Mission Opportunities

Living out in the country has both its advantages and disadvantages. The advantages are obvious; the quiet, beauty, nature all around.

Disadvantages also exist. If I crave something but do not have it in the house, tough. There is a small store in Rocksprings, a Super S. But the nearest decent size grocery store and Wal-Mart is an hour away in Kerrville. Believe me; I keep paper attached to the fridge so I can keep a running list of what I need at the store. It would be a real drag to drive to Kerrville and forget something at the grocery store. On the bright side, I no longer succumb to fattening cravings.

It can be very inconvenient living so far from civilization. It is hard to get large purchases delivered and when the company will deliver, they charge a lot. A few months ago I purchased a mattress. A friend had said he would help me bring it home since the company refuses to deliver so far away. Unfortunately things came up and he has been unable to do so. I have found someone else with a truck who can pick it up for me and I am anxiously waiting.

No matter how inconvenient it is living out here or how lonely I may get at times, it is worth it because I am here doing God’s will. For over a decade I have been making decisions based on God calling me to help people who are sick like I use to be, who need help, and who still need to discover God still heals.

I will admit though that at times this project seems overwhelming. There is so much to do. No single person can get it all done, let alone have all the needed skills. I have been doing what I can do and praying for volunteers to help with the rest. The need is great and urgent. Just last week I received a letter from a woman in need. She is very ill and had a long list of medical problems, so many she can no longer take care of herself. She also mentioned a couple with Multiple Chemical Sensitivities (MCS) who also are in need. Then last Friday I received a call from a man who also has MCS. He is not sure what he is going to do but does not want to spend another winter in Montana.

If you have a desire to spend a few days out in the country spending some time doing missions, let me know. I have plenty of room (1,700 sq ft house) for people to stay. I have two airbeds, a twin bed in the office, and soon a double bed in the master.

Volunteer Opportunities:

Install a laminate floor in the community room;
Build a small deck (8ft by 19ft) and stairs off the back door;
Build raised vegetable gardening beds (rock walls);
Convert a cistern into a rain barrel for catching and storing rain water for watering the garden;
Minor house repairs;
Sawing/trimming dead Mountain Cedar trees to be used in building projects, burning off the left twigs;
Cleaning out a cabin/shed;
Painting;
Plus more…

ao_communities@yahoo.com

Outdoor Activities

There are several outdoor chores I tackle on a regular basis. One is tackling the many piles of dead Mountain Cedar trees in view of the house. Mountain Cedar is not actually a cedar tree, but is related to Juniper. Each pile contains 2 to 5 dead trees. The trunk branches of the trees I am saving for various purposes. My first goal is to build a compost bin. I bought a plastic compost bin at Lowe’s but it started breaking within a few weeks of use. It was a colossal waste of money. I still use it but only until I have built a better one. I plan on using the smaller trunk branches for the compost bin. I am saving the really big branches for fencing. Many around here use Cedar for fence posts. The smaller branches and twigs I am burning, along with other waste. Hopefully I will finish this project by the end of the summer.

Another project is my tiny vegetable garden. The previous owner left some planters with wonderful black soil. Last March I cleaned out the dead plants and planted some vegetable seeds and baby vegetable plants. Because there is no fence I have been in battle with raccoons. Friday I discovered my 8 inch tall pepper plant had been completely eaten. Today I took the seeds from a red bell pepper I purchased on my last trip to Kerrville and went out and planted them all. Hopefully some of the seeds will sprout and the raccoons will leave these plants alone. I am praying for my plants protection.

Besides the little vegetable garden I have planted a lot of watermelon seeds right into the ground. So far I do not have watermelon plants but I keep hoping. If I ever do get a bounty of crops, I plan on sharing. At the moment there is only me, though I pray that changes soon. But even so it will be awhile before there are enough folks here to eat everything that is grown. There are a lot of hungry poor people around here to share with.

