Volunteers at Work and Play

One of the advantages of periodically doing an RVICS assignment is the fellowship with like-minded Christian brothers and sisters. Traveling full time is great but we both miss our church family and the friends we've had for so many years living in Sonoma County. As we take a three week travel break, these projects provide us with routine and a community we need to nurture our spirit.

Our weather has improved and the local Nebraska sky is filled with puffy cumulus clouds floating over the wetlands of the Platte River to the north of Timberlake Ranch Camp. Besides working four days a week on camp projects, we hang out together each morning for 8 AM devotions, prayer and singing. Tuesday nights we have a social get-together and usually play a card game like Pyramid or 4 up-4 down. Wednesday night we do a bible study with someone from the camp staff. When Friday rolls around we try and do a field trip in the area, go to a movie or play mini-golf. Going to lunch or dinner with the team is common and an obligatory trip to any local Dairy Queen is an RVICS tradition!

This second week on project saw the men installing a much needed garage door opener on the maintenance shop's 10 foot door, finishing the gazebo benches, demolition of an old camp utility structure and repairing the waterfront floating dock. The ladies did some more painting in one of the staff houses and continued getting the craft room and camp store ready for the first week of campers that will arrive in two weeks.

It might appear that we are too busy while working an RVICS project, but we do get our share of down time. The activity during the week provides plenty of exercise and we are both feeling the sore muscles at the end of each work day. An added benefit, however to all the physical work, we sleep well through most of the night.

Friday, May 10 Karen and I drove into the city of Grand Island, Nebraska so she could do some lap swimming at the local YMCA. I drove over to Anderson Chrysler Dodge Jeep RAM dealership to schedule an oil change for the truck on Monday, May 13. I was hoping to get a haircut but couldn't find a barber shop open that took walk-ins. After I picked up Karen we went to lunch, then to Walmart for some groceries then back to camp to play a new game called Mölkky.

Mölkky (Finnish pronunciation: [ˈmølkːy]), is a Finnish throwing game invented by Lahden Paikka company in 1996. It is reminiscent of kyykkä, a centuries-old throwing game with Karelian roots. The Karelian people's presence can be dated back to the 7th millennium BC–6th millennium BC. The region itself is rich with fish, lakes, and minerals, and because of that throughout history its political boundaries have changed. Today it is divided between the Republic of Finland and the Russian Republic.

The game is played with a set consisting of a throwing pin, and 12 shorter wooden pins (also called "skittles") numbered from 1 to 12. The pins are initially placed in a tight group in an upright position 3–4 meters away from the throwing line, with the pins organized as follows: 1st row, 1/2; 2nd row, 3/10/4; 3rd row, 5/11/12/6; 4th row, 7/9/8. The players take turns to toss the throwing pin to try and knock over the numbered pins.

Knocking over one pin scores the number of points marked on the pin. Knocking 2 or more pins scores the number of pins knocked over (e.g., knocking over 3 pins scores 3 points). A pin does not count if it is leaning on the throwing pin or one of the numbered pins (it must be parallel to the ground to count).

If you miss all the pins on your throw it counts as a strike. Three strikes and you lose all your accumulated points and go back to zero but keep playing. First player that gets exactly 50 points wins. Great fun and no...I didn't win.