TEXAS pt 2

Setting up the tent and making dinner has become pretty routine for me but i think most folks have never really camped in a tent and just don't quite fathom it.

I saw the young man's truck pull up behind the trailer next to me, he was getting home from work and i noticed the kids' bikes parked on the side. Three quarters of the trailers in the park appeared to be long term residents. While I set up my tent he came in and out of the trailer to his truck several times and eventually we introduced ourselves. He said that he had never seen a tent set up in the park before and asked if i was going to be warm enough. I told him my story and he remarked that he was doing something similar.
Now, my interest is piqued, it is more engaging and personal when people see themselves in your own endeavor. He was going to receive training to be a Pentecostal missionary and go out into the world to evangelize. I asked if he had any choice where he might go? He replied that he was thinking of going to Maine. . . cold, i said, go to Peru. They sold their house and for $5000 he bought a used trailer and they moved into the county rv park. The rent at the park was $395 a month and that included water, electricity, and garbage/waste water disposal - not a bad deal other than being a family of five in a trailer.
I knew it had to be stressful, because of his willingness to unload to a stranger - people tell you the damnedest things if they will never see you again. His family rode him pretty hard over the holidays, but he said the family two down from him had five children . . . However, he wished they had not let 'them take the other car back' because his wife and children were now stuck in the park. They home schooled so we talked education and i inquired about outside activities for the children - again no car. The cold weather was hard because of the children staying in and the cost of propane to heat the trailer. I told him to buy an electric radiator, assured him that it would not burn his four year old, and electricity is part of rent. They were supposed to get missionary training in January but they were saving money so the plan was now August 2010. I was pretty hungry and begged off to make dinner, as he went into the trailer he made a point of offering their couch if i got cold - it folded out into a bed.