Happy February! A couple of months ago, I was talking with Nolan, our Equip leader, and he mentioned that once Christmas and New Year’s Day are over and January begins, the rest of the Equip year flies by. He was right! January seemed to go in a flash, and now it’s almost mid- February!
The vocational rotation has started over again from the beginning, so I began January back in the mechanic shop with Nick. However, his wife, Kelly, just had their fourth son, so he took several weeks off to help take care of the baby. He gave me some projects to work on while he was gone, but once I completed them, I was able to work on my own projects.
One of my projects since I have been here is a 2003 Toyota Matrix. It was a donation early in 2023, but it had a bad transmission. Now, I am very interested in cars, so when I first got here in August, I made the rounds of the ministry, looking at all the cars and trucks and vans on the property. When I found the Matrix sitting behind the shop, I immediately noticed that it was a stick shift. I became interested in fixing it, and Joel said if I repaired it, I could buy it from the ministry for a very good deal. I looked the car over to see if the rest of it was in good shape and it was, so I took the old transmission out, and started looking for a new one for sale. In the meantime, Aidan’s car needed a new clutch. His Pontiac Vibe is the same as my Matrix as far as the engine and transmission go, so when I helped him replace the clutch, I was just practicing the same job for my car. I did find a new used transmission on eBay, and I bought a new clutch and installed them. The job went surprisingly smoothly, and I was able to score my first transmission replacement! Pretty soon, I will be purchasing the car from CMTS, and I will probably end up selling it to my brother when he gets home from college.
In the middle of January we also finally got a good honest snowstorm. I’m not always a fan of shoveling, but I do enjoy snow-plowing, and there was plenty of opportunity to do that. I pretty much like driving whatever I can get my hands on, and a plow truck is no exception. While we had the snow, we took a ministry snow day, and everyone came out and enjoyed the snow! Joel drove us around on inner tubes tied to the back of his four-wheeler, and we definitely had some epic spills! It was a really fun time.
Towards the end of January, Nolan and his wife, Jenny took us students on our monthly adventure trip. This one was really special because we went Go-karting!! I had never done that before, so I was really excited. We did 3 races, and each race was 10 laps of the track. It was a BLAST. I guess it was my first racing experience, and I had a lot of fun. We are all pretty competitive, but Jenny proved to be the one to beat, and I think she ended up winning the majority of the races. Aidan and I did score the fastest laps on the track, at a little over 35 seconds. He beat me by hundredths of a second in lap time though. Humph! Afterward, we went out for pizza, and it was an exceedingly enjoyable evening.
In between these events is the daily routine here at CMTS: classes, Flip Side Crew (i.e., cleaning the bathrooms, sweeping, mopping, working in the kitchen) and working at vocations in the afternoon. The classes we are doing right now are How to Study the Bible, Experiencing God, and The Search for Significance. I am thankful to the amazing people who volunteer to come out and teach us every week.
Every Thursday morning there is a staff Bible study, and this morning we were in John 15. One of the verses that stood out to me was verse 5:
“I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without Me ye can do nothing.”
It was a good reminder that I have to abide (stay connected) in Christ, or else all my efforts in life will be empty and worthless. Also, when I am connected to Christ, I will have purpose and be productive and “bring forth much fruit”.
Thank you to those who are supporting me and praying for me. Please also pray that I would know what to do after the Equip program ends in early June. It’s hard to believe that I have to say that already, but June will be here before I know it.
Until next time! (unless the Lord comes before then)
Caleb
