"And then they bought a chateau" with Rev. Dr. Rob J Hildebrand

Oh, yeah. Paloma talks the wonderful topic today. Oh, wait. Oh.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, he is back. Can you believe he is back? We really missed our very own Reverend Dr. Robert J. Hildebrand. I never. I never tire of saying that. And, you know, it hit me because I was listening one time without wanting to do one of our podcasts, and I was like, I hope people don't think I'm sarcastic about this. I'm not. I'm not sarcastic. Love the fact that we have our. One of our hosts.

I try to get all my students to call me that. None of them do. They call me Rob. But, you know, I try.

H. That's why.

You know what?

I'm bringing it back. Reverend Dr.

Absolutely.

J. Hildebrand in the house, back with us. And today, Renee, I want us to dedicate quite some time to learning more about who is Reverend doctor This is very nice, Robert J. Hildebrand, Renee.

Yeah, that's right. Dr. Hildebrandt is a professor at Multnomah University and the chair of Multnomah's Youth and Educational Ministries program. He's a fascinating person, not just because he's one of our co hosts on Emmy Talks, but because his faith in the love and provision of God has led him down many paths during his life. Thanks, Rob, for agreeing to share with us, and we are excited to hear more about you.

Lovely to be here.

So here's what dawned on me, right? I. I've been in Multnomah for two and a half years. I'm going on three years, and it's fascinating to me how little you get to know people that you work with. It's fascinating. And for me, this podcast has been a tremendous blessing. I mean, we had some fun.

Yeah.

And if you. This is. This is your first Mu Talks episode that you're listening to. Go all the way. Scroll all the way down to many, many, many episodes, and go to the first episode or first or second episode following God in the Darkness or something. I don't know what we came up with. And you get to hear a little bit, a fraction of Rob's story. And then I was just. I was listening to that as you were. I was finding that out with you live, right as I was learning about. About Rob, and I was just fascinated. I'm like, I've been working with this guy for four years now, and I don't know his story. So here's. Here's where I'm gonna start it.

Yeah, sure.

And then they bought a chateau.

Yeah.

And then they Bought a chateau.

So.

So let's. Let's rewind the story, but then let's get to the.

Okay.

And then they bought a chateau. So tell us, Rob, tell us who. Who are you? Where you come from? What's going on? Who is Rob?

So I grew up in Canada. I'm Canadian, A place called Saskatchewan, which is extremely cold and no trees. I love it, but you would hate it, probably most of you guys. But it is a beautiful place, beautiful people. And I grew up on a Bible college campus. And so my grandpa started the school. He came over from Russia. You know, it was crazy. It's during the Russian Revolution, two of his brothers killed on the way out. Like, it was pretty traumatic. People starving, people eating bark. You know what I'm talking about?

Oh, my goodness.

Communism, socialism stuff. That's bad stuff. And so they were escaping for, you know, religious reasons. And he. So he came into Canada when he was 16, came over, ended up. Crazy stuff, starting a Bible college. My grandmother, got to tell you this story. She comes over from norway when she's 14. Her parents put her on the boat to come to Canada, and then she's supposed to meet up with a relative in Canada. No Internet, no phone, gets. Gets to Canada. Nobody shows to meet her. She's 14.

Oh, my.

So she makes. She gets on the train, ends up in the middle of Canada, Manitoba, starts working for rich people as a servant, gets herself to Bible college, meets my grandpa. Eventually, he woos her heart, and they become married, and they go off and start this school, which is where I grew up, at a school called Briarcrest. Can I say Briar Crest? Briar Crest. Anyways, Bible college or whatever it's called now. Briarca schools or something. It's in the middle of Canada. It's. And it was like a former World War II English military base for RAF fighters. So airplane airport. And they bought it for $50,000, got the whole base after World War II.

No way.

And they got up to a couple thousand students. It was a big deal. It was. It was awesome place to grow up because it was like, you got, like, I don't know, a thousand 1500 young people in the middle from all over the world, kind of in this one area. And so there was always a social life, hundreds of people at the games, always. And it was just super fun place to grow up.