Friday I spent four hours in the morning working on these two projects. My pile of Cedar branches is growing. I was able to burn two tree trunks. I then filled my watering can with rain water from my rain barrel and watered my little garden. I obtained the rain barrel last December when I attended a rain water catchment seminar in San Antonio. I learned a lot and am very thankful for the rain barrel. I brought it out here on the first trip of the move and we just put it in the back of the house where it stayed until yesterday. The first time I checked out the barrel after moving here, I was surprised to discover it was more than half full. We had placed it in a great location for water to flow into the barrel from off the roof. Within another month the barrel was totally full. Just one problem, we had placed it on the ground and I was unable to attach a hose to the spigot to get the water out. It needed to be elevated. A wooden platform was lying around so I grabbed it and moved it near the barrel. I had to wait for someone to come help me lift the now full barrel onto the wooden platform but once I got that help I was able to screw the hose onto the spigot and start drawing water from the barrel.

It didn’t take me long to realize I did not like the barrel behind the house. Everything I needed to water was in front of the house. So every time I wanted some water I had to grab my watering can, go fill it up from the rain barrel or the only outdoor water spigot, which also is in back of the house, then walk around to the front of the house to water the plants. Then I would make another trip around to the back of the house to refill the watering can. This became very old real quick.

Well, Friday I emptied as much of the water as I was going to be able to empty. The water was now coming out at such a slow rate I just left the spigot open to let it drain onto the ground. Saturday’s I like to do relaxing jobs and just stay inside. There is plenty to do inside too. But Sunday after church I decided to go out and try and move the barrel to the front of the house. It was easier to do then I had expected. Once everything was moved to the front, I positioned the platform on some rocks to elevate it even more. Then I hauled the barrel onto the platform and hooked the hose to it. I made sure to place the barrel at a spot where the rain would likely flow off the roof.

Now all I needed was some rain, but rain had not been in the forecast. Saturday through Monday wind was forecasted and it has been very windy. The rest of the week was suppose to be partly sunny. But not once had I seen rain forecasted for the entire week. So I expected a long wait before my rain barrel started filling up.

Guess what, this morning it started raining. I went outside to see if the barrel was catching any rain and noticed the rain was missing the hole by a couple of inches. So I put some shoes on and went out in the rain to move the barrel so the water flowing off the roof would land right in the hole. I also took the lid off the compost bin so it would get a little water. So far today I have seen three short storms. Not much rain has fallen but it doesn’t take much to fill up a rain barrel as even a little rain pouring off a roof is a lot of water.

An hour ago when it started raining again I decided to check the forecast. It had drastically changed from just a couple days ago. Rain is now forecasted for Wednesday and Thursday. I just heard thunder way off in the distance. At this rate I should be able to use the rain water to water my little vegetable garden in a short amount of time.

Thank you Jesus for today’s rain.

Busy Trips to San Antonio

It is hard to believe it has been an entire month since I last shared what is going on. It feels like it was just the other day. There is so much to do that every day I look around and decide what I am in the mood to do and get busy doing it. With so many things needing to be done I guess it is just easy to forget about this blog. For that I once again apologize.

Since last writing I have made two trips to San Antonio. The first trip was a spur of the moment decision. The first Thursday of May is the National Day of Prayer. For years now I and a hundred(s) other people have gathered at the steps of the San Antonio City Hall for a prayer service. Somehow it just doesn’t seem right to not gather with others in prayer for our country on the National Day of Prayer. Since I no longer live in San Antonio I went to the National Day of Prayer web site to see what prayer events were taking place near me. I was saddened to discover nothing was scheduled for Rocksprings. I did find an event in Kerrville, which is an hour away, but nothing closer. After thinking about it for a few hours I decided I would just head to San Antonio on Wednesday and return home Thursday afternoon, after the prayer event was over. Besides prayer, I also made this decision because I knew the Sam’s Club had filing cabinets for sale and I have needed to purchase several. So I called my friend Mary and told her I was coming. Thankfully she is always happy to have me stay with her.

