MMAP Sept, 2012, Shocco Springs Conference Center, Talladega, AL

Wow, we are already into our third week here at Shocco Springs Conference Center, in Talladega, AL!!  

This is a great facility, and is used by several organizations!  From dogs to choirs and ladies group to motorcylists!  I have to digress at this point:

A Flyball dog competition group was here with their dogs on the first weekend..... ever hear of it?  We had not, but watched them for a while.....they were in teams, even one from Nashville,

The dogs would run and grab a ball and head back, having to jump over several fences.  They were timed, with the smallest dog determining  the height of the fence (so every team had a short one to get the block down to the lowest level!).  It was quite fascinating!

And last weekend the Christian Motorcyclist Association was here!  There were at least a hundred cycles.......nuff said.

I am glad to see it is being used in what I would consider to be off season.

They have a long list of projects here, and during our second week, seven couples from Alabama Campers on Mission, a Baptist group similar to MMAP, were here for the week.  They  remodeled some bathrooms in another building, while our guys were assigned  to the Twin Lodge.  

Twin Lodge is a U-shaped, one-story building that had a minor leak under the floor, which was not found until damage had been done.  By the time it was discovered, they found the underside of the floor full of black mold which penetrated and became white mold in between the floor and subfloor of the large meeting room.  

The result was removing the carpet, floor and subfloor, 

having the existing mold on the joists professionally sprayed, 

and replacing it with new subfloor and sheeting,

then replacing the carpeting.

Part way through, they found the problem extended to an adjacent room as well, so half of the flooring in that room was also replaced.

They also replaced the railing on the steps of one of the sides.

All that in the first two weeks!

The ladies also were kept busy!

The first week we were here, we helped with the laundry, folding the towels and sheets.  

One of the other ladies and I were able to paint a newly installed railing on a new building (a one bedroom apt.-size duplex) built for volunteers who come to help who do not have a camper..... no excuses!!

Rain stopped us from painting for a couple of days, so I and another MMAPer helped the ladies from Campers on Mission make “salvation dolls”.  They will have a necklace with the colored beads to explain the gospel message....green, black, red, white and gold.  They are headed for Guatemala with a group from here.

They are definitely keeping us busy, and making us feel very welcome and appreciated.

The wife of the director took us ladies on a day out to tour the city of Talladega.  It was great to see everything and hear about the history of not only the town, but some of the buildings.

The 1836 courthouse is the oldest one in continuous use in AL.

The town square was quaint, with the Ritz theatre being the centerpiece.

but just off the square shops were closed. 

The Institutes for the Blind and Deaf here were started in the early 1800’s.  They have huge campuses!  
We did not go to the race track... it is 12 miles out of town and no races til next month.

She also teaches a water exercise class twice a week at the community center, which we all decided we could benefit from.  So we joined her a couple of times.

Paul thought if we worked with the guys, we would not need the exercise... he understood the concept of using different muscles after he was bending and twisting and using some of his unused muscles!  But we had more fun in the water.

And of course, MMAPers do socialize and rubberneck.......

that will have to wait for the next blog!