My last real update was on 11/23, though I’ve had a few quickies on FB. I apologize for not keeping better in touch. It’s been a whirlwind of activity, lots of Spiritual warfare, and with just the 2 of us, so much to handle and unfortunately, updates took a back seat. One thing for sure though that in all that’s been going on, we’ve drawn closer to The LORD and know even more today that He’s in control and has our best interest in mind, which is to make us more like Christ! Though honestly, it’s hard at times, right!
Dave who lives in the park, has continued to help us as he can. He’s 75 and had 2 bypass surgeries but hasn’t given up serving The LORD! After Thanksgiving, our good friend Thom and his mom from CC Silver Creek in Garrettsville, OH came to help for a couple weeks. In the middle of their trip, CC Philly sent a team. We were able to rip out damaged floors in 2 trailers, remediate, install a vapor barrier, insulate, and then put in good subfloor. We also were able to do some minor roof repairs, some debris cleanup, and helped Melody and Jim tear out damaged walls and insulation, and removed kitchen cabinets so they could finish replacing the rest of the floor. We also built them a temporary sink to use while they finished putting things back together.
One home was a recent widow, Barb, and she had family that was able to come in for 2 weeks and help, but they couldn’t do all the tear out and remediation and put it all back together in that time. So, we were able to get it ready for them and then they were able to put it all back together! We were able to purchase all the materials for what we did on her home, PTL!
Mary is supposed to be retired, but also has major back issues and still needs to work part-time from home. She had no insurance and was denied FEMA help 3 times. She had some major roof leaks and a lot of mold growing in her home. We were able to take care of a lot of the water coming in early on and got all the ceilings, walls, and finished floor torn out in the affected areas. We were able to purchase all the materials needed to at least get her subfloor replaced in December and then told her to keep praying and we’d see what The LORD would do. More on her later.
We’d been struggling finding anyone to fix the roof issues on several homes. We had a guy, but then he was in a bad wreck and is out for 6 months. We then found another guy who did one roof, but then moved out of the area. He did recommend another guy and we were able to get him to fix 5 roofs for us. We were able to help with the monies on 2 of them. None of them got new roofs, just patches, coating, flashing, and shingles on 2 of them. So far, no water leaks, but it’s not tropical season yet. Pray they’d stay dry as none of this was new roofs, just fixes and then recoating that should take care of things!
Thom and I were able to build a truss system to secure Gail’s lanai roof. We had to fix this as the rubber roof over her home extended over the lanai and we needed to get her roof fixed. We were able to cover the cost of these materials.
We were able to remediate a bathroom at Don and Pat’s home that we had temporarily fixed the roof at a few months ago. They’ve gotten their roof replaced and are working on putting things back together inside on their own.
Thom and I also installed some drywall at “Flamingo” Mary’s, to get her home ready for the next stages. And then things changed for us!
We were told that we needed to vacate the church where we were living and had set up for Camp. Thom helped us immediately clean out the church so that we no longer had anything in their way the day before he left. We then set out to find a place to move. We thought we had found a place and would move the following month because it was CHRISTmas time, and we were still trying to help folks get their homes back in order.
“Flamingo” Mary ‘s adult grandson, Lance, came for a 2 week visit a week before CHRISTmas. He was willing to help with her home, so we got busy in an effort to get it put back together before CHRISTmas! We insulated it, hung all the new paneling, and trimmed it out the day before CHRISTmas Eve! We were able to purchase all the materials to help them as they had no insurance. She was able to pay someone to caulk and paint the following week so that we could move on to the next home.
While working at the other Mary’s, a neighbor, Dave, came up and asked if I could help him install a window that he was replacing himself and just needed an extra hand. Turns out he was a recent widower and really missing his wife. We had 2 broken windows that we needed to fix so I asked him if he’d take a look at them with me. I then asked him if he’d be willing to help get the glass we needed, and this has turned into him also helping us as we’re serving his neighbors. He’s been a great help!
During this time Dave, our faithful servant helper since the beginning, got the permit needed to build a new shed. His brother-in-law was helping him, and I helped here and there in between serving at other homes. We were also able to help purchase some of the materials for his shed.
After CHRISTmas we got busy serving again as we also prepared to move. One of the guys from the church we were at set us up with his boss to move onto his property and we were set to begin the actual move on the 18th. Unfortunately, that move was blocked so we once again began searching for a place to relocate Camp Calvary.
We continued to stay in contact with CC Philly who wanted to come and serve with us again. Since we didn’t have any place to house volunteer groups, they decided to go serve with CC Cape Coral instead. They asked us if we’d be willing to come down and serve with them and we said yes. We took both of our trucks and our tool trailer down with us, which made things go a lot better for the work. We stayed with Pastor Chris and his wife Donna who really wanted us to setup camp in their area as they have a heart to help their community. Unfortunately, they rent in a small shopping center with no place for us to set things up. We searched for another place but couldn’t find anything close enough to make the move.
Bonnie, a widow, lost her roof and got storm surge in her home. It was entirely gutted. While in Cape Coral we were able to replace the back wall with 2 new French doors, replace windows that were blown out, replace her kitchen cabinets, counters, and sink, and get all of the electric figured out and hooked up. We worked late the last day there and were able to get the lights turned on for her! She was in tears as it was the first time that there was electric and lights in her house for almost 4 months! We were able to help purchase a lot of different things for her home as well as for a couple of the others we served at.
We also had a major break issue on our V10 while there and The LORD had a couple mechanics on our team so we set up the lights, got the parts, and redid them after dinner one night!
