Just who and what is Grace Ranch?

Grace Ranch is owned and operated by Richard and Ann Eutsler of The Fishermen Ministry. The Fishermen Ministry was first started in Orlando, Florida in 1974 by Richard D. Eutsler, Sr. and Neal Coleman. It was a Mission for The Homeless men that passed through Orlando. Today The Fishermen Ministry is headquartered in Northfield Falls, Vermont. They are involved in Street Ministry, Tent Ministry, Home Churches and Church Plantings. To learn more about The Fishermen Ministry, visit their Web Site. [The Fishermen Ministry]

Back in the summer of 1974, Richard was visiting some relatives in the El Paso, Texas area. While there he went horseback riding out in the desert East of El Paso. He loved the desert and prayed that one day The Lord would let him build a ministry there. Well, in June of 2003, while passing through El Paso heading East from Arizona, he noticed a sign that said land for sale. He didn't think much about it until one of the people traveling with him, they were on a Discipleship training trip, showed him an ad in a magazine about the land that was for sale. When they got home Richard shared with Ann his vision for the land and they decided to put a down payment on it. Before the second payment was due, The Lord provided the money to pay off the land and Richard went out to take a look at it.

So, in June Richard went out to Fabens, Texas to take a look at the land. Jim Barns, whoworked for Sunset Ranches, had cleared off an acre of the land so they could start building on it right after they were finished with the Tent Revivals in Vermont and New York. (Check out his story by clicking on the picture to the right.)

In September Richard and Ann along with Gail Stevens and her son Chris with John Sexauer., Paul Muller. and Francisco Soberanis. headed out to Texas. There was a lot of excitement as we all started out. The trip out to Texas was very interesting and we had a lot of getting used to one another along the way. We had a caravan of one travel trailer, one motor home, two truck campers and three cars as we headed West. Except for the modern conveniences, we could have thought of ourselves like the early settlers who came out west, depending on how much of an imagination you have.

We arrived in Fabens Texas on September the 14th, tired and hungry. We stayed across the street from a small truck stop at Exit 49 on I-10 in Fabens. After eating at the truck stop, which was an experience in itself, we got some sleep before going on to the ranch.

We had planned on being at the Ranch by September 15th and we made it. On the way out to the Ranch a couple of people mentioned that it reminded them of the children of Israel being led out into the desert by Moses to die! Some of them did not like the desert at all! There were a lot of comments like, "brown and flat", "too dusty" and "too hot". Richard laughed and told them it was more like Joshua leading them into the promised land. We all had a good laugh!

When we arrived at the 'camp' we were surprised to find that none of the things that were supposed to be done, were done. The septic tank had not been put in yet, although the truck had arrived with the tank and the pole barn was not up. The driveway up into the camp was not a driveway but a dust pit. Richard's truck camper was pulling a trailer and he was able to make it up the hill along with Francisco's. Ann however had a different experience! She was pulling a thirty foot trailer with a three quarter ton pickup and got stuck down to the frame of both the truck and the trailer. Fortunately Jim was there with his bulldozer. After Richard tried to pull Ann up with his truck, Jim backed the bulldozer up to her and pulled her into the camp and that is where her trailer is still.

It was pretty hard that first month at Grace Ranch. There was no water or electricity except for the generators that we brought with us and the water that we had onboard in the campers. There was supposed to be a water tank set up when we arrived. Jim brought out one that he had so we did have some water in a few days. For a while we thought that maybe we had passed through the 'twilight zone' into the past! But that couldn't be, we had toilet paper! The only thing to do now was start building.

The first thing that we wanted to build was a bunk house and bath house. So Francisco, John, Chris along with the help of some Mexicans that were working with Jim, began work on them after the pole barn was completed. Richard's aim was to build the ranch to look like an old western town.

There is still a lot of work to be done, but with The Lord's help and direction, it will be done!

More to come...

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