Sorry it’s been a while since our last update. To say we’ve been busy would be an understatement! I thought I’d be able to slow down a little at Cedar Ranch, our new base camp, but it’s been anything but!
First, I’d like to clarify our status since many people we talk to, including close friends, think we’ve retired. We are NOT retired!! WE ARE STILL MISSIONARIES!! We do not have any form of income and rely on The LORD to meet our needs, which He has faithfully done through many of you since we went full-time in disaster relief.
At this point, we don’t know what disaster relief will look like in the future. We plan on making shorter responses when we have folks who will go with us. We’d like to do several a year depending on our other serving commitments. This year, in addition to our Ian deployment, we were able to help with logistics and some finances for the Maui Fires and Hurricane Idalia, as we’ve done in the past in events where we don’t deploy. We plan on still doing those types of things and maybe more in the logistical and management areas as the years go on and we get older, and I just turned 62!
We’ve been in VA for just about 3 months now. Lots of stuff to do just like a typical disaster response set-up - I had to run water, sewer, electric, and internet to get us settled in our trailer and figure out some storage needs! We just finished skirting and winterizing our trailer. It’s already been in the teens at night here!
When we arrived, the ranch was in-between camp season and fall retreats so some of the main guys took off for much-needed vacations, so I had to jump right in to working. I’m trying to help oversee maintenance on the property. Every building, piece of equipment and property, etc. needs worked on- I’ve got quite a list! We started out just getting the grounds caught up and somewhat of a system to keep it that way through the fall. There were also a lot of paddock fence boards and posts that needed to be replaced. The last weekend of October, 30 kids from Liberty University came in and helped work on the paddocks and a few folks from church came in and worked on some small projects as well.
There are 6 college age folks here at the ranch that help me an average of 10-12 hours a week. Once a week Mary Jo makes everyone breakfast and I teach a devo, Curt style with them. We enjoy that.
There’s one other guy who is even older than I am who comes in at least 3 afternoons a week. He mostly helps with the stable and barn areas, but also helps me here and there and is a great help and we’ve become good friends.
There’s a stable, an indoor and outdoor riding arena, and 15 grazing paddocks with 12 horses boarding here. Jewels, a volunteer from the church, keeps all of that going.
There are 16 RV spots that they try to rent out for long-term rentals, and they’d like to add more spots soon. Getting two of the spots ready was part of what we needed to get done right away. We had to run electricity and water for them and put in a level, gravel area. One of them is finished and rented, the other one just needs some gravel. Six of the spots don’t have sewer connections so the kids empty them with a dump wagon twice a week.
There’s a main house that is used for retreats and youth camps and a cottage. It also houses the church. It can accommodate 50-60 people for overnights.
There’s a junior size Olympic swimming pool with a couple of buildings.
There’s over a mile of gravel driveway and a ton of grass that needs mowed and trimmed as well as lots of trees, shrubs, etc. There’s a vegetable garden that wasn’t used this year, but we’d like to get something going there this spring. MJ enjoys a little gardening and we both like fresh veggies and herbs!
The ranch has four water wells, one of which is currently not connected to anything. A lot of the water pipes were not underground and so there were several issues in the system. We dug and installed about 2000 feet of new pipe, connectors, valves, and 10 frost-free hydrants around the property. We tied in the three wells so that if one goes out, the others can feed the rest of the property. The project was extra challenging because we’re in the foothills of Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains, so a lot of huge boulders got in the way as we tried to get 2 feet down! We’ve got a few odds and ends to finish up on all that, but it’s mostly done. It was a big project!
Mary Jo feeds 7 and waters ducks 2 goats. She’s been doing this to take some of Jewel’s load off her. The two of them are becoming good friends and they try to spend at least a lunch a week together for chit-chat and supposedly discipleship!
I also have work to do on both of our trucks. Still waiting on parts for the diesel fuel injector system. I’m up to about $3k on the diesel and hoping that’s it for now. The V10 still needs some work and tires that will be at least $2500. MJ’s van had $1500 of work done since we arrived, and she’ll need new tires soon.
The toilet valve in the 5th wheel and one of the windows leaked. I fixed the toilet leak, but the window will need to wait until spring. Both areas need to have the flooring removed and replaced. Most of this I can do on my own, it is just hard to get on the floor and work! The cost will be about $500 total.
My laptop crashed the other day, so I had to purchase another one. Thankfully it was a good weekend for sales!
I really need to slow down on the physical stuff, so please pray about that. I’ve gone a little backwards with my recovery since I’ve been here, and I need to put some restrictions on myself going forward! We’ll be visiting some friends and family in December, so that will give me some rest in between travels!
There’s plenty to do here and we could use your help! If you’re interested in growing in The LORD as you selflessly serve others alongside us here at Cedar Ranch or the next time we deploy for disaster relief, let us know! For more info on joining us, click here.
As you hopefully realize, we aren’t on salary anywhere and have lots of expenses for our vehicles, tools, equipment, and living. If you feel led to support us financially for our expenses, please click here.
If there’s ever anything you need prayer about or just need to talk to someone, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us and let us know!
Please continue to keep us in your prayers, thanks, and love yas!
Here to serve and disciple until He calls us home,
Curt & Mary Jo
