Happy Birthday during this time to: Daughter, Whitney (20), Daniel Duke (21), Grandson, Little Jimmy (22), Stephanie Francis (29th)
Little did Jim and I realize almost 3 years ago (just before we retired) as we read and prayed the Prayer of Jabez in Liberal, Kansas, just how greatly God was going to expand our territory!
We just completed our 2nd round of doing volunteer work and renewing friendships in Toccoa, GA, at the Georgia Baptist Conference Center.
Because the time flew by so quickly Jim and I decided that there was no way we could write our journal the normal way. Therefore, we agreed that we each would share our thoughts and combine them to make one entry.
This time around my assignment for the first two weeks in Toccoa was to be the assistant to the bakery chef, Heidi. To say I was delighted would definitely be an understatement since I had spent a little time with her in October, and thoroughly enjoyed working with her then.
Not only did I get the experience of watching a pro at work, I actually learned some new recipes, learned the value of appearance when plating desserts, and many more handy ideas for serving, cutting, and placing bakery products.
Heidi, in the photos above, prepares her “three mile high” meringue for lemon pies and banana crème pies (I think…can’t remember now)…Those toppings were so high, Joe, one of the other chefs, took a ruler to them!Those of you who know me well know that I’m basically a simple, do it fast, do it easy type of cook; so I really found pleasure in learning the finer parts of culinary skills such as how to place the dessert on the table for a banquet, decorate the top, sides, etc. of a dessert so that it’s more appealing, but the greatest feeling was when Heidi said, “Place these on a tray, basket, etc.” and I was responsible for the display.
Eric, the head chef, taught me how to accent the lemon bars by slicing a strawberry…what fun I had!
Sometimes though, Heidi didn’t need help with desserts so I learned from Joe, the day chef, to do a variety of jobs…like lay out bacon, tons of bacon, hours of cooking bacon!!! One day, Jean (another volunteer and I) had to cook up 2” deep pans of bacon (photo shows the pan with only one batch of bacon in it! We had to fill 12 of these!)…it took forever! However, once again, I learned something really cool…the best, easiest, and neatest way to cook the bacon is to put it on
a sheet pan, place it in the oven at 350 for about 15-17 minutes (of course, this depends on how thick your slices are, etc.) Anyway, it must be good, because everyone always raved about it at breakfast. (I don’t eat it, but it looked really good.Another Joe job one day was to fix the stuffed sea bass. Now, that was really cool…Used an ice cream scoop to spoon out the stuffing…placed it on the sea bass…folded the fish over…then later it's basted with sauce… and baked…yummy!
My least favorite Joe job (Joe and I in photo) was to cut “bite size” pieces of zucchini and yellow squash…15 pounds of each…boring!!! But, even then, I learned the “proper” way to cut.
Towards the end of the 3rd week we were there, I learned how to set up tables for a banquet…with round tables, everything is placed according to a clock…for example, the salt and pepper go at 3 o’clock whereas the sugar goes at 9…there’s a lot of other “rules”, but won’t go into them as most of you probably already know this stuff…but for me it was intriguing.
My last assignment was one I was dreading, but wound up being one I really enjoyed learning. I had to fold the cloth napkins in the stand-up accordion fan method. Billy, one of the other volunteers, is a master at this skill; but he wasn’t there the last week. So…I was very concerned because one day he had tried to explain what he did, but it looked so difficult (which it is, of sorts). However, like a brave soldier, I tried to pay close attention to Teresa as she moved her lightning fast hands…it didn’t take…she had to slow down. Once I got the hang of it though, I found that I wasn’t so shabby myself…now I can help Billy in October!
I’m certain that I’ve left out a lot of other things I observed and learned, but I’ll just close with photos taken during that special 3 week period.