Wow. Well, this story is already starting. Oh, my goodness.

Did she ever find the family member?

I don't think so. Not for years and years, no. I mean, they built A life together. And I think when she was middle age old, she went back and saw her brothers and stuff, but I know incredible faith, you know? Incredible faith.

Wow. So you grew up most of your life in Canada?

Yeah, first 20 years. Les and I met at camp, fell in love when we were 16. I knew I wanted to marry when we were 18. Asked my parents, I remember I was 18, and I was kind of like, I was like, it was two years, so I was like, I think I'm. I think she's the one. My parents loved her. So I go to my mom, I'm like, mom, I think, I think I'd like to marry Leslie sometime. And she's like, rob, I think you should go have a cold shower. And so. But the next time I talked to her a couple weeks later, you know, you wear your parents down, you give them a little bit of time, then you come back. And so I come back to them. I'm like, you know, I really think she's the one. And then, well, your mother and I have talked and we really like her. So I made him a deal. I said, how about if I graduate college in three years, will you let marry Leslie after the second year? Because I just finished my first year of college. And they said, okay, deal. So I took 26 credits a semester, got very mediocre grades and just got her done in three.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah, the best. Yeah, it worked out. We're married.

Wow. Did she have any trouble convincing her parents?

Yeah, I go to her dad, she's the youngest, and, and it's funny because at that point her parents are farmers and they, they've done a little better than. My parents are poor and her parents are not as poor, but had a good reputation because my grandma started the school so people knew our family or whatever. That's the only reason I got the yes. So I go to my father in law, I'm like, hey, I'd like to ask for your daughter's hand in marriage. And he's like, so how are you going to support her? And I said, actually, she's going to put me through seminary. So that wasn't a great. Wasn't a ringing. He wasn't real excited about me, I don't think, rest his soul.

And then you guys moved to. Did you. Is that when you moved to Chicago?

Yeah, I went to Chicago. So we were. So. I think I was 19, I think I graduated college. Graduated college when I was maybe 19, 20, like pretty young. Okay. And we get in a car and we drive off to Chicago, we don't have enough money. And I think I told that story about getting in the car accident. Getting sued for my inbox. Crazy. So two years at Ted's Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and I was kind of an idiot. I mean, I was like. I was running around in my sandals, and I'm kind of winging out papers, like, ah, here we go. You know. And I remember one of my faculty members, Murray Harris. I don't know if. You know. Anyways, wise old man. He's like, now, Rob, you're not an undergraduate anymore. Like, it was just. So I had to get serious about it and wrote my master's thesis for Doug Douglas. Moo and Scott McKnight were my readers. T.A. carson. Some really great faculty. Both of them disagreed with me.

Oh, wow, that's. You know.

You'll write something. Yeah. No. Well, I don't know. Anyways, they passed me. Yeah.

Were you always on the track to work with youth? Like, was that.

