Testimonials

"Why We Have Been NOMADS for Nine Years"
Why are we members of NOMADS? Why would anyone travel thousands of miles, with gas at $2.80 a gallon, to go around the country doing volunteer projects?
The joy of NOMADS is in the new relationships we build as we follow Jesus' instructions to "Love your neighbor as you love yourself." (Mark 12:31) When we joined NOMADS, we expanded our "neighborhood" from the general area of our hometown in Nebraska, to our "neighborhood" of all 50 states, and even the international community.
We have built new relationships:
--With a young pastor bringing Christ to children in the inner city of Phoenix, Arizona, where we worked on their church.
--With 200 teenagers expanding their Christian faith at a Methodist Camp in New York, where we worked on camp maintenance and office work.
--With two widows who are neighbors in Pascagoula, Mississippi, where we insulated and sheet rocked their homes destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.
--With Senora Rios whose home was damaged by a serious fire in Rio Grande City, Texas, where we put new ceilings, walls and doors in her home.
--With world-wide missions on an international scope, as we volunteered at the Heifer International ranch in Arkansas and ECHO Project farm in Florida.
--With fellow NOMADS as we are inspired by their life stories and service, and
--With Jesus, as we grow in faith through using our hands in His service.
When we retired, we chose to spread the blessings that we have enjoyed throughout our lives. We recommend NOMADS for retirees looking for "Retirement with a Purpose".

FROM A NOMADS AGENCY
Without a doubt the NOMADS were an absolute blessing in our church family during the three weeks that they were with us. We not only appreciated all the hard work, effort and hours they put into the final stage of our new fellowship addition, but we also enjoyed their personalities, sharing of bread, participation in our church services, their funny stories and their genuine love and friendship they all demonstrated while they were with us. In fact, it was very hard to see them go. My little son (3 years old) even became attached to one of the NOMADS and said that he was “very sad” that they left us. Money-wise our project director informed me that they saved us about $15,000 in labor alone while they were with us. Indeed, without their contribution and labor, we would have run out of the monies we had allocated for our expansion project. Thus we are truly indebted and grateful to this NOMADS team.

We Were Bored as Full-time RVer Tourists!
Early in our marriage we established that we didn’t want to retire where either of us grew up. As we considered where we did want to retire, Rob asked if I would like to "full-time" in an RV. Well, no, I did not!! Then he asked me if I would try it for a year. Well, okay, we had been married for over 20 years, so I was determined to be open-minded and try it.

We both retired and moved from our military quarters right into our RV. We loved it. However, after six months we realized we were bored as full-time tourists and we were missing something.

We joined NOMADS in 2000 and found exactly what we had been missing as full-time RVers. We were missing our church, our sense of connection and our volunteering. In our 10 years as NOMADS we have met so many wonderful NOMADS as well as the people we have worked for. We feel we now have many churches! We now have connections with NOMADS friends across the country and every day we feel so very blessed. We have both had the opportunity to learn new skills as well as teach new skills to other NOMADS. In NOMADS we found a combination of meaningful work that allowed us to give back some of what God has given us and have fun while we do it. (NOMADS do eat well and have a great time together).

We invite you to be part of this valuable ministry. Wherever you travel, whatever project you choose to work on, you will not be disappointed!

"We are an older couple living in Pascagoula, Mississippi. We have experienced hurricanes for many years, but Hurricane Katrina was such that we could not believe the damage. We lost everything--all we had left was a roof, outside wall and damaged floors."

"We were at a point where we did not know what we would do, or where we would turn, when one morning someone came to our door and said, 'We came to work'. These people were NOMADS. They came in and started to put our house back in shape. We know God had sent them to us. That group was Rob and Jeannie Coe, Bob and Linda Edwards, and Ron and Becky Hoblit with their granddaughter Kristan. They worked so hard in our home, and it was like we had known them forever. There are never enough words to say how much we appreciated all their work; and we really wonder how we ever deserved it. We just wanted to let you know how much we loved each one; and we will never forget the wonderful things they are doing to help people like us."

"We are about to get it all done and without your help, we would have never made it.
Again, Thanks, Bill and Christine Grubbs"

NOTE: We received this letter from Bill and Christine Grubbs. We were on the NOMADS team that repaired their home in the spring of 2006. It was some of the hardest NOMADS work we have ever done--nothing was square, nothing was level, everything was a custom cut but it was by far the most rewarding work we have ever done. One of the last things we did was set up their bedroom furniture so they could finally sleep in their own house after 7 months in their FEMA trailer. The looks on their faces were one of the greatest gifts we have ever received! --NOMADS