MMAP French Camp, January End Week 1

The end of the first week always comes fast! it has been challenging with the temperatures being in the teens! We had a frozen water hose, but Paul was able to put water in the tank, and with the heaters going, we have since had flowing water. Our neighbor's waterline is still frozen.

The work on the house is progressing. After the plumbing and electrical work was finished, the crew put in insulation in the ceiling and walls (which immediately made the house warm for them!) and then started putting up the sheetrock on the ceiling throughout the house.


One of the MMAPers, Rick, is a whittler, and was asked to share his talent with the students. He came last month, and has been teaching the art class the past month. After dinner one night, while visiting, he just started whittling a piece of wood, and 15 minutes later, this was the result!!

He offered to teach a class on Tuesday night, so I went, and enjoyed it. He kept having to remind us that he had been doing it for over 50 years, so we cannot expect to have the same results as he gets!! Next Tuesday, we finish our project. (It depends on how it turns out, if you see it or not).

We have a special MMAPer on the crew this month. Bruce has Downs Syndrome, and he and his parents were MMAPers for several years before his father passed away in 2008 (they served on over 50 projects!). When his father died, he and his mother moved to French Camp, where she works in the accounting office, and he does different jobs. This month he is cleaning up at the house and is delighted to be back in MMAP, showing how this truly is an extended family.


Some of us ladies prepared boxes of bread for mailing. These are sent out as a thank you for donations, or people can request they be sent as gifts, and they are also sold at the welcome center.


One lady, Mrs Annie, bakes over 15,000 loaves of bread a year..... each daily batch makes 70 loaves!! To make a batch, she uses a whole container of salt, and 50 pounds of flour plus amazing amounts of the sugar and yeast, to make the dough!!



It is fascinating to watch her! And she is a delight to talk to.

Everyone here at French Camp Academy is SO friendly and welcoming, the meals are FANTASTIC, and the MMAP crew is AWESOME!