T and I were Group Leaders this month and were given another wonderful group of people to work with. Our work sites were in town rather than the camp where we were parked which was a different scenario for us, but as a group we worked together to get to our destinations every day. The Lake Wales Care Center is made up of many different programs including two thrifts stores, bicycle shop, book store, community kitchen, community garden etc. Please see link https://lakewalescarecenter.com/programs/. The centers motto is “People Helping People Helping People” and we definitely saw this in action numerous times in different locations and situations. T and the other guys saw themselves framing and doing dry wall in an apartment building and the ladies and I served in both thrift stores sorting, pricing, stocking and shipping donations. We also were invited to daily devotions with the staff before store opening time which was really nice. As a group we felt very welcome and had opportunities, which we took to socialize with many of the care center staff. One opportunity was at a local rodeo where the center was recognized and presented with a cheque.
Back at the camp we got to reconnect with a couple we first met in Texas who often winter in Florida and did an interview with them for their new You Tube channel they just started. Their channel is called “Serving Camps” and we were interviewed to talk about how we became full time RVers and our involvement in Christian RV Ministry. We have not watched the video..T might LOL but I don’t like watching myself. Copper for once was not sitting on mine or T’s lap so is not present in the video, but very much alive and well.
On our days off we did get to explore the area and also took an unexpected trip back to a previous destination to pick up a very time sensitive package which had been delivered to the wrong address. The joys of changing addresses often finally caught up with us! Strawberry season was definitely in full swing in Florida with us seeing workers actively picking from the fields and loading trucks. We also took a group trip to try a “famous strawberry shortcake and strawberry milkshake”. T really liked his milkshake. We were supposed to be sharing, but he didn’t like the shortcake. To be honest I didn’t either. I guess I prefer angel food cake with my strawberries. T and I toured the Florida Naturals visitors center today and learned more about the history of the orange industry in the area. We are surrounded by orange groves and had several questions which were answered. In recent years the industry has been hit harder by an invasive insect from Asia and many of the groves have closed down. We have seen in recent days tops of ladders bouncing around as workers start to pick the oranges to ship off for processing in groves still active.
Hopefully the pictures I have included below will tell the rest of the story of our month at our current location. As always love to each of you and thanks for following along.
