Phase 2 is Complete! and More Help is on the Way!

If you're having trouble viewing the pics in this email, click here.

Dear Friends and Prayer Warriors!

We've had an outstanding month in the Shrader household!  We hosted four men from Denton Bible who worked a ridiculously long week to finish the new bathrooms in our new Storehouse location.  Here are some highlights from the week. The before and afters are pretty incredible.

This is basically what it looked like when the guys arrived.

Cutting the opening for the new exit door.

With the largest section removed, now Pat works to clean up the edges.

The new exit door is installed!

While the guys outside worked on the new exit, Greg and Ken started framing out the new restrooms while Dave relocated the electrical circuits.

Pardon the dust. The framing is finished. 

With the dust temporarily too thick to work in the bathroom, they started framing the new waiting area.

Even Charlie got in on the action, cleaning the floors!

It took three volunteers nearly a day to removed all of the crumbling sheetrock that had been glued to the walls. All that's left is glue.

Ken led the crew in covering the glue and cleaning up the walls.

While Ken plastered the existing walls, the other guys hung insulation and sheetrock.

Despite working at a breakneck pace, Greg was never too busy to stop and entertain my little ones!...

Or to stop and make the guys do push-ups.

Starting the drop ceiling.

Jarod is priming the walls. The ceiling grid is up. The lights and new HVAC ducts are in place.

First coat of paint is on the walls.  The guys are finishing the ceiling tiles.

Jarod is painting the hall walls.

The ladies room is ready for partitions and floors.

Ken is installing the partitions while the other guys work laying the new floor.

Partitions are done. They're finishing the floor.

Finishing the floor in the men's room.

 As the guys get ready to leave, this is basically what it looks like.  The did an incredible amount of work in just a handful of very long days! The restrooms are "all-but" done.

New restroom hallway with the new exit door at the end.

New ladies' room

New men's room

Our crew loaded up and ready to drive home.

We'd like to say a special thanks to Pat Smith, Greg Dunne, Ken Reedy, and Dave Powell for making the long trip from Texas.  It was a delight to see the Lord use each of your unique skill-sets to bring this project together. You make an incredible team! We'd also like to thank JC from U-Turn, Jarod, and Sam for all their help during the week.  Thank you to Pastor Gary and the Calvary Chapel family for providing lunch for the guys, and for being patient with us while construction continues downstairs.


Phase 3 is the completion of the new waiting area and office.  We are blessed to have a mission team coming from Mount Moriah Baptist Church in Raleigh, NC, the week  of July 19th to finish that project.  Please be praying for that team as they prepare, as well as for all the preparations on this end to make their trip as successful as possible.

Phase 4 is the physical move of our shelving and inventory from its present location into the completed new location.  The week of July 26, our local church here in Greeneville, First Baptist, is encouraging our members to participate in a week of local missions.  We are planning to have volunteers from our church help us complete Phase 4.  With hard work, good planning, and a hefty dose of God's grace, Mountain Vision will open in its new location Tuesday, August 4th.

Things you can be praying for this month...
1. Pray for clear communication with the team coming from Mount Moriah, so we're all on the same page when they get here.
2. Pray that all the details, from housing and meals, to tools and materials would come together smoothly over the next three weeks.
3. Please pray our community as we make this big move, that the word would spread rapidly and our clients wouldn't have difficulty finding us.
4.  Though most of the posts lately have been about construction, the current Storehouse is still open and serving people every week. Our first Thursday food distribution is this week.  Please pray for God's continued favor on our ministry, and that we'd keep our eyes on Jesus as we seek to serve others.

Lily wanted some money to give to missions last week during VBS. When I asked her where money comes from, she said, "Work!" So, she got her first job...cleaning out the flower beds, earning money to give to missions.

On Saturday, we were blessed to witness the beautiful wedding of Andrea McNeely and Matthew Zimmerman! Andrea was Meredith's very first Bible study leader in Cru almost 15 years ago! Praise the Lord for Christian marriage!

Getting Ready

Our anniversary celebration included "wedding cake", cake made using the same recipe as our wedding!

Dear Friends and Prayer Warriors,
much of ministry, and life too, are about getting ready.  The last month has been a season of getting ready to relocate the Storehouse.  The new location will make our ministry more accessible to both volunteers and the families we serve, and we are super excited about the possibilities.  Much of the last month has been spent getting ready for the team of men coming from Denton Bible Church to install new restrooms, and they arrive this Sunday!  So while I didn't take pictures of myself sitting at my desk figuring materials, plotting accommodations, etc, next week I plan to take lots of pictures of the guys actually doing the work!

Our leader training ministry had a good month of planning for the fall.  My meeting with the baptist association in Rogersville was fruitful, so thank you for your prayers.  While planning and logistics continues, there is already enough interest to know that there will be a Seminary Extension (SE) class in Rogersville this fall, and we'll be helping to organize it if not teach it.  First Baptist Greeneville has also agreed to host a SE course this fall which I'll be teaching, in addition to my continuing work with SE in Johnson City.  We're thankful that after years of perseverance the Lord has begun to open doors to expand our leader training ministry, and we're also excited about some of the men the Lord continues to place in our path along the way.

Things you can be praying for this week:
1. The team from Texas will be making the 1,000 mile drive up this weekend.  Pray for the Lord's protection on them as they travel.
2. Details, details.  There are lots of little things that need to get finished/acquired before the team arrives. Pray that we will have everything in place before they get here, so that they are able to get the bathrooms knocked out while they're here.
3. Dannie is doing well with his treatments and feeling pretty good overall, but I know they appreciate your prayers.

In many ways, I feel like our leader training ministry has a lot in common with this young robin in our back yard. He doesn't look polished.  He's wobbly in flight. But he's not afraid of anything (even when maybe he should be)! Lord give us wings!

This big boy had his first real haircut last month! He's looking so grown up!

I often remind Meredith that cleaning a house with small children in it is like brushing your teethe while eating Oreos. This perfect footprint on her recently cleaned floors proves that exactly!

Harvest! While much of ministry, like gardening, is getting ready, eventually there is a huge harvest (reward)! This is some of the spring broccoli from our garden.

And three hours later, here the broccoli greens are headed to the freezer!

There are moments when we feel like we live in a zoo with these cute little monkeys.

We were blessed to have the chance to go to the beach for a couple of days the first week in June. We took the kids to the NC Aquarium and they both loved it!

These two are such a fun pair to watch.  They feed off one another and really love life!

Lily loved playing in the sand!

This big boy was cautious at first, his sense of adventure quickly overcame his fear.

Family selfie on the way home.  I think we were much more excited about going home than the kids were!

Even Hosea crashed on the way home.  Since our kids generally don't sleep in the car, this was a rare treat.  He slept about 25 minutes of the 5 hour car ride home.