Above is a break table that Eric and Heidi set up one day for a group…Jim helped them move things over to the auditorium for this and when Eric asked if we could take a photo for them, Jim called me and I came running with the camera. Doesn’t everything look appealing?On the day that Heidi and I had to place the desserts on the tables for a banquet, she also had to make a birthday cake for the guest of honor, Georgia’s Senator Butterworth. Then, Eric, with what I called his “regal” look, had to present it to him…
Just as a side note, the cart that Eric is using was one of two built that week by one of the volunteers, Dickie. All Eric did was give him a picture from a catalog, and voila! Dickie made them – out of nothing but scrap materials from the maintenance shed!In fact, the first time the cart was used was on Friday, April 24th, the 30th wedding anniversary of our volunteer coordinators!
As a special surprise, the volunteers planned a noon time celebration where Bill, the center’s director, would present Nancy and Jesse with a huge fruit basket arranged by Heidi and wrapped by Eric’s wife, Ruth. We also prepared some miniature Hershey bars announcing their anniversary and a special sugar-free dessert. You might say this endeavor was a community affair which indeed caught our fearless leaders off guard!
Another reason this day was so special for Jim and me…Well…let me begin with Thursday night the 23rd. Mike and Kelly were driving from Richmond to Toccoa to stay with us over the week-end. Jim and I were so excited; but, we were also very exhausted. We knew M & K were going to be arriving late in the night as they didn’t get to leave home until after work. I thought I could stay awake, but finally around 10, I told Jim that I just had to have a short nap. He said, “Okay, I’ll stay up and wait for them.” Well…around midnight, he fell asleep, too.For some reason, I awoke at 12:45 AM and realized that the door to the bedroom was closed (we were sleeping on the couch since we had to work Saturday morning). I woke Jim up and said, “Jim the kids haven’t gotten here yet have they?” He said, “No, I don’t think so.” About that time we heard Mike say, “Dad, we are here!” Those two kids came in, brought their entire luggage through this narrow space between the couch and chair, and never woke us up!
Friday morning we left them sleeping and headed off to our respective “jobs” but they came down to the dining room at noon in time for lunch and the anniversary celebration.
Jim: For my part, I learned how to do some different maintenance tasks around the conference center during out three-week stay. Of course, there was also plenty of time in the dishwashing room, especially during our first week when there were so many conference guests.
What can one say about the industrial dishwashing experience other than that it is always an educational adventure! Once the trays start rolling down the conveyer belt, the world goes into hyper-gear and we enter a time warp. When everything is finished (it feels like 12-hours later), we finally emerge into “real-time” to find that it has only been an hour and a half, but what a fast, furious, and [mostly fun] 90 minutes!After three days of concentrating on the dishwashing room, Bob (our friend from the Atlanta area) and I moved downstairs to help Roger replace ceiling tiles in one of the large rooms.
I’ve never worked with ceiling tiles, and I’m sharing this description of the experience in family confidence, since it’s nothing I want to include on my resume’ because someone might read it and offer me a job.
The existing tiles were 2’ feet by 4 feet and set in a suspended ceiling. Over the years, most of the tiles had become badly discolored and warped. Our job was to install new framework so we could install 2’ X 2” tiles. Because of the constant high humidity in northeastern Georgia, the four-foot lengths could not hold their shape as long as they might in a drier climate. Unfortunately (for me, at least), Dennis, the maintenance director, couldn’t locate cases of the 2X2 tiles, so we had to cut 2X4 tiles into the proper lengths and shapes.
For those who have worked with ceiling tiles, you know what a nasty job it can be…the nicest thing one can say about it is that at least they aren’t made of asbestos, because the fibers get onto and into everything, and the cutter’s hands become raw from handling the material. Since Bob and Bill were doing the framing, I got to be the cutter, using a razor knife to do the slicing and trimming before handing the finished tiles to the others to be installed in the new suspended frame.
In addition to shaping and installing the tiles, we also did our own cleanup at the end of each session…carrying all the old tiles and other assorted residue and trash up the hill to the dumpster. Oh, and did I mention that there was no air conditioning downstairs and the outside temperature was in the upper 80’s with about 90 per cent humidity? Not the most fun of all the jobs I’ve had, but I was working in great company and learning new skills.
