/dinner was held By the Pond (an outside event) in Tanjay. They went to Palawan Island, an hour’s flight from Manila to a resort called Gilligan’s Island. On the second day of their honeymoon, I opened Yahoo to check my email and saw the headline news that a Typhoon had hit the Philippines and heavy flooding was occurring in Manila. Without communication (no phones or internet service at the resort), there was no way to contact them. We were relieved when we saw an email from Ronald five days later when they returned to Tanjay City. He said it rained and it rained and it rained some more. I guess that was a good place to get to spend time together without any other interference, which is the reason for a honeymoon in the first place. It’s to get away from people, from the hectic wedding plans that have occupied a couple for more than a month and finally get to relax and spend quality time together. We know they would have enjoyed the beauty of the island resort more with all sunny days, but we are just glad they made it safely through the storm.
This was too much of a reminder of Ronald’s encounter with Hurricane Hugo (I think it was September, 1989). He was living on St. Croix and the hurricane hit that island full force, with winds up to more than 180 mph. We were on St. Barts, another Caribbean island, just north of the eye of the storm. We had torrential rains but no major damage. We had a portable radio and listened constantly to the destruction that occurred in many of the islands, including St. Croix and Puerto Rico. It was four or five days before the airport reopened in St. Croix where we could get direct communication with members of the church (and Ronald, of course). Ron rented a plane, loaded it with food and supplies and flew to St. Croix. He had to beg a taxi driver to load up his car and take him and the food to find members of the church. Ron first went by the house where Ronald was living and saw a lot of damage but his clothes were hanging on the line. He knew he was safe. When he got to the next member’s house, he found out that Ronald was with others helping to re-roof houses. For weeks to come, Ron continued to purchase food in St. Maartin and fly planeloads into the various islands (Nevis, Montserrat, Dominica, and maybe others) . It was a very scary time for us and a great relief to know that Ronald and all of the members of the church in St. Croix were safe.
While in Chattanooga, over the Labor Day holiday, we had two full days of rain as a result of Hurricane Irene but our three weeks in Chattanooga were profitable and enjoyable. It was good to visit several churches in the area to update our sponsors on the work in China.
On September 27th, we relocated to McKinney Campgrounds on Lake Allatoona in Acworth, GA. It is a beautiful park but with the fall season, they close the gate each night at 9 p.m. With Ron speaking at various congregations in the area, we could not get back there by 9 p.m. on Sunday and Wednesday nights. Our parking space was deep within the park (at least l-l/2 miles from the gate). We would have to park outside the gate and walk to our RV. There are no floodlights in the park and with it being so wooded, it is pitch dark. There is a maze of roads up and down hills to the various campsites. We decided we just could not handle the walking after a full day on Sunday. We usually get up at 6 a.m. and do not get back to the RV until 10 p.m. We are exhausted after the long day and sometimes Ron speaks three times on the same Sunday.
We were fortunate to visit the North Cobb church for the first time on Wednesday night (Oct. 28th). They asked about us, what we did, where we lived, etc. When the elders heard that we had our motor home at McKinney Park, they invited us to move to their building in Kennesaw. They have several RV hookups and said they would welcome us to spend our time parked in their lot. Ron checked it out and decided it would work very well, so we moved there and stayed the rest of our 10 days in that area.
Saturday morning, Ron took me to Leigh Ann’s and then went to the airport to catch a flight to Ohio. He spoke at a church there on Sunday morning (October 2nd) and flew back to Atlanta Sunday afternoon. He got to the Woodstock church (where Leigh Ann attends) in time for the fellowship meal. They had the theme, “Jesus loves the children of the world” with an international potluck dinner. Leigh Ann and I decorated a table with Chinese objects and prepared shrimp fried rice and shredded pork as our dishes.
Our weather has turned cooler. A few trees are beginning to turn red and yellow but it’s a little early for much color. It has been in the 40’s for a couple of nights with days in the high 70’s. It feels very nice after a very hot summer.
My microwave quit working so we had a service call on it. The service man had to remove it and take it complete down to work on it and then reinstall it above the stove. It is large and very heavy so it was quite a job. Ron and I would never have been able to lift it out. We didn’t realize how much we use it until it stopped working. I do not have an oven (only a small toaster oven) so I use the microwave a lot.
The day before we planned to relocate to the North Cobb parking lot, Ron began to raise the levelers for us to move but nothing happened. We were not going anywhere until they came up off of the ground. He called Camping World for a service call but they told him of an individual that made “house” calls. Ron talked with him for hours that afternoon, checking fuses, switches, etc. Without Ron having any success, the serviceman had to come out the next morning. He immediately found the switch that had to be reset but it was behind a lot of wires and totally invisible for Ron to locate. I guess they are in different locations on different makes of vehicles so it’s impossible to know the exact place to find it.
Ron did not get all the doctor appointments scheduled as he intended while we were in the Atlanta area. He went to Emory Hospital to a specialist about his shoulder that has been hurting badly for more than six months. He had shingles more than a year ago that appeared on the back of his neck and down his shoulder so he thought the pain might be nerve damage from shingles. I was concerned that it could be rotator cuff damage from all his work on the RV and car. I was relieved to learn that it was tendonitis in the ligament. They gave him a very painful shot in the area to reduce the inflammation. It hurt for a day but is much better. He was given an elastic band and exercises to strengthen the ligaments as soon as it’s well enough to tolerate it. If he uses the arm a lot, there’s still some pain.
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