Yeah. No, I want to be a teacher like my parents. I was not good in class. I was super adhd. I was. And they didn't really talk about that back then, but I was so bored in school always. And I still am, actually, in meetings. Sit there. Oh, man. And so I. I was not by nature a good student. Such a good story. Good. Good teaching, sir. So I'm. I'm in sixth grade. My parents are both pretty smart. They're both teachers in the university. In fact, when they went to school, my parents competed for the valedictorian. And my dad got it two. Two years, and my mom got it once, so they were kind of one, two all the time. So along I come, and everybody's like, well, this kid could be smart. But I wasn't. Like, they started the class like, I'd be in class, and I was always, like, doing bad. And I was. Always. Got the worst grades. And they gave me, like, a special teacher, and they put me in a special room, and they tried to put me on special diets. And I'm like, there's nothing special about this. You can't fool me. There's nothing special. This is dumb. Anyway, so. And so, anyways, so this one class, this teacher comes in. Mrs. Weeb, fantastic teacher. And she's like, okay, this year for math, we're gonna. We've. I've done something very special. And they wheeled in this amazing device on this cart. A big TV with a vcr. You could watch movies on this thing. None of us. I mean, conservative town. None of us had ever seen A movie. You could watch Disney on this bathroom. Yeah. Incredible. So she's like, you guys are gonna do your homework every day. And then by the time Friday comes, everybody that's done their. Their. Their work for. For math gets to go into the assembly room and watch a movie. And I'm like, oh, I'm so doing this. So sure enough, she gives up the homework. Monday, I'm working on the homework, and it's confusing because I wasn't listening, probably. And I'm like, I don't know what to do here. And everybody else is working. Tuesday, I'm like, oh, the bell dings. I'm not done. Wednesday, I'm getting. I don't even understand Wednesday at all. So I'm just writing random stuff down. And then. And then. And then Thursday, and like, my. My notebook is like. Got all these red X's on. It's bad. You know, work harder. Keep focused. You know, wrong. And. And so Friday rolls along. Teacher's like, okay, all right. Everybody that's done gets to watch the movie. And I'm like, as if anyone's done right? And then to my horror, three quarters of the class stands up, leaves. It's me and five other people or whatever. And I'm like, oh, we're the dumb one. So. So she's like, okay, don't worry. You can keep working on it. As soon as you finish, we'll let you in. So I'm like, all right, I'm going to get this thing done. I'm working. I'm going back on Monday, and I'm getting. I'm going to Tuesday. And then two kids get up and go in. I'm like, oh. And then I'm like, okay, next day, I'm working. Pretty soon, there's only two of us. I'm like, oh, I'm one of the dumbest two kids in this class. And. And then. Then, like, there's. We're almost. You know, it's about an hour in, and then the other kid gets up, and I'm like, oh, I'm the literally the dumbest kid in the class. And so, sure enough, I'm almost done. And the bell rings, and then we're done, and everybody leaves. And I'm like, and the second week was worse than the first. The third week, we get through halfway through the semester. I haven't seen the movie once. And by that point, I'm not even trying. I'm just like. I got this coily, you know, binder, and it's full of, like, red marks. And you're not good enough and do harder. Why can't you be like your parents? And, you know, and just. And I'm ashamed of this book. Like, I. I hide it at the bottom of my desk. You know, I'm walking around. I don't want anyone to see this because it's kind of the objectification of my inability to measure up to my amazing family. It's like, you're not good enough to be Hildebrand. And so I'm hiding this book. Anyways, towards the end of the class, the teacher has pity on me. She sees me sitting there. It's just her and I again. Friday. She probably wants to be in watching the movie. Anyways, she's like, rob, can Robbie, can you come up? And I'm like, okay. And I guess they're walking up, and then she's like, oh, Robby, can you bring your notebook? And my little head hangs. I'm like, oh, I'm ashamed. And so I get the book and I'm bringing it up to her. And she starts flipping through the pages. And she's like, oh, Robbie, this is bad. She's. Or she's like, you're never. This is too much work to get done in a semester. And I'm like. And I'm starting to get worried. I'm like, oh. And she's like. She's like, you know what I'm going to do? I'm just gonna talk in a normal voice, you know, I'm gonna do Robbie. She says. She says, I'm gonna take this book. And with one motion, she swings her arm over and she tosses the book into the garbage. And she says, and I'm going to throw it out, and I'm going to make you a new deal. She's like, I'm going to give you a new book. It's called a loose leaf binder. And every day, we're going to give you one page, and you're going to take that page and you're going to work on it. Maybe you won't finish it in class, but I talked to your mom. She's going to help you. And you're going to sit at the kitchen table until you get that thing done. And you're going to do that Monday, you're going to get it done Tuesday, you're going to get it Wednesday. Thursday. And on Friday, Robby, you will watch that movie with those other kids. And so, sure enough, she gave me hope, right? And I went home and I worked. And there's lots of days where we were crying at the kitchen table. But. But from that day forward, through the rest of my elementary and high school and college and seminary and doctoral degree, I never had another late paper because she gave me hope. Oh, wow. Not a great teacher.