By Thursday, we had finished the ceiling downstairs in the dining hall and Bill, Bob, and I moved to the chapel to help the maintenance staff and a couple of other volunteers start work on a new ceiling there.
My job was to climb up on the scaffolding and rip out some of the existing tiles (the old-fashioned 1’ squares that were glued on) so the new suspended frame could be mounted to the ceiling joists. Since there were many years of dust accumulation in the ceiling, it didn’t take long to be covered in dirt and fibers, not to mention drenched in sweat.
By the time we finished the day’s activities (including another round in the dishwashing room after the evening meal), I was whipped. Still, I did my best to stay up to meet Mike and Kelly when they arrived, but, while the spirit was willing, the body was weak, and I fell asleep shortly after Barbara did.
When we told Nancy that Mike and Kelly were coming to visit, she said that we could have the weekend off if we could stick around and help through the lunch rush. That was no problem, as
the kids were worn out from their drive to Toccoa Thursday night and slept in while we went to work.After doing our morning chores (Barbara working in the kitchen and me in the dishwashing room and chapel), we joined all the volunteers and staff for lunch and the special celebration of Jesse and Nancy’s 30th wedding anniversary. This was also a special time for Kelly, as she got to renew her acquaintance with Jesse and Nancy (she had first met them in Hollywood, Florida, when she was in the IMB Journeyman program while Mike was in China) and several other volunteers who had also worked with Jesse and Nancy in Hollywood.
When we finished with our dining hall duties, we returned to the campground and Big V to clean up, get a little rest while the kids explored the surroundings, and then start our weekend.First on our agenda was to take Mike and Kelly out to Toccoa College to show them the famous Toccoa Falls. Bob and Nell took us out there last fall, and we wanted to show the sight (a 186’ waterfall that cascades down a sheer rock wall and then courses through the campus).
What we first found was that the old rock building that housed the visitors center had been burned out by an electrical fire sometime after we were here last fall. It was a beautiful structure, and it was sad to see all that was left was portions of scorched walls. Still, the falls were as beautiful as ever, and we were able to take some great photographs.From Toccoa we drove up toward Clayton to show the kids Goats on the Roof, the quaint set of shops that we visited last weekend. Of course, more photos were taken as we watched and fed the animals while they wandered around on their unique sod roofs.
On the way back to Toccoa we stopped at Tallulah Gorge, another natural wonder that Bob and Nell showed us last year. Unfortunately, the store that houses the viewing point for the gorge and river was closed for the evening, so we had to settle for a brief glimpse while we stood on the fence surrounding the property.
Back at Big V, we went into full family mode as I built a fire, started the charcoal grill, and eventually whipped up one of our favorite meals, barbecued ribs and sausages. Barbara had already made (at Kelly’s request) a batch of Puerto Rican potato salad and some baked beans.While we waited for the meat to cook, we introduced the kids to our washers game and soon we were all busy with our own little tournament.
When the meat was cooked we moved inside (the night bugs were making their appearance) and enjoyed a great meal and lots of conversation as we continued to get caught up on each other’s activities since we last saw Mike and Kelly at their wedding in October.
Even though Nancy had given us today off from dining hall duties, we went on down to see if we could be of any assistance since Mike and Kelly had driven to Seneca, South Carolina, about 30 miles from Toccoa, to visit some family friends from the time when Kelly lived there as a small girl.
While Barbara went back to Big V to take care of dishes and straighten the place, I helped some of the guys move things from the dining hall to the auditorium for a break session for one of the conferences that was being held this weekend. Below, are Ken Hogan, Billy Enfinger, and I as we are hard at work moving supplies into the auditorium.
When the kids returned, we hit the road again, this time driving up to Helen, the little German-style village that Bob and Nell had first shown us last fall and that Jere and Gwen took us to last week. We were hoping to eat outside along the Chattahoochee River, but the wait for those tables was over an hour and our stomachs told us we’d rather go inside to enjoy a meal.After eating, we toured the village, stopping first at an ice cream parlor where Barbara, Mike, and Kelly had their dessert before heading off for some serious shop-looking.
