RGVBaptist.com - Independent Baptist Missionaries to the Hispanic people of the Rio Grande Valley, Texas

Due to the nature of our work, our home in Rio Grande City is not just a "home" but truly a "ministry headquarters". Through our home we will be meeting people and fellowshipping. We will be holding Bible studies and our first "in-home church." We will be housing other Christian workers and mission groups. We will be storing supplies and other resources. We will be homeschooling our children and I will be doing the administrative work of the ministry. As I said, our home is to be more than just a home, and the features that it provides must be adequate to meet those needs.

Beyond features we also have the concern of location. A home that is not convenient to anything is not useful in the ministry. Although our preference would be a quiet, secluded home in the country, our need is for a home that is in the middle of the community, easily accessible to the people.

Keeping these two needs in mind we began our search for a home in Rio Grande City. The Lord has blessed and we have found a wonderful home that meets all of our functional needs, and which is located in the perfect place to begin this work (exactly 1/2 way between Roma and Rio Grande City, just off Expressway 83). As best I can measure, the home is only 2,522 feet from the Mexican border! We have also been blessed in the fact that this is a bank repossession and therefore is being sold well under market value (even when compared to other properties currently on the market.) As of February 28th we have signed a contract to purchase this property for $63,000. Bro. Jeff Shue with Valley Independent Baptist Missions in Donna, Texas has agreed to "watch over" our house until we arrive in August, and we thank him for his continued assistance!

Here are some additional links that show the actual layout of the property, as well as each individual building:
Property Layout House Floorplan Casita Floorplan Garage Floorplan

There are many who are interested in seeing our new home. Rather than email individual pictures to each of you, I am outlining the home on this page and describing some of the major features. All directions (left/right/front/back) are relative to looking at the property from the road.

ONE FINAL NOTE: Many of the churches we have visited have expressed an interest in coming to visit and assist us on the field. We do have a need for this type of help when we arrive in August. Specifically, we need help from July 31st through August 8th (any days that you can help). For details on what we will be trying to accomplish during this timeframe, please click the following link: Outline of work


Front of the house, standing across the road from the garage. It is a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom home, built in 1992 and is recorded as being 1840 square feet.	Front of the house, standing across the road from the left property line	Front entryway. The glass in the door is broken and will need to be replaced.	Front of the house, looking towards the right side of the house.

Looking along the property line on the left side of the house. It's the end of February but the bushes are in almost full bloom.	Left side of the house again, this time a little further back.	A view of the left side of the house, including the chimney and entranceway. Notice the fancy brickwork, which is a standard feature in this part of Texas.	Another view of the left side of the house, also showing the brickwork on the ground surrounding the home.

This shot is standing on the front porch looking toward the road.	This is standing on the porch looking toward the left property line. The edging on these bricks has begun to come up.	In the original realtor photos the roof looked like it would need to be replaced, but in person and with a better camera, it looks just fine!	Another shot of the roof.

This little fella was hanging out across the road on the fence. I could hear LOTS of birds singing and look forward to seeing the hundreds of varieties that call this area home.	A view of the house from past the right property line. Everything behind the wooden fence is part of the property.	A view from the front showing the breezeway beteween the house and the garage.	This shows the garage as well as the attached workshop. The garage itself is 753 square feet (35' x 21' 6") and the workshop is 548 square feet (35' x 15' 8")

This is what is directly across the road from the house. It is a large "warehouse" of some sort, but seems to be more abandoned than anything.	This is a shot from the right-front corner of the property. You can clearly see the workshop (with it's own chimney) and the casita behind the workshop.	This is from the same location and shows the yard space as well as the fruit grove. They have a mixture of citrus trees. Most of this yard space would need to be converted into 2 RV hookups and parking space for our trailer.	This is another view of the yard from the opposite corner, next to the workshop.

Speaking of fruit, here it is. It's only February, so it's not quite ripe yet, but it's certainly getting there!	This is from the back of that same "side yard". This view is from the back corner of the casita, looking forward towards the front of the property.	Another view of the orchard itself.	This shot is from the middle of the side yard (right side of the property) looking towards the workshop and casita. You can also see the gate between the two buildings.

This view is from the back-left side of the house (the left property border), looking along the back of the house towards the casita. It is a very nice shaded area with a rather large tree (for Texas) to the left of where I'm standing.	This is a closer view of the bush from the picture to the left. The thing beside it is about 8 feet tall and is a giant flowering cactus. Because of the age of the home, all of the plants are fully mature.	This shot is from directly behind the house, looking towards the right-side of the house. The wooden building on the right is the garage. The building to the left is the garage. It also has a cement patio that is about 27' x 23', of which 12' x 17' is under that tin roof.	Another shot of that same area, this one more directly facing the garage. Unfortunately I do see leaves on the ground. I though I was done with leaf raking, but apparently the Lord has other plans in that regard!

