Our final batch of service projects this year was certainly interesting, and in some cases, difficult, like last quarter. We have decided that Vessel will not schedule projects on a quarterly basis. To assure we can adequately fulfill people's needs, our new goal is to complete 4-5 projects every three months. This timeline will allow us much more flexibility than the former. It was a huge challenge to try to complete 2-5 projects in one day; we ended up having to return to several projects to properly finish the work.
The first one was the toughest emotionally and spiritually as we helped our brother and member of Vessel, Miguel. His mother passed away after we finished with some weed eating and household organization the week before. She had acute leukemia and died less than a year after it came back around Christmas of last year. She was a wonderful lady and a joy in the lives of those she came into contact with. She leaves behind a legacy for her family, who know the Lord and continue to push on, even though it was incredibly painful to lose her. I was blessed enough to be asked to speak at her funeral, and we rest knowing that she lives on forever in eternity, where we will see her once again!
In this quarter, we have taken on a longer term project that saw a lot of momentum this year, and so we chose to include it in our 2022 accomplishments. Our team of electricians, hosted by Grace Mountain Electric, is helping First Baptist of Blue Ridge wire their new pavilion complex, which will include a skate park, welcome center, and eventual amphitheater. This complex will be for the Blue Ridge community, as it is centered in the downtown area. This will be huge for the area because it is also close to the high school. We hope to see students flock to this complex and engage the gospel naturally. I would like to give a huge shoutout not only to Grace Mountain Electric, but also to Tye Cooper, who works for them and is taking the reins on this one. Also shoutouts to Rusty Thomas and Austin Leach, who are in pastoral leadership at First Baptist of Blue Ridge.
Another interesting project was the service we provided for this year's Sorghum Festival. Our young adults helped in ticket sales, booth attendance, and general service to the festival throughout its two weekends. Thanks to CASA and Ty Brunet for your work on this festival! The community definitely enjoyed it.
Additionally, we returned to First Fruits to build a shed near their new building. In December, we made a lot of progress since the building is almost dried in. That will get finished in January. This building will greatly aid First Fruits in their community efforts.
Finally, we were told of a mobile home in need of a new window out in Morganton GA. Zak and Rosemary needed this window replaced, especially with the incoming cold weather. They have a 2 year old daughter as well. Smith Glass thankfully was able to work with us to get the window replaced.
We have had quite a year of service projects! As usual we had some very rough situations that the Lord gave us to take on, and because of Him, we were faithful to complete each one. Even though our total of completed projects was 15 compared to last years 24, we believe that what matters most is not the quantity of the projects but the quality. Even more importantly, the obedience required to properly take on what is asked of us stands at the top of our priorities.
Thank you Lord for your unmerited grace, mercy, and most of all, love in our lives. We look forward to continuing on in this work with these young adults. Please grant us continued favor as we press onwards towards the goal of the gospel and your inevitable return.
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