From Helen, we made our way back over to Clayton (unfortunately, I misdirected Mike and took us the l-o-n-g and slow route through the mountains) and then own to Tallulah Gorge State Park where Mike, Kelly, and I hiked the trail down to the bottom of the gorge while Barbara, who was unsure of trying to hike a demanding and unfamiliar trail, stayed on the top with the car.The trail from the top to the bottom of the gorge is a well-marked and relatively easy series of metal stairs, 1,099 of them to be exact. The trail from the bottom to the top is exactly the same set of steps, but they are all ascending, and it is a very strenuous climb. The thing that keeps the hiker going is that there is no simple way to get a rescuer in there if one becomes incapacitated, so you just have to do what has to be done…keep putting one foot ahead of (and slightly higher than) the other until the top is reached.
We were drenched with sweat when we completed the ascent, but the scenery we saw made the trip well worth the effort. As we have discovered through many of our experiences, the greatest beauty of our country is not always seen from the roadside…we have to work to get to it.
On the way back to Toccoa we stopped at a little roadside stand so Kelly could get some boiled peanuts, a southern delicacy, but something that (to our thinking) is definitely an acquired taste.
When we got back to Big V we again started a fire in the fire pit and then I started the charcoal grill and cooked up some hamburgers to go with our leftover potato salad and baked beans. We then shared a delightful evening of talking, eating, and playing washers, topped off with a movie that the kids had brought to share with us.
Sunday morning we took our time getting around. When everyone was up, Barbara and I started breakfast, French toast, bacon and eggs, and lots of coffee…good fuel to get us all through the day.
The kids spent their time getting packed for the trip back to Richmond and after eating, getting the dishes washed and their car packed, we followed them into town for a stop at Wal-Mart before seeing them off.The rest of the day was spent washing clothes, resting, and waiting for our seven o’clock meeting with the second-week volunteers.
My work for the second week was entirely in the chapel, installing the new suspended ceiling. Bill Strong, a volunteer from Lynchburg, Virginia, headed the crew that was installing the frame, and worked with Dave Lute, another Georgia volunteer, while I spent most of my time working with Ken Hogan from Alabama (we had also worked with Ken when we were building the church in Ethridge, Tennessee).
This week we had the right sized tiles to place in most of the framework, but all tiles around the edges had to be measured and cut to size. Ken, a retired assistant superintendent of schools, taught me the fine art of cutting and shaping the tiles so they would drop into place…yet another job that won’t find its way onto my resume’.
We had hoped that we could finish the job by Wednesday evening, but sometimes the best-laid plans are nothing more than well-laid plans, and it took us until Friday afternoon to have all the tiles and lights in place…just in time for a scheduled event in the chapel Friday evening.
With no volunteer services required for the weekend, we spent a quiet night at Big V and then got up Saturday morning and drove two hours up to Cherokee, North Carolina, nestled in the beautiful Great Smoky Mountains, for some time of rest and relaxation, returning Sunday afternoon to get ready for our final week of activities.
Bob and Nell returned late Sunday afternoon and we went out to eat with them before returning to the King Hotel to meet and greet the newest batch of volunteers, most of whom were from First Baptist Church of Jonesboro, Georgia.
Bob and I thought we would be on the chapel paint crew, but something happened that kept that job from starting until Wednesday, so we finished job that we had started during the first week – removing, cleaning, and reinstalling the heater/air conditioner filters in the 240 guest rooms of the hotels and lodges.
When we finished with the filters, we joined Terry, one of the permanent maintenance crew members, to help install new lighting in the dining hall. I don’t know when the lights were installed, but they were probably put in when the building was constructed in 1977. It must have been a time of much cheaper energy, because there were sixty clusters (four boxes in each cluster and 7 bulbs in each box…you do the math).