This is the small walkway behind the casita.	This shows the walkway between the casita and the garage.	This shows the walkway between the garage and the house.	This final outside shot is of the right-side of the workshop and the chimney. The front and this side of the workshop are both finished in stucco.

Now we begin to move indoors. This is the front entrance to the home, which leads you into this small sitting room.	As you enter the sitting room, this opening leads off to the right. The hallway to the left goes back to the bedrooms, while the opening to the right goes into the combination living room/dining room.	Standing in the hallway and looking back into that entrance room you can see the fireplace straight ahead and the mirrored wall on the right side. The carpet in this room definitely needs replaced!	This is the hallway which leads back to the bedrooms. The notice on the wall simply mentions the home has been "winterized" since it is vacant.

Standing in the far corner of this sitting room you can see the front door and also into the living room/dining room. Through the far doorway you will enter into the breakfast nook and kitchen.	This is from the hallway looking into the living room, where you get a better view of the bowed front windows. The shine on the floors makes them look like vinyl, but they are actually solid ceramic tile. This same tile is used throughout the home, except for part of the sitting room and all of the bedrooms.	Standing closer to the bowed window you can see the opposite end of the living/dining room, as well as the large built in hutch that extends across the room.	This shot is standing in the living room looking into the breakfast nook. This will actually be our dining room, as it is 10' 5" x 9', which is sufficient for a regular 6-person table.

This shot is standing in the breakfast nook looking back through the living room and into the sitting room.	This is the kitchen. It is an unsually large kitchen, being 10' 5" x 18' 7". It includes a full pantry on the other end as well. This will be put to great use in feeding all of the guest workers coming through. At the far end of the room you can see the door which exits to the breezeway between the house and the garage.	This damage is found in the kitchen to the right of the sink from the picture on the left. It looks like a shotgun blast and goes all the way through to the next room. Unfortunately, this is the laminate backdrop of the counter and thus the entire countertop would need to be replaced to repair it.	We are now going back to the hallway. The opening to the left goes to two bedrooms. Directly to my right is the doorway to the hall bathroom and past that on the right is the entrance to the Master Bedroom.

This is the hall bath. It has floor-to-ceiling cabinets and a full sink in this first part.	This shot shows the back part of the bathroom with the toilet and tub. A door separates the two sections of this bathroom.	Turning from the hallway towards the two smaller bathrooms you have a linen closet directly ahead, with doorways to your left and right.	This is the smaller bedroom, to the left.

The only thing not finished in this home is this closet. All of the framing is done, but their has been no door installed.	This is the larger (slightly) bedroom to the right. The green walls are darker in person and are actually nice looking!	This bedroom also features two separate walk-in closets.	This shot shows the master bedroom, from the hallway entrance. The doorway directly ahead leads into the master bath and closet.

This view is from the corner of the master bedroom (to the right in the previous photo), looking back towards the opposite corner.	As you enter the doorway into the master bath/closet you have the sink directly ahead. To the left is the closet and to the right is the bathroom. The handsome guy in the mirror is me!	This is the large walk-in closet in the master bedroom.	The master bath.

Another shot of the master bath.	Almost every room in the house features these trayed ceilings with wood trim. It looks very fancy, but is another common feature on homes in this area.	Now we move to the garage. All I can say is that it "works", but it certainly needs some work! This is from the back, left corner, showing the two garage doors.	this shot is from roughly the same location, but looks farther left to include the workshop. The workshop is divided into this open section as well as the room which you can see to the left. The open section also has the large barbeque pit.

This is from the front of the garage, showing the back side of that workshop.	This is an inside view of that workshop room.	A better view of the barbeque pit.	As you can see, the ceiling is not in such great shape. Structurally, it seems to be sound. However, that wood needs replaced and new shingles (or a metal roof) put on.

This is the entrance to the casita. The small room to the left is the bath. The back room is the "bedroom". This front room is the living room. All the carpet needs replaced.	A closer view of the bath. This room needs some major work, and would most likely need to be gutted and completely replaced.	Another view of the living room. Another thing that needs replaced is the outside doors and the windows. They are all in poor condition.	This is a shot of the back bedroom. The large piece of wood on the wall is covering the slot for the window A/C unit that would be needed to cool the casita in the summer.

This desk/bookcase is built into the corner of the casita. Although dirty it seems to be in good shape and with a minor amount of work would make a very good addition to this room.