After serving in Moffett, OK for over a year rebuilding 2 homes and helping on several more and serving at and among Calvary Frontlines (CF) where we lived in Ft Smith, AR, we’ve packed up Camp Calvary and moved to McDonald, TN.  For the synopsis of our deployment in AR/OK, click here.  In between we also managed to go to Foley, AL where we served with Calvary Fellowship of Foley helping folks from Hurricane Sally and you can read our synopsis of our time there by clicking here.

It’s no small task for Mary Jo and I to pack up all our gear and move 2 trucks, a van, a 5^th wheel, a bunkhouse, and a tool trailer!  Gery from CF helped with a lot of the packing up and a dump run, then Doug from McDonald, TN flew out to help finish up tearing the camp down and then helped us by driving the van pulling the bunkhouse.  Ron and Vickie from CF joined us for the trip to TN, Ron drove the V10 pulling the tool trailer while Vickie and Mary Jo drove their truck that they would return to AR in.  I drove the diesel and pulled our 5^th wheel.

We were mostly packed up and disconnected Sunday evening with the exception of the electrical service to both RVs.  A rain storm came in overnight that continued while we finished up and we were a little wet but were on the road by 10 Monday with all 7 vehicles.

We made it to just outside Jackson, TN by dinner time Monday.  We set up the RVs at a campground for Mary Jo, Doug, and I, and Ron and Vickie checked into a not so nice hotel across the street, and we went to dinner.

We woke up Tuesday morning to a flat tire on the tool trailer, we’d picked a screw up somewhere along the way and were blessed we didn’t have a blowout on Monday and quickly got that changed.  Unfortunately we ended up having a blow out on I-40 with the 5^th wheel, but managed to get that changed on the side of the road.  We pulled into Doug and Sam’s late afternoon in McDonald, TN.   

We then began setting up Camp Calvary on their property.  Hurricane Zeta was coming in overnight to our area with possible high winds and lots of rain.  We needed to make sure at least the 5^th wheel was set up in place before the storm hit or we’d have to wait for several days while the property dried out.  God was good and we got everything all in place before bedtime! 

It did rain a lot and we didn’t have one of the slideouts set right so we got some water in our house and it also had to be re-leveled on Thursday.  We’ll see how it fairs, but for now we’re level and dried out!  Ron and Vickie hung out with us on Wednesday and they headed back home Thursday.

While here we’re finally going to take some time to really work on a few issues with our equipment.  I ordered our new refrigerator guts that we will swap out so that the refer and freezer will work like a home unit and actually keep our food at the correct temps year round and we won’t have to redo any walls or trim!  This will be a huge blessing!  We’ve got several other things that need done including a better leveling/stabilizing system for the 5^th wheel, underpinning and whatever else needs done before winter sets in, installing a battery backup/inverter system in the bunkhouse and winterizing it, some mechanical work on the trucks and van, and quite a few other things.

We were asked to help with rebuilds/repairs of some homes that were damaged from the Easter weekend tornados that hit this area in the spring.  We’ve responded here a few times in the past from 2 other tornados, each one in a different area.  There are over 100 homes that are still not repaired, a lot of them substantially damaged with no one living in them months later.

There’s lots to do that should keep us busy for quite a while!  It will take us a couple of weeks to assess things and figure out who we will be helping.  As soon as we’re ready to start scheduling volunteers for short term mission trips here in TN, we’ll let you know!  If you’re interested in learning about serving alongside of us, please click here for more info.

In the meantime please continue to keep us in your prayers as well as pray about possibly joining us here!  If you’re interested in helping us with Calvary Relief’s expenses, please click here for more info.

LORD Bless,

Curt & Mary Jo