We had a small window to move until we had more servants coming in to help us, Randy and Janine came in for a week from CC Lowcountry, SC where our son-in-law is the youth pastor. The next week Rolf helped us. He’s from Lyons, CO and he helped us when we were doing rebuilds there and traveled to help us in TX after Harvey. So, we unpacked and setup the bunkhouse to house them. We also had a friend from the area, Troy, come and help us the first week.
With both Daves also helping, we got busy tearing out Gail’s kitchen lower cabinets and flooring, and also started working on Mary’s rebuild.
At Gail’s we were able to tear out some of the subfloor that had never been replaced during prior work, molded wall board, remediate, redo plumbing and electric, install vapor barrier, insulate, and install new subfloor. We then installed new base cabinets and countertops, new sink and faucet, new electrical outlets and switches, and finished it off with a new laminate plank floor and base trim.
Mary was one of the homes that we were able to get some roof repair done on. Right after she agreed to move forward, FEMA stepped up and gave her some money and it looks as there will be enough to cover the roof repairs and finish the inside, if not we should be able to cover a few more items for her. During the 2 weeks of servants, we were able to redo the electric, reframed as needed, insulated the walls, installed Luan for the ceiling, and installed most of the beadboard for the walls.
When we first arrived, we met Vera, a widow who’s trailer was totaled from Ian. She didn’t want to face the inevitable and had many folks who don’t know what they’re doing trying to help her. She was pretty upset when we first met so we prayed for her and moved on. She attends a Tuesday night Bible study where Dave also goes to. She told him that she was sorry she was so upset and realized that what I was telling her was what was going to happen. She lost almost everything she owned. She was able to get a small apartment in a senior living facility. She had a nice, electric recliner that helped push her up and out of it, which she needs. She had no money to get a new one and was struggling getting in and out of what she had. Dave told us of her need, and we found a nice one that was used and were able to purchase and deliver it to her. We then were taking the other one out of the building and it was lunch time. I suggested that we go and ask in the dining room if anyone needed it. The first table we went up to had a lady there who had just moved in and was lacking one thing, a recliner! So, we carted that over to her and was able to bless her with it in Jesus’ Name!
After the 2 weeks of outside help we needed to pack up again and move Camp Calvary. Our home church, Calvary Chapel of Sarasota wanted us to move home, and after many talks with other churches and orgs and all ending up in closed doors, we moved home. Moving is not quick and easy and oftentimes things happen in the process, and this was no exception. While attempting to hitch the 5th wheel, the front jacks kept shifting in the sand. It took us several redo’s and re-blocking and we were about 6” from centering the trailer over the ball when it shifted quick and fell. Fortunately, it fell in the bed of the truck and since we use a gooseneck hitch, it didn’t damage the truck bedsides, but it did cause a few issues with the floor in our bedroom buckling, but it’s carpet on top and we’re hoping it will eventually just fall back in place. If anything else happened, we haven’t noticed it yet!
It took us a week and a half to get packed, unhook all the utilities we ran and put everything back the way we found it, move, run all new utilities to both of the RV’s and electric for the tool trailer, unpack, and set up, though unpacking still goes on!
We also attended the Southeast CC Pastor’s Conference in Merritt Island and were blessed to connect with many friends and co-laborers for Jesus! We also were blessed to be refreshed with 12 teachings from God’s Word in 3 days, learning more about the attributes of God, His love, grace, mercy, faithfulness, plan for our lives, etc.! Here’s the link if you’re interested in watching or listening to the teachings, SECCPC 2023 - Calvary Chapel Merritt Island.
Our good friend Rob from St. Louis has joined us for 2 weeks, so we’re back at it in Bay Indies Park in Venice. It’s a lot longer drive, especially with traffic and pulling our trailer, so keep that part especially in your prayers! We’re back at Mary’s house and were hoping to finish up there the next couple of weeks. Unfortunately, I got sick so we couldn’t work for several days. To our recollection, this is the first time in over 18 years of CR ministry that I’ve been sick enough to not work while we have someone in town helping.
We’ve also had some things done to our vehicles the past couple of months. Some was just routine, but we also had to replace 2 power steering pumps, lots of brake work done on 2 of them, and we also had to have all the wheel bearings and brakes redone on the tool trailer. The AC on the diesel isn’t working well so we pumped some die into it to see if the problem can be located.
I’m often asked why it seems that there is always something in the shop. We have 3 motor vehicles and 3 trailers and besides the tool trailer, they range in age from 1994-2008. God so blessed us with these vehicles one at a time so that the total we was spent on them was $17,200, that’s for all SIX! Praise God. When asked why I continue to fix instead of buy new, until The LORD gives us something else, the cost of keeping all of this running, especially based on our original cost, pales in comparison to what something new would cost! Just trying to be a good steward of the equipment The LORD has given us as well as the monies He’s entrusted us with! If you’re interested in reading the “God stories” on the procurement of each vehicle, click the link, then click on which item you want to know about, Vehicles.
Keep the prayers coming as we try to finish well helping folks affected by Hurricane Ian. Pray for clear direction on what our next steps are in serving The LORD! Pray that The LORD would continue to put folks in our path that desire to be discipled and that we would be faithful to His call on our lives as He directs our path!
If you’re interested in growing in The LORD as you selflessly serve others alongside of Calvary Relief, 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.
If there’s ever anything you need prayer about or just need to talk to someone, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us and let us know!
Here to serve and disciple until He calls us home,
Curt & Mary Jo
