How We Became Part of the RVICS Ministry

It was a Sunday morning at Temecula Evangelical Free Church in the 1980’s.  After the service I noticed a couple that were first time visitors and I approached to greet them.  They were wearing name tags.  I wasn’t familiar with the organization listed on the tags but their last name ‘Hoatson’ caught my attention.  My great-grandmother's maiden name is Hoatson.  My grandfather’s name is Thomas Hoatson Lindsay and I had memories of going with my grandfather to see his cousin Ray Hoatson, who owned a small service station on Orange Street in Redlands, when we would make the trip to see family in Yucaipa.

Jan and I had a pleasant conversation with Earl and Mildred.  We learned that they were spending several weeks doing maintenance projects at the nearby Linfield Christian School.  They traveled regularly around the country in their motor home as part of RVICS – Roving Volunteers In Christs Service doing projects similar to those at Linfield.

We ended up spending the afternoon with the Hoatsons with a visit in their diesel pusher motor home that was parked among the other RV’s of the RVICS team at Linfield.  As it turned out Earl Hoatson and I are third cousins (his great-grandfather being the brother of my great-grandmother).  The Hoatsons later sent us family tree information and some very interesting family history which explained why my grandfather emigrated from Scotland/England to Bisbee Arizona.  Perhaps this is a subject for another post.

We were impressed with the whole concept of RVICS and made a mental note for future reference.  Flash forward more than twenty five years when we began to consider how to use our upcoming retirement years in a worthwhile manner.   Hey, remember RVICS?

Earlier this year we submitted our application to RVICS and we are now preparing for our first project in Alberta Canada this summer. Visit the RVICS web page for more information about the ministry. Subscribe to this blog to follow our adventure.