The National Night Out event on 8/2 was a great success. We made 72 pizzas, played games, got a first hand look at vehicles and met our local ambulance and police officers, and socialized with our neighbors. Thank you to all of those who volunteered their time to make the event possible. A special thank you to  the MN State Trooper, the Mower County Sheriff's Deputy, and the Grand Meadow Area Ambulance Service who attended the event. Their interactions where enjoyed by both young and old. Check out our pictures from the event below. 

We are taking the week of 8/13 off from construction but please join us on 8/20 for our next work day. We are almost to the point that we are ready to build the rafters so don't miss out on your opportunity to add your handy work to the oven. 

We continue to make progress each week on the oven. If you have been by the church in the past few weeks you will notice that the chimney is taking shape. It now towers above the oven. We have also closed in the front around the chimney so that all of the smoke will go up the chimney instead of into the bakers faces. I am thankful for the faithful workers who are committed to seeing this project to the end. I really enjoy spending time with them each Saturday morning. It is amazing how  faith, hope, and the support of friends can make a project like this happen.  The spring update post shows us in coats and long pants. We have now progressed to shorts and t-shirts as the weather has gotten warm again.

The church with the help of the Racine Lions is hosting National Night Out for Racine on August 2, 2016. We have a great group of volunteers that are going to make and serve pizza for our community. We also have yard games that will be available to play. It should be a great time to socialize with our neighbors and utilize the oven as we share a time of fellowship with the residents of Racine. Remember anyone is invited to join us for the work days no experience needed. If you would like to volunteer to help with the National Night Out event please contact Jeff or Deb Goeldi. You do not need to be a member of our church to work on the oven or volunteer for oven events.  

 ​We started working on the oven again on April 30th. I have not been bringing my camera to the work days as I have been doing a lot of hands on so you will have to be satisfied with the pictures that I took on my phone. Since I last wrote we have baked cinnamon rolls in the oven for Easter Breakfast, added the granite slab, built the walls around the cooking chamber a little higher, added more insulation around the chamber, started the brick entrance for the chimney and put the firebrick arch on the front of the cooking chamber.  On 4/22 the confirmation class had a joint party in the hall and we fed about 100 people pizza in about 1 ½ hours. It was a good test of our organization and workflow plan for future events. The event was a great success. The pizza was even better than the last time we made some and the changes that we made in how we assembled the pizzas made it much more efficient. We also had some new helpers learning the process. A good time was had by all. We will continue to work every Saturday morning starting at 8 am until the oven is finished. All are welcome to come by and lend a hand. 

Thank you to all of the hard work and the support of our many donors. We have had to halt construction until the warm weather comes back so that we can complete the rest of the oven. We wish all of you a very blessed Winter Holiday Season and look forward to sharing our progress and completion in the Spring

​Today we broke into 2 work groups. One group worked on building another portion of the wall and cutting the blocks to place over the arches that are over the wood storage area. The other group started to stain the wood that will be used for the rafters and the roof. The groups where segregated by gender but the women didn’t complain since they were the ones doing the staining so they were able to be out of the rain and cold.  The guys did a great job cutting the blocks with a curve to cover the arches and laying and leveling the blocks.

When the work day was over we placed a piece of plywood over the front bricks so that there won’t be exposed edges when people where looking at the oven at Trunk or Treat that night.  Each day that we work brings us a little closer to the finished project. The skills that have been learned in the past few months are astounding. Things like how to mix cement, how to lay and level block, the importance of reading the level correctly, how to use power tools, and how great my fellow workers are. I have been on mission trips where you travel a distance to help others and I have to say I am getting just as much satisfaction working on our own mission trip right here in Racine. I will never be a masonry worker and I don’t know that I will ever have the occasion to build a cement wall again but the memories and the skills will stay with me forever. I really encourage you to join us for a work day if you haven’t already done so. Our church may not have been affected by a hurricane, fire or other natural disaster but the community oven project can give you the same feeling of helping others and working together in a situation were you are all learning and sharing together.

Halloween night our church hosted Trunk or Treat from 6 pm to 8 pm. The event was well attended and the fire in the oven brought awareness of the project to the people of our community. It was fun to see the flames in the oven. The smell of the fire added to the festive atmosphere of the evening. We had between 90 -100 kids and their families stop by the church parking lot to Trunk or Treat with us. The oven was quite the conversation piece. It was fun to hear people asking about when the bread baking would happen or asking for details about the construction process.  The closer we get to completion the more excitement from the community there is. Please keep our project in your prayers. We hope that God will bless the oven and all those who are touched by it. 

Tuesday 10/20: Tuesday nights are getting dark very early. This past week we planned for the brick arches over the wood storage area. Bob again offered to make the form at home. We also cleaned the supplies out of the entry way to the hall so it would be ready to be used on Friday. We had a few extra hands to help with the cleaning jobs.