First week at Newton Texas completed

Our first Sunday in Newton, we all attended the Methodist Church which is providing us with the RV site. Apparently, this lot across the street was the site of a known drug house and was a scourge to the community. One of their parishioners purchased the lot, bulldozed down the house and donated it to the church for an RV Park for MDS. It is an excellent location and the community is thankful to have more reputable “neighbours”.

Pastor Joe Miller is a very vivacious gentleman reminiscent of Pastor Eddie in Georgetown, Alabama. He made sure we stayed awake during the service and his sermon, and acknowledged the Mennonites present in several instances. There was communion which we were invited to participate in. John and I observed a very moving act during the communion. When one of his young adult parishioners who was in the services approached the communion table, Pastor Joe Miller saluted him. What a sign of respect for an older man to pay to a young serviceman!! We were also very impressed with the amount of community service work this fairly small congregation does! There was no end to the list of ways they are involved in making their less fortunate fellow Newtonians lives’ better, and Newton a better place to live. They are truly excellent examples of being the hands and feet of Jesus and putting their Christianity into action.

We have completed our first “week” volunteering at Newton. Of course it is always difficult figuring out where newcomers fit into the program. However, John and Len both got busy doing what they could see needed doing. Diane and Nettie worked a couple of days strapping the walls to the foundation and installing the More-vent. Linda helped them one day as well. On Thursday, Diane and Nettie also drilled some holes and pulled some of the electrical wire into place. Three young fellows from the regular Newton project (in from Winkler, Mb) spent the week completing the shingling. Len and Phil finished off the porch roof and front. John started arranging the plumbing. Walt was helping with the roof, and Vern was working with the hurricane ties on the trusses in addition to all of their administration duties.

In the evenings, the men (Len and John) have beat the women (Nettie and Linda) in total games of Sequence. Now we have to catch up…

I went to visit Patricia, “the cat lady” the other day and really enjoyed it. She is around my age and has health problems that don’t allow her to work. She mostly walks with a pronged cane. So her life revolves around rescuing cats in the community. She has about some fixed cats and kittens in the house scheduled for operations. At daily feeding time around 4 p.m., she said there are around 50 who come for food. She “introduced” me to about 30 of them! All kinds, sizes and descriptions, except there were no white ones! She has a little wire-haired terrier dog as well. MDS did a bit of work for her in October. She lives in quite a nasty area, just a short distance away from where we are parked. On Thanksgiving night, she went to her door when someone knocked and before she knew it, the door was kicked in and a man accosted her asking for her money. He pushed her around quite roughly. She really thought she was going to be raped. She gave him all the money she had and, thank heaven, he left. They caught him later that night, as she got a good look at him and gave the police an excellent description. She has lived there by herself for 25 years and isn’t feeling very safe right now, although she does have some friends in the area. When I left, she said, “Do come around again. It’s nice to have a new friend.” Of course, I didn’t mind all the cats being around and didn’t think she is totally nuts like lots of people do. She has a mission and tries to give them away to good homes when she can. She arranges to have as many fixed as possible. If she didn’t have her cats, she wouldn’t have a reason to get up in the morning.

On Friday night we went to a Mark Lowry concert at a Baptist Church the other side of Jasper. He is a singer/comedian who performed with the Gaithers for 13 years. He sure was FUNNY! And can he ever sing!

We have had lovely weather all week. Only one brief rain shower one night. Other than that, it has warmed up to 80 most days. Mornings are quite humid and evenings cool right off. But mostly, midday is shorts weather.

We are enjoying our fifth wheel. John cleaned the side with the door and the hitch end to get rid of the oxidation over the summer. Has the other side and end to do yet. It looks much nicer.

Groceries down here are about the same price as in Canada. They used to be considerably cheaper, but not any more.

Being here for the big election was interesting. The fervent Christians were mostly McCain supporters. They believe the moral grain of America will be changed for the worse by Obama. I guess we’ll see. We’ve been there already, with legalization of same sex marriages, etc.

Thanks to everyone who sent messages after I advised that our blog was back in business. We enjoy hearing from you.

Well that’s all for this week. Hope I can get onto the internet in a timely fashion.

P.S.: We are parked near the Library and someone told me the internet was accessible in their parking lot. That's where I am at the moment and am happy to be able to get this done.