Monday August 29, 2011

 

Five-and-a-Half Days Made a Difference to Sacramento Chapel

~ Monday, August 22 to Saturday Noon, August 27 ~

 

 

When we arrived on Sunday evening, the entrance door was rotting, the words “Mobile Chapel” needed sanded and painted, the window was rotting and moldy, and we learned that steps needed to be added to the back emergency door to bring the chapel up to code.

 

 

Old entrance door

 

 

Cerwin and Chaplain Jerry removing the old door.

 

 

The steel framework gave them some concern. That meant there was no room for adjustment if the door was too tight.

 

 

Preparing to install the new door.

 

 

Sigh of relief. It fit.

 

 

Preparing to paint the door’s trim.

 

 

Looking good!

 

 

No more rotting wood.

 

 

I embarked on a new experience when I began this job. I had never scraped, sanded, or painted pealing vinyl lettering. As a matter of fact, this was an experiment, Cerwin did not know if it would work.

I knew he wanted to get this job done before we went home, and when I saw all the work the men had to do, I thought I would help by doing the sanding and scraping.

My original plan was to be available when Cerwin needed an extra hand with the construction (when Jerry couldn’t be there), and prepare a slide show for TFC Staff Conference in October – because that is what I do – and what I am comfortable doing.

 

 

By Wednesday (with Cerwin’s encouragement) I felt brave enough to begin painting. We used Rustoleum.

I was not confident that I could do this, but began with the “M” because it was the most difficult due to its location above the steps.

Cerwin and Jerry were impressed with the change and how good it looked. After that, it was one letter at a time, one morning at a time. It was too hot to paint in the afternoon.

 

 

By the time I began painting the word “chapel” on Thursday, I was still amazed that this was turning out okay, and thanked the Lord that I was able to contribute to the refurbishing of the chapel.

While standing on the ladder one day, I thought, “The verse, ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me’ is certainly true.”

 

 

It was a great feeling to help make the exterior look better.

 

 

On Monday evening, when he turned the lights on, Cerwin noticed that a light on the cross was not working.

 

 

He checked it out on Tuesday. The screw was loose, so it did not have a good ground. After tightening the screw, it worked again. That was an easy solution.

 

 

After the door was installed, Cerwin began working on the window. I forgot to take a picture inside where it looked worse, because of the rotting wood.

 

 

 

 

The new window

 

 

Staining the interior trim.

 

 

Installing the trim.

 

 

Chaplain Jerry’s wife, Joyce, is going to appreciate this, because she was allergic to the mold on the old one.

 

 

Cerwin determined which tools he would need, and shipped his to the the 49er Truck Stop by UPS – then rented a chop saw and compressor after we got to Sacramento. He set up shop on three skids that someone dropped off behind the chapel. No one seemed to know where they came from.

 

 

Because no one sees the back of the chapel, drivers and truck stop employees used the area to store bundled cardboard and other stuff that was going for recycling.

Truck stop staff graciously cleaned it up so Cerwin and Jerry could build the emergency exit steps.

 

 

Finished steps

 

 

By Saturday morning Cerwin’s box of tools was ready to be shipped back to the TFC shop in Marietta, Pennsylvania. He took the box to the shop where we expect UPS picked it up on Monday.

 

 

The men had a bit of work to do to the window on Saturday morning, then Jerry cleaned the chapel while Cerwin returned the rented tools, and made sure everything was picked up on the outside.

 

 

 

 

By late morning, the chapel was ready for Sunday worship.

Jerry told Cerwin on Monday that there were eight drivers in the morning service and seven in for evening worship.

 

 

Now that we know the process of scraping, sanding, and painting over the vinyl works, Chaplain Jerry plans to do the same thing with the yellow “Transport For Christ” letters. He has enough red paint to do the other lettering if he chooses to do so.

It was a satisfying week.