Ivan
Pastor
The obstacles continue...and this one is a doozy.
We found out a few days ago that we are required by law to hook up to the sewer system of the village. We once thought that we could have a septic system, but that is not the case. Here's the killer: the sewer is on the opposite side of the state highway and we would have to bring in under the highway and install a pump station. The bill would be in the neighborhood of $100,000. It will be a VERY long time before we could afford that. At this point, at least to us, our property is basically worthless. We could sell the property, but that's probably not going to be to our advantage at this point in time. One possibility is to trade the land. We have a lady in the church who owns a great deal of property (with whom I have not spoken yet). Our property could be VERY valuable to the right person at the right time. If our lady has property in an area that would work for us we have the possibility of trading and being able to build soon. Otherwise, we will not be able to build for a very long time. Please pray for us.
On another note, we have been using the Bergmann Centre for quite a few years, several years before I got to the church and I've been there for over three and a half years not. It's a fancy-sounding name, but the location isn't, although it is rent-free. It is a non-profit riding stable for the handicap. The facility is not taken care of. We have to clean and repair the portion of the building that we use, if it's going to get done at all. There have been several occasions when we have clean the building on a Saturday only to have somebody from the Centre has messed it up before Sunday morning. That's all well and good and we adapt and survive. However, this is the kicker: it's a riding stable with horses and it smell as such. Now I have a very bad sense of smell, but others of our congregation have a very good sense of smell. We have had numerous visitors over the years that have come and gone and I must freely admit that one of the reasons they don't consider us as a church to join is our facilities.
So with that in mind, our church today have decided to rent the grade school in the village at a cost of about $500 dollars a month. We will have four hours on Sunday morning to "do our thing" and that's it. We will use the chairs, tables, etc. so the set-up is minimal, but it will be different. I believe that it will be good for us, but I am still praying that we will be able to build this year...somewhere...by the Grace of God!
We found out a few days ago that we are required by law to hook up to the sewer system of the village. We once thought that we could have a septic system, but that is not the case. Here's the killer: the sewer is on the opposite side of the state highway and we would have to bring in under the highway and install a pump station. The bill would be in the neighborhood of $100,000. It will be a VERY long time before we could afford that. At this point, at least to us, our property is basically worthless. We could sell the property, but that's probably not going to be to our advantage at this point in time. One possibility is to trade the land. We have a lady in the church who owns a great deal of property (with whom I have not spoken yet). Our property could be VERY valuable to the right person at the right time. If our lady has property in an area that would work for us we have the possibility of trading and being able to build soon. Otherwise, we will not be able to build for a very long time. Please pray for us.
On another note, we have been using the Bergmann Centre for quite a few years, several years before I got to the church and I've been there for over three and a half years not. It's a fancy-sounding name, but the location isn't, although it is rent-free. It is a non-profit riding stable for the handicap. The facility is not taken care of. We have to clean and repair the portion of the building that we use, if it's going to get done at all. There have been several occasions when we have clean the building on a Saturday only to have somebody from the Centre has messed it up before Sunday morning. That's all well and good and we adapt and survive. However, this is the kicker: it's a riding stable with horses and it smell as such. Now I have a very bad sense of smell, but others of our congregation have a very good sense of smell. We have had numerous visitors over the years that have come and gone and I must freely admit that one of the reasons they don't consider us as a church to join is our facilities.
So with that in mind, our church today have decided to rent the grade school in the village at a cost of about $500 dollars a month. We will have four hours on Sunday morning to "do our thing" and that's it. We will use the chairs, tables, etc. so the set-up is minimal, but it will be different. I believe that it will be good for us, but I am still praying that we will be able to build this year...somewhere...by the Grace of God!