New life at New Life Ranch

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(New Life Ranch)

We got to New Life Ranch in time for the Big Rains….again! We’re thinking about hiring ourselves out to bring rain to “we really need it” areas! We’re located in the foothills of the Ozark Mountains (which aren’t really mountains, they’re just beautiful hills!) It started raining Wednesday evening, and with it came flood warnings, the creek~~which runs right behind us and through the camp~~ flowed way out of its banks, and there was water everywhere. Everywhere that is, except the RV park! With this rocky soil it doesn’t take much water to cause flooding; the flip side of that is that the water sure doesn’t take long to soak into the ground.

This camp consists of 1000 acres, but not all of that is used. They have a strong equestrian program, which brings kids from the local areas out twice a year for a ten week program where the kids are bused out to spend time learning about caring for horses, riding, scripture teachings, and appreciating nature. There are also year around camps and retreats (the camp has 400 beds) and workshops. It seems like there’s always a group here, and on weekends it’s really busy. Kind of the opposite of Shepherd’s Staff!

We’re surrounded by trees, and this should be a gorgeous season to be here. We’re in the northeast corner of Oklahoma, just five miles from Arkansas (which is where we go to church, and do most of our shopping), about 30 miles from Missouri, and 50 miles south of Kansas. We’re located in the poorest county in the state of Oklahoma. I asked how the kids can come to camps, if money is so tight, and was told there are a number of donors who make it possible for the kids to get scholarships; they also fund the equestrian program so all kids can come. The world is full of great people.

The men are dismantling a second-story deck, moving two sliding double doorways, and then rebuilding the deck to be a wrap-around deck. Since it’s been raining, they’re putting bead board over the popcorn ceiling in that dorm.

The gals have a cush job~~as if the last one was so hard! We’re doing office work this week; Marilyn and I are entering guest information into a data base, and then other women are putting out a mailer to 1800 guests. (That’s how many campers went through this camp last summer!)

We have five couples now, and a sixth one joining us this later this week. There are also two volunteers here from another mission group. This rv parking area was built for six rigs, so we’re close~~we could have dinner with the couple next to us, with each of us in our own rvs, and just pass the food through the window! But with this group there’s no loud music, although everyone’s tv is loud, because no one hears like we used to!

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Photos

You can see the climbing wall...
not being used right then! See the hand rings? You can go from one side of the creek on the rings...well some people could probably do it, but I'm not one of them!

See where the bridge ends?
There's an island there! Or there used to be an island there~~and it had a climbing wall on it, and a ropes course.

From the bridge looking back
toward the dining hall.

This road runs behind our RVs--
and four days after the rain we could drive on it to look at the the unused property.

A creek rushes through it...
right behind our rigs. Fortunately there are high banks on our side.

Natural Falls State Park
We wanted to see this while there was so much water running, and it was well worth it. It's very near the camp.

The water was coming (gushing really)
through a hole in the top of this cave, and then down the front as another waterfall. We'll go back when it's drier and see what happens to this one. You can see this on the right of the big waterfall in the previous picture.

Comments

[Bev]

I assume if you arrive first to set up you get the best parking spot. I would have taken the one far from the rushing creek. Hope you enjoy your time and stay dry.

[Danielson]

Hi, Bev!
No, the leaders are usually the first in, and they take the most undesirable spot! In this case there are none better than others (except the one that only has a 30 amp hookup~~not it!) The creek runs behind all the rvs, but luckily that's where the higher banks are!