I have been intending to share what has been going on with me, but the truth is I have been so busy I just haven’t had the time. I spent the entire month of January moving. I made multiple trips between San Antonio and “the ranch”, each time filling my Rav4 with stuff. Many of those trips one or two friends accompanied me. They helped me clean, do repairs, unpack the car, and much more. Even though I made multiple trips and rented a U-haul, I still have a few things left in San Antonio to pick up. Thank you to the friends who are storing my stuff for me.
This is ranch country, mainly because the soil is very rocky. Angora goats are plentiful here, though not as plentiful as it once was. Back in the 80’s the market for angora wool apparently plummeted, but high school in Rockspring Texas’ mascot is the Angoras. Besides goats, there are many ranches with cows, horses, and exotic wildlife is everywhere. Most of the exotics around here are raised for hunting, though the other day some friends and I went for a drive and came across a preserve where we saw animals native to Africa including a couple giraffes.
The Ranch, the new home of AOCCCI, consists of 20.08 acres, a 3 bedroom double wide Palm Harbor Mobile Home, and a few other rundown buildings: a ‘cabin’ which is mainly used for storage and a camper trailer which would take a huge amount of TLC to be livable and probably does not run. Honestly, if someone wanted the trailer and was willing to pay to haul it away, I would happily give it to them.
This land is very rocky, has lots of Mountain Cedar trees and a few other species, and other types of vegetation. This place is rural which has always been the plan. I bought this property to be a place where ministry to folks with Multiple Chemical Sensitivities (MCS) could take place. The MCS population has a high incidence of homelessness and needs help. To accomplish this goal it is going to take a lot of money and sweat equity, but the first step has occurred—AOCCCI now has land.
According to the phone company putting in a landline will cost almost $6000. I would be expected to pay around $4500 of that expense. Maybe someday God will supply the money but right now it is not in the budget. Only AT&T cell phone reception is available here. And even that is spotty. But least I get pretty good reception inside the house. A Direct TV satellite dish provides television, and a Wild Blue satellite dish provides me with Internet, which is much slower then DSL or Cable. If money is donated for a telephone line, then we would be able to get DSL out here.
Several friends have come out here to help me clean, do repairs, and other tasks. Their help has been greatly appreciated. Even though everyone comes out to work, they have all enjoyed being out in the country. Working vacations can be very relaxing and so far everyone who has come out here has not wanted to go home. In fact several times people have decided to stay an extra day because they love it so much.
As I said earlier, the house has 3 bedrooms. Of course I took one bedroom and a second bedroom is being used as an office. I am looking for a roommate for the third bedroom—someone who either for a season or more permanently wants to be a part of this ministry. There is so much that needs to be done and I can’t do it all by myself. If you are interested in learning more, let me know.
This house also has a family room which I intend to line with bookcases for a mini library and make into sort of a community room.
Snow is rare here, but this has been an usually cold winter. It snowed here once in January but at the time I was in San Antonio. It snowed again this past week and I was able to take pictures. The next morning some of the snow was still around, especially on my back stairs where a raccoon clearly had visited me.