My closest full time neighbor is Lionel. I don’t know him very well but he has made it clear anytime I need help I can call on him. I returned home late on Thursday, so Friday morning I drove over to his place and asked for help. With Lionel’s help the two of us were able to get the filing cabinet into the family room. Over the weekend I cut up the box and removed the filing cabinet.

Saturday I spent several hours loading my car with flat rocks perfect for stepping stones. My friend Mary has a bad mud problem. When it rains, the area right outside her kitchen door becomes a muddy lake. She is always helping others and I wanted to help her. So I loaded my car with the stepping stones and then right after church on Sunday I headed to San Antonio. Mary had no idea what I was planning.

Mary is a volunteer chaplain at the University Hospital. Every Monday she visits all the patients on one particular floor and I knew she would be gone for several hours. That morning while she was getting ready I went and purchased over 20 bags of pea gravel. Then as soon as she took off, I put my hiking/work boots on got to work. A mutual friend, Frances, came over to help. The biggest help was bringing her gardening wagon she had just gotten for Mothers’ day. I really didn’t expect to get everything done before Mary got back from the hospital, but with Frances’ cart and assistance, the two of us were able to unload my car and get everything in place long before Mary returned. I was even able to take a shower before she got home. Believe me; the look on Mary’s face when she saw what Frances and I had done was worth every penny spent and every drop of sweat I perspired. We even got to see our work in action as San Antonio got a 2.72 inch rain storm the morning before I left. No muddy lake.

Tuesday I spent running errands, including paying an arm and a leg to get my car washed. I hate spending the money because I know it will get dirty on the outside just driving home as I live one mile from a paved road. But after piling all those rocks and bags of gravel into my car, it was pretty dirty on the inside too.

Tuesday morning a prayer meeting met in Mary’s house. I joined them. Tuesday evening there is a prayer meeting at church. This is truly a prayer meeting, no talking about prayer needs in advance, we just pray. I attend it every time I am in town. Then Friday morning Mary had the Women’s Prayer International prayer meeting also meet in her home. I stayed for it once Mary told me about it and it is a good thing I did. If that prayer meeting had not been scheduled I would have left bright and early and been caught in a down pour. It rained so hard none of the members of the group were able to come. By the time it stopped raining in San Antonio there were tornado watch boxes on Hwy 41, which I have to travel most of to get home. So I stayed put in San Antonio until Saturday. Better to be safe.

Wednesday I had a luncheon engagement at the pastor’s home. They are inviting different Sunday School classes over. I had a wonderful time seeing many of my old friends and seeing their beautiful home. This pastor is fairly new to the church, less than two years. Saw more friends on Wednesday night when I went to the weekly dinner/Bible Study at church.

Originally I was going to leave on Thursday and by now I was anxious to come home, but Mary had a table to fill up at the annual Agape Pregnancy Help Center fundraiser. It was underwritten. I had a great meal and the key note speakers were fantastic. I really enjoyed myself. This ministry is saving lives, both women and babies. Keep them and/or your local crises pregnancy center in your prayers.

As stated earlier I had intended to come home on Friday but the weather kept me stranded in San Antonio tell Saturday. I had a very long fruitful week there but was very glad to come home and get back to work here. Before leaving San Antonio I again stopped at the Sam’s Club and purchased another filing cabinet. Thank you Lionel for helping me get it into the house. I also filled up my gas tank. I have discovered gas can be as much as 10 cents a gallon cheaper at the Sam’s Club gas stations. Since this discovery I make Sam’s Club my last stop before heading home.

There is a lot to do here and I really am in need of donations and volunteers. Since returning I have been back at work sawing Mountain Cedar branches, cleaning and organizing the house, moving rocks, cleaning out the storage cabin, and more. My workload is never ending. There have been volunteers out here but no one has come in the past month. Pray for volunteers. I have received some donations, but since moving I have had major problems getting mail forwarded and donations are way down. Pray donations pick up soon.

