Richard Shaver saws wood for outdoor steps in the picturesque valley of Aspendale Mountain Retreat Center in New Mexico.
Builders help El Paso-related camp upgrade facilities
Texas smolders in August. Aspendale Mountain Retreat Center does not. Texans on Mission Builders spent much of August at the Baptist camp at about 9,000 feet elevation.
The eight-man, five-woman team built two cabins and repaired outdoor stairs on a dormitory facility, as well as making curtains and other items. They arrived in early August just as summer camps wrapped up.
“The timing was perfect,” said Jim Pettit (left), center director. Walnut Ridge Baptist Church in Mansfield, Texas, built the shell of the cabins in July, then the TXM team finished the roof and interior.
Aspendale is in New Mexico, but it’s a camp associated with El Paso Baptist Association. It occupies a high valley with elk grazing during the morning and evening.
“You couldn't pick a better place weather wise,” with lows in the 40s and highs in the 70s, said Ralph Stephenson, coordinator of TXM Cabinet Builders. But the sun is “a little bit more intense with the altitude” and breathing required some adjusting.
Larry Quinn, coordinator of TXM Camp Builders, called Aspendale the “westernmost camp that we have. Even though it's in New Mexico, … we consider it one of our camps.”
Aspendale is a small camp serving the region around El Paso, which is “one of the poorer areas of Texas,” Pettit said. “We don’t have a lot of financial resources to fall back on.”
The cabins the Builders worked on are 14 feet by 14 feet, providing a bathroom with shower, kitchenette and sleeping area.
While TXM men built the cabins and reconstructed the outdoor stairs, the women sewed curtains for the cabins and made bags to be sold in the camp store. Beverly Quinn (right) said they also made blankets to be given away during TXM’s Christmas in the Valley for families in the lower Rio Grande Valley.
The camp director’s introduction to TXM came last year. “I was thoroughly impressed with the group that came last year and was excited that they had agreed to come back this year,” Pettit said.
“Everyone has been a blessing – great spirit, great attitude,” Pettit said. “You can tell there’s just the love to serve Christ in his kingdom work.”
Pettit also was “impressed with the professional work they perform” and with their concern for the finished product. “I’ve just been totally impressed with the skills and the attitude of men and women that took time out of their schedule to come.
Quinn (left) has a deep spiritual commitment to supporting the work of camps. “There's about two places where children make major decisions for their life,” he said. “One of them is Vacation Bible School and the other is camp.
“And I can't tell you how many times I have heard from people that I used to know in my workaday world that say, ‘Oh, you're at a camp that I went to or you're at a camp where I accepted Jesus as my personal savior.’”
Quinn said the Camp Builder volunteers “just feel obligated to continue that process. These camps really operate on shoestring budgets, so it's important that they have a little help from time to time and the labor that we provide is free to them.”
Jerry and Ruth Kitts of Fruitvale have been working with Camp Builders for three years. “We were looking for some place to serve in retirement, and this fit our needs very well,” Jerry Kitts (below left) said.
“My wife and I serve together, and we want to be together,” he said. There are other ministries where he could work with tools and building, “but very few of them give the opportunity for the wife to participate, and Camp Builders is perfect.”
Richard (right) Shaver, a long-time TXM Builder from Gainesville, said he enjoys building, so he started working with TXM Builders in 2004 and has participated in almost 100 jobs. He said the most rewarding part of the work are the friendships and “going to new parts of the state and the United States.”
He and his wife, Donna, have worked in four or five states other than Texas. “We really enjoy just moving around with them, being with Christian friends.
“Everybody's so friendly,” he continued. “They work with you. … When I started I was not a builder.” Others, however, gradually taught Shaver varied building skills. “You just get together, and it just seems like everybody fits.”
Why does he do it? “Well, I do this work to spread the Word of our Lord and Savior.”
Quinn said some Builders volunteers have construction skills when they begin but that others are new to building. “Basically what we ask for is people that are willing to learn, and they get mentored and taught on the job.
“As a matter of fact, I was one of the ones that didn't have the opportunity to work in construction during my lifetime, and as a result I had to learn everything on the fly,” Quinn said. “But it's a lot of fun, and the people and the guys are really great to do that with you.
“The ladies do the same thing,” he said. His wife, Beverly, kept telling the other women that she doesn’t sew. “Next thing I knew I was buying her a sewing machine because she wanted to sew, too.”
Speaking to others who might want to be part of Camp Builders, Quinn said, “Just come pitch in and have a good time with us.”
Stephenson noted that the varied TXM Builders groups “need more people, but whenever we come out, God always seems to bring the project to a successful conclusion, no matter how many people show up.”
