These first few days have been interesting. I have been at the Harlan center helping them get ready for groups. The Harlan center is an abandoned school that has not been occupied for 4 years, so it needed some work. Andy (one of the Staff Liasons) and I have been helping out with a lot of the cleaning and non- job specific stuff, which has entailed a lot of moving things and mopping. I wish I had before and after pictures to show, becuase this place was straight out of a horror movie on Thursday. We had to move about 200 bags of packing Styrofoam beads and about 100 desks out of the gym. It took two+ moppings of the gym in order to tell that the color of the floor was beige. Today we constructed a bank of showers in what used to be the schools coal room, and I now consider myself proficient in PVC plumbing.
It has been a hard three days, but on the eve of groups we have it livable and ready. I can see how people coming in might be shocked by the conditions, but it looks amazing compared to what it was and while still a little rough (no ac's and suspect plumbing) it is ready.
Tomorrow I will be heading out of Harlan and to Magoffin County's center in Salyersville, Ky. While I love the Harlan county center and staff it will be nice to be on the road moving towards AC, showers, and laundry. It will also be nice to start doing more chaplaincy than menial labour, though sometimes menial labour is a part of chaplaincy. I think my willingness to do this kind of stuff earned me some cred with the Harlan county staff.
This next week marks my first week on a circuit, this week I will be in Magoffin, Breathitt, Knott, Jeff, and Chavies. Five counties in five days. I am starting at the top of my counties and working my way back down, the week after I will hit my other 5 counties. It is gonna be Mountain Methodist Madness.
No comments:
Post a Comment