Feasting on Rain

The past week has been a very soggy week. In case you are unaware of Texas weather, south and west Texas got hit hard by rainfall. When it comes to rain, in South Texas it is either feast or famine.

For the past couple years it was famine, one of the worst doubts in recorded history, making Texas a dry, hot and dusty place. Last summer in San Antonio, every high temperature record was broken and then broken again. In fact every day that summer we broke between one to three records as we reached 100f (38c) or above day after day. So when the rains began to come, everyone in Texas began to praise God.

This past week it has been feast. The first three days I saw drizzle to light rain, about 0.20 inch rain daily. Then on Thursday I saw down pours that were unbelievable. At times I could not even see out my windows as they were covered in sheets of water. That evening the rain subsided again into light rain so I trudged through the standing water to my rain gauge to see just how much rain had fallen that day. My gauge only holds 6 inches and it was all the way to the brim. Friday I would see another 1.60 of rain and Saturday a mere 0.25 inches of rain.

This land is very rocky and so it takes awhile for the rain to seep into the ground. As I look out the windows day after day I have felt like I am living in a swamp. I can see pools of water out every window. I literally am living in a marsh right now. Because of all the water I am stuck inside and suffering from a severe case of cabin fever. I want nothing more than to get outside and enjoy nature while I do some outside work. But right now the land is to wet for any outdoor activities.

When I first purchased this property I had plenty of ideas of what I could do to quickly make it a viable place for people in need to come live. But during the past couple months I have realized those first ideas are not practical. At first I thought about a campsite, and though I will allow folks to camp here until better accommodations can be built, this land is very windy. I have lived in windier places but when the wind picks up I think trying to live in a tent would be uncomfortable. Living in a car would be better. Another problem with a camp ground is this land is rocky. Rocks are everywhere and many of the rocks cannot be moved. So, if people want to camp out on the land it will be permitted, but I do not think very comfortable.

Then I got over 6 inches of rain on Wednesday. During the times I was able to look outside the windows I noticed the rain seemed to flow from the north side of the house towards the south side. Though it has not rained today (Sunday) the south side is still full of water while on the other sides of the house the water has soaked into the ground and I just see mud. But on the south side I still see pools of water. This is valuable information. While most of the 20 acres are to the west of the house, I now know how the land flows by the house. It is also apparent to me that all buildings need to be built off the ground. Due to the feast/famine nature of rain around here, placing buildings on cement slabs is dumb. All buildings need to be off the ground so when heavy rains come, the buildings won’t flood.

I admit I am tired of the rain. The forecasters say we should have one more dry day and then more rain is due. Today I learned I had more rain than anyone else I know at church. Most of them got 3 to 4 inches, but one guy saw none. So I am happy to share with him. May God move next week’s rain clouds onto his property. But whatever happens next week with the rain, no matter how bad my cabin fever gets, this past week of rain has given me valuable insight into the land I now live on and is the home of AOCCCI.

Volunteer Help Came For A Visit

Another very busy week has passed. Last week some friends drove up from San Antonio to volunteer their time. They completed a lot of minor repairs that needed doing around here. They did not have the time to stay to complete any of the bigger projects. But least the toilet seat stays in place and the dryer works now, along with another dozen small maintenance repair jobs. There is a lot to do out here that I just do not have the skill knowledge to complete and I really value these friends who come out and give me a hand. But these friends all have responsibilities elsewhere and can never stay long. I really need someone living here full time to help complete the many tasks that still need to be done. A few of the more urgent tasks to be completed include replacing the back staircase (not up to code and is dangerous), installing a floor in the community room, and building raised garden beds.

So far most of the expenses out here I have been footing, but I am quickly running out of cash. Donations are a must, but as I tell people—sick people don’t donate. Which means donations have to come from those individuals who are able to give. Every little bit helps. It will be impossible to purchase or build cabins for people to live in unless there are donations to cover the cost. Right this moment I could take a major step towards fulfilling a goal of this ministry if AOCCCI had $30,000, but it doesn’t. I have been praying for the money to come in. Please join me in praying for this money and if you can make a donation, no matter how small, it will be greatly appreciated.

