THE Utterback’s Small Group 40 Days Project
We, as a group, decided our project would be to help Mindy Osborn move. She had been living at Linda Stromberg’s
and had her belongings in a storage shed (which had to be emptied out by May 6th). On May 3rd, Mindy had been
involved in a serious car accident, and although she--by the grace of God--was not seriously injured, she still needed
help moving because she was very stiff and it hurt her to move.
The day turned out to be a beautiful warm day (May 6th), but there were a few “hitches” right off the bat. First
off we were short-handed, and Ward felt he was not physically capable of moving large objects alone. He
immediately got on the phone and called Mike Rothwell, Tony McCain, and Brian Moyer. These men dropped what
they were doing and came and helped. Even Mike’s son Dayne was helping by carrying boxes. Tony had family in
from out of town but still chose to come and help.
Everything was moved within two hours, nothing got broken, and it was a “very smooth operation.” The biggest
dilemma was who would drive the truck. Buddy—who isn’t too mechanically inclined—got a bed together with help
from Dawn.
The ladies of the group planned and made the food for after the move. “Everybody was doing what they could do.”
Michael Utterback said, “It was fun. I would do it again, but I hope I don’t have to.”
Mindy Osborn’s Testimony Regarding the 40 Days Project
I didn’t think joining a small group would teach me that sometimes you can’t do things alone. I am a person who
has a hard time asking for help, but after some tragic events I found myself not knowing what to do and feeling
very hopeless. My children and I were living in one of the bedrooms at my mother-in-law’s, our belongings being
stored in a storage unit awaiting the completion of our mobile home. After 2 months we were ready to move,
but the day before we planned to move I was in a car accident that not only totaled my vehicle but also made it
so I couldn’t lift anything. I had 3 days to remove our belongings from the storage unit, and no one to help move
it. Going to our small group on Thursday I felt hopeless, discouraged and afraid. But by the end of the night I
found myself speechless. It was all set up--our small group was going to get together and make moving my
belongings out of storage our project. That Saturday although we had some struggles at first, by 11:30 a.m.
I was moved in. Words can’t express the feeling of seeing people that you barely know come together out of
the kindness of their hearts to help. I was able to find out personally that facing a problem is better with friends
than facing it alone. I am not sure what would have happened it this wonderful group of people didn’t come
together and help me and the kids, but I do know that because there is a community here of people that
open their hearts, I have a place the kids and I can call home.