Each cluster took an hour to remove and replace, and we could only do the work when no one was using the dining hall. We got our exercise from moving the heavy tables and chairs out of the way, positioning the Genie-lift, and hauling fixtures back and forth. It wasn’t the most difficult job I’ve ever done, but it was exacting, and I became pretty proficient in uncrating and prepping the new fixtures so they could be wired and installed.
Barbara: It’s important at this point to tell the story of how Jim came to the point of taking up the trumpet again. Last year while at Toccoa, we met Billy from Florida who for his own personal reasons was teaching himself how to play the piano. (He didn’t sound like a beginner!) Little did Billy realize that his taking up the challenge to play would be God’s way of using him to show Jim that he should be using his natural-born talent for the Lord’s work, too.
Once we left Georgia last October, Jim began to faithfully practice his trumpet and has used his abilities since then to give devotionals, not only at Toccoa, but at Ethridge also. Thank you, Billy!
Two other events that took place during the 2nd and 3rd weeks of our time in Toccoa are worthy of mentioning…
First, one night after devotionals, a group of us decided to take a lazy trip around the lake in the pontoon boat with Bill Strong doing the navigating. Plans were made to pick up some of us at the campsite… While we were waiting for the pontoon to arrive, Jim and Ruth had fun playing around taking some hitch hiking photos while Ken kept watch for our ride.
This adventurous group included: Jim and I, Ken and Ruth (Alabama), Pilot Bill and Jean (Virginia), Billy and Lillian, Pat and Margaret (all from Florida).
Our next to the last night that we were in Georgia, we invited Eric, Ruth, and their daughter, Kate as well as Heidi and her three children (Hannah, Jared, and Olivia)…(her husband Kurt was on the road and unable to come) and Bob and Nell over to Big V for some homemade ice cream and visiting. Later the couple, Beaman and his wife from Seneca, SC, who were set up next to us, joined the group.
The weather didn’t cooperate…rained cats and dogs…but we set up under the pavilion adjacent to our campsite. What fun we had! Our visiting turned into Jim playing the trumpet and having the music float over the water…it was an awesome experience. Then, as Jim found his next song, Bob and Eric traded off telling jokes. This was certainly an act that should go on the road!
Just a little side note from my point of view...Jared and Jim are giving the Texas hand sign in the photo of the men…they did it to be ornery since I am not a Texas fan and they are. In fact, Heidi and the kids even brought out Texas Longhorn lawn chairs! How rude was that?
Jim: We told Nancy earlier in the week that we needed to leave sooner than we had originally planned so we could be back in Mineola for Mother’s Day. So, by Wednesday evening we had finished all our duties, packed Big V and moved her down to the parking lot, and were set up for our final Toccoa evening. We said our goodbyes to volunteers and staff, visited with Bob and Nell in Big V, and then retired for a quiet night, hoping to get enough rest to get us well down the road on Thursday.
Before leaving Thursday morning we went back to the dining hall to say goodbye to the morning staff and then returned to Big V to head off for the day’s driving adventure. We got away from Toccoa at 7:30 and drove, and drove, and drove, passing through Atlanta (an adventure we could just as well do without), and around Birmingham, Alabama (a place where it is always raining when we go through), and on to Vicksburg, Mississippi, one of our favorite places, where we spent a couple of nights just resting before the final push to Mineola.
Our memories of the time we spent in Toccoa far outnumber the ability to write about them all. The Toccoa experience is like a wonderful homecoming and reunion of family and friends, as well as a gathering of new friends (almost like meeting cousins that we have heard about many times, but have never seen before). We are now bonded together through the service and the Toccoa experience, and know that we will always have a special relationship.
“And whatever you do, whether in word or in deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” – Colossians 3:17 (Toccoa volunteers’ memory verse)
Adhering to the philosophy that a photo is worth a 1000 words, we're adding just a "few" more photos of special people...special times...
With grateful thanks to the team that God put together and that Jesse and Nancy directed,
Georgia Baptist Conference Center Toccoa, Georgia