Last week the Texas AgriLife Exension Service, which is part of the Texas A&M System, offered well water testing for only $5. When the house was inspected before sale, the inspector had the water tested and bacteria were discovered. Everyone always believed the bacteria was due to no one living here for the past year. The water was treated and a $35 home test found no signs of bacteria. I knew though that the water needed to be professionally tested and when I read about this service in the Texas Mohair Weekly, I made sure to participate. Saturday I received the results and the water passed all the tests. There are no bacteria, nitrates, or anything else bad in the water. Though this land is over the Edwards Aquifer, the same source of water for San Antonio, the distance is so great that it might as well be two different aquifers. The water out here is a lot better then what I drank when I lived in San Antonio and any contamination that occurs in San Antonio will not affect my well.

The needs here extend farther than just maintenance. It has been apparent to me from the day this property was purchased that a new web site needed to be created. A web site is a very time consuming job to take on. I know as I have done a number of them. But paying someone else to do it will cost thousands, which AOCCCI just does not have right now. Unless someone volunteers to do this job, I will have to do it. But first I need to purchase web design software. What I have always used in the past is very out of date. Web design software is not cheap, but a must. After that I will have to take time out of my very busy days to work on the site. I have been praying for months that God would provide someone else to do this job, but no one has come forward and a new site really needs to be completed. One thing about web design, it does not matter where the web designer lives, the Internet is everywhere. So someone volunteering for this job would not need to even live in the US.

I have had several inquiries from people who have a desire to come out here or know someone with MCS who is homeless. The individuals who have expressed a desire to come here all had a valid reason why the trip is undoable. The homeless person has yet to contact me. If anyone does need a place to stay, they can camp on the land. Eventually (hopefully in a few months) the spare bedroom in this house will be available for someone to live in, but at the moment it is being used for storage.

Hopefully before the year is over with there will be others living on this land, but right now it is very quiet outside. There are spring flowers blooming. The vegetable seeds I planted in a few garden pots are sprouting. I threw melon seeds out in the grass and rocks which hopefully are also sprouting. It will be nice to have a little bit of home grown food in a few months and hopefully the raccoons and other critters will leave enough for me to share with others.

Good Friday

I returned home on Monday after spending almost 3 weeks in San Antonio. On March 13 I attended a brunch fund raiser for the Women’s Prayer International (WPI). I really enjoyed the speaker, Betty Moni, and even purchased her book, Butterfly Life In A Caterpillar World, though I have only read one chapter so far. On March 16 my old (WPI) prayer group was meeting and I was able to attend. It really felt great to spend time praying for our nation with them again. Then on March 18 I had a cardiac procedure to close a PFO (patent foramen ovale—specific type of hole in my heart). It was successful and I got great care while recuperating in San Antonio.

By Sunday the desire to return home started to grow. My friend Rick had wanted to return with me so I would not be alone, and install a new floor for me, but his dad has been having health crises and he was needed at home. So Monday I drove home alone. I enjoyed staying with my friend Mary and will be staying at her house in the future, but it is great to finally be back home.

Since coming home I have spent most of my time doing indoor work. I have so much paperwork to accomplish it is unreliable. I really need help out here. Until yesterday I have had been restricted to how much weight I can lift, which prevents me from doing much outside. But I have started doing some minor gardening. I planted some seeds in pots left by the previous owner. I have also tossed cantaloupe, bell pepper, and water melon seeds out in the weeds. No idea if I will get some plants but the seeds came free with my produce purchase. I had prayed for rain this morning and it was predicted, but none fell. So this afternoon I had to water the seeds in the pots by hand.

So that is what I have been up to. My plans are next week to drive back to San Antonio, purchase a desk, and bring it and Rick back to the ranch. Once the floor is in and the desk is put together, I can start organization this place.

