Camp Sumatanga Called and We Responded!!!

On Wednesday, January 28, 2015 I received a call from Camp Sumatanga's development director, Rev. Mark Paris, asking if we might be able to help camp out with a critical and immediate need: firewood for the fireplaces at camp...enough to last the rest of this winter and perhaps even have some left over for the beginning of winter next year. What better place could we hope to find logs than in a forest, and the woods all through camp had plenty to offer us.  And as we have been fortunate not to have any severe storms to follow behind for some time now, many of us were eager to get out and rev up our chainsaws for some controlled, safe practice. By Tuesday, February 4, 2015, we were able to field a team of 13 cutters, pickers and tractor drivers, plus Abel and a new to us (but as yet unnamed?) skid steer owned by Dean Charles.  All braved the cold temperatures and responded to Camp Sumatanga's request.

The 13 members who participated in our Camp Sumatanga deployment on Tuesday were (front row, kneeling): Larry Taylor, Buddy Williams, Boyd Martin, Bob Suellentrop, Bob Thompson; (back row, standing): Ken Clements, Rev. Sam Williamson, Tim Smith, David Moser, Bob Nabors, Dean Charles, Ray Miller and Henry Averyt.

We took our working orders from camp maintenance acting supervisor Stephen DeMedics who showed us downed trees - some deep in the woods and others just off the roadways at Ropes Course, Pool Camp, behind Hillcrest Cabin and behind Cabin 3.  Some logs he wanted cut up into fireplace length (18 inches) and the long, straight trees he asked if we could simply cut into 18-foot sections yet bring them to a clearing (in Pool Camp) so that they could be cut into useable lumber by someone with a portable sawmill who was expected at camp the next day.

Here's one of the long trees lying deep in the woods and down a gorge that Larry Taylor had to section before Dean Charles' skid steer could haul it out using arbor straps and logging chains.

This is Dean's skid steer (as yet unnamed) which was new to us on this deployment.  But we thank God for it and for Dean's skill in driving it.  What a wonderful addition to the equipment armament of our disaster response ministry!

This is Abel - Asbury UMC's skid steer - which was piloted today by Bob Suellentrop.  We always say that the skid steers easily do the work of 5 men and we were thrilled to have both Dean's and Asbury's vehicles working with us on Tuesday.

Having two skid steers enabled us to divide into two sub-teams, thereby doubling our work capacity for the day while safely cutting in two different physical locations simultaneously.  That allowed us to cut A LOT of wood!

Here Tim Smith and Rev. Sam operate camp's power splitter.

Here Buddy Williams is sectioning several of the large-diameter trees we brought out of the woods and to the splitter station, preparing them to be split later.

And finally, here's a picture of the split wood crib awaiting its use in the various fireplaces at camp.  By the time the camp staff brings all the logs we cut in the woods to the splitter, and the logs are split and stacked in this crib, it should be full and camp should have firewood to easily last it through this winter and into the next.

We were blessed by the camp staff who prepared lunch for us consisting of hamburger steaks with optional white gravy, grilled green beans, white rice, a salad, a roll and sweet tea.  We are generally very happy to work for food and Tuesday was no exception.  We thank the camp staff for whatever impositions they may have suffered while preparing this great meal for us! As we wrapped up our day, Stephen declared that we were welcome to come back to camp anytime to run our saws in the woods - for practice as well as for the practical results of that practice - more firewood for camp!  Don't worry, Stephen, I'm sure we WILL take you up on that offer at some time in the future! Please watch your email for upcoming announcements of service opportunities as we learn of them.  We'll hope to see you out working with us sometime.

In His Service, Bob Bob Thompson