This morning I got a call from a former WPI member about a woman she met who is chemically sensitivity. Apparently she is living in her car with her teenage sons. The friend has given her AOCCCI’s brochure. She is going to give her my phone number for her to call. No idea if she will chose to come live on the property. Except for a spare bedroom, I can only provide a place to park her car and pitch a tent. Time will tell. I have had a couple people express a desire to come live out here but most of them had reasons why it was impossible. For instant one woman currently lives in Europe. I need help but I am leaving it all up to God.

Well, today is Good Friday. It is a day of hope. If Jesus had not died on the cross in our place, we would have no hope. Nobody deserves to go to Heaven, but Jesus paid the price for us. In a few days we will celebrate the wondrous resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. I will be attending services in Rocksprings. If you are physically able to, I pray you will attend services too.

Country Living

Living out in the country sure is an adventure. It seems the more I do, the more things I see that need to be done. I have paid a few people to do things for me and a number of friends have come and volunteered their time, but the to-do list just keeps on growing. Some of the tasks I have accomplished is getting a new fridge (the old one was very small and hardly held any food, ordering new flooring (which a friend is going to install for me), and staining the well house (which I paid someone to build). I also painted half the living room with sealant (to cover over the very dark paint the previous owner chose). I have made many trips to Rocksprings and Kerrville for supplies. For instant I bought a compost bin in Kerrville and am now actively composting all my food scraps. I also spread about 20 ounces (bag contained 24 oz) of Texas Wild Flower Seeds. So hopefully in a few months the view out the windows will be even more gorgeous then it already is. This week I learned where I can take trash to for disposal. The cost is $3 a bag. It is high because the trash must be trucked to the dump in another county.

This has been one of the coldest winters in history, following the hottest summer ever in Texas. Spring though has finally arrived and the last few weeks I have been spending a few hours a day collecting rocks. Rocks are everywhere and I mean everywhere. The goal is to build a rock wall skirt around the mobile home. Considering I will never run out of rocks here, it makes since to use them and save money. I average about 5 wheel barrows of rocks a day. Slowly the pile is growing larger and one day there will be enough for my friend to get to work and build the skirt rock wall.

A raised garden vegetable bed is in the planning stage. There are so many rocks in the ground that planting straight in the ground is not possible. I have picked the best spot for a raised garden and next time my friend comes out we will purchased the materials to build it. Today though I planted some apple seeds (I ate the rest of the apple). I have no idea if any of the apple seeds will find a pathway through all the rocks to grow into a beautiful tree, but I am hopeful. There are plenty of Mountain Cedar trees on the property so I know it is possible. I also tossed the seeds from my cantaloupe out into the wind. Hopefully I will have cantaloupes this summer and the critters will leave some for me to enjoy. I plan to do the same thing with watermelon seeds later on.

Speaking of critters, I was told the previous owners had a lot of trouble with raccoons and I believe that report. I have had to pile rocks against the doors to the compost bin to keep them out. One morning I found a large rock moved away from the compost door, the door opened, compost pulled out, and a half eaten apple about a yard away. I hope the raccoon enjoyed the treat. I put the compost back in, put the door back in place, threw the half eaten apple back into the compost bin and went got some more rocks. My friend said he will build me a raccoon proof compost bin.

Even with all the work, I love it out here. I enjoy the solitude, but I also enjoy the company. Though I love having my friends visit me, I really look forward to the day the Lord brings me a roommate. Right now that extra bedroom is being used for storage, but it won’t be long before those boxes will be emptied and the person the Lord brings here can move in. I know it will happen in the Lord’s timing. Until then, I will keep the air beds inflated and the door open for my friends to come and give me a helping hand.

Tomorrow I head back to San Antonio where I will remain for a couple of weeks. I am blessed with lots of friends who are happy to open their home to me when I must be in the big city. I will be attending a fund raiser brunch for Women’s Prayer International on Saturday and then later next week will be having a medical procedure. I hope to return with my friend Rick who has promised to install the new flooring in family room (which I plan to use as a community room/library). So please keep me in your prayers.