That is a teacher.

All right. So I had to thank you for letting me tell that story. She's great.

I think most people that teach.

Yeah.

Can relate back to a great experience with the teacher.

Right.

With somebody that has really ignited.

Right.

Hope, ignited creativity, ignited you to be the person that you are today. And, and that's why I think, I think some people might tell the same story about you.

Yeah.

Well, I'm quite certain that I. I've heard a few already at university.

I definitely want. I definitely remember thinking, I don't think I'm as dumb as my grades are telling me I am. And I wanted to be the kind of teacher that could see past, you know, defining someone by their reading skills or their writing skills, because a person is so much more than that. That. So many more ways to succeed in life.

Yeah. Okay. So.

So I thought I was going to be a teacher. No, I went to, so I went to Ted's, you know, 1920 or whatever, and I did my masters in New Testament translation exegesis. Thought I was going to teach New Testament cuz my dad was an Old Testament guy and I had. I love the Old Testament so much that I'm like, I really should get a New Testament degree to balance it out because I love the Old Testament, still love the Old Testament and I love the New Testament now. So I got out and, and then while we were there, Leslie's kind of like, you know, maybe we should, you know, work in a church or something to help out. And so both of us had met at camp and we'd done a lot of you and. And so we started volunteering in a church. Loved it. Loved the young people. Couldn't believe how much life changed. You know, watching these kids. And they would come up at the end, they're like, boy, you've changed my life. And they're talking about how much they'd learned and grown. And I'm like, this is incredible. People are paying us to do this work, like to be able to, you know, lead worship and go on retreats and talk to kids about really important things. And so we kind of got sidetracked. We kind of just fell in love with youth ministry. And then coming out of seminar, I was kind of young to be a teacher anyway, so I thought, I'll go work in church for five years, get some experience before I teach. And then basically stayed with church for 10, 15 years because we loved it. We love the young people. Where. Stayed with Back to Canada. Yeah, so back to Canada. Yeah, back to Canada. Went Lethbridge for a bit. And then I was a worship pastor of the dark years for me. And then, yeah, I was a worship pastor and then a youth pastor again in Manitoba. Yeah, just beautiful. And then Multnomah recruited me.

Okay.

Yeah. My friend Steve, who is a teacher here at the school, who. Who. He was the church ministries chair. He's like, for about. For about 10 years, he came. He kept coming back because we were both in Ted's together. And he's like, someday we'll get you teaching at Maloma, Rob. And I'm like, I'm a Canadian. It's not gonna happen. And every five years, he'd call me. He's like, well, I don't have a position yet, but one of these days. And so at that point, there was 200 students in the youth min and ed men, and he was over all of them. Like, he had 200 students, just him teaching, you know? And so he's kind of like. He got the school to create a second position, and I was the second position. No. She's like, you want to. You want to come to America? I said, yes, but I don't want to be an immigrant. It's no fun being an immigrant, you know? He's like, well, why don't. He's like, why don't we just fly you out and we'll see how you like it? And so I came out and found out the salary anyways. One of two times I've seen my wife cry in her life. Because we had it. We had our house paid for in Canada, and we came and saw what we could buy here for that money. And she's like. She loves houses, but she's a good. She's so. I'm like, well, what are we gonna do, Les? Are we gonna do it? Because I'm like, this is gonna be a hit to our lifestyle. And she's like, of course we're gonna do it. She's like, look at the potential for what you could do here. And so she was. She was kingdom all the way.

So I don't think people know what Leslie. What Leslie does.

Yeah, she's a decorator. She's interior designer, and also, I mean, she's a pastor's wife for 20 years, and she's. She's pretty much the best Path. Like, I'm not even just saying she's a very, extremely good pastor's wife, but she's also an extremely good designer. So it turns out we probably should have had her be the income winner, because she makes, like, five times more. She's really good at her job, and. But we kept moving around, with me being in churches, so she'd get a clientele going and then move. And so finally, we've been here for 16 years, and so she's had a chance to really do well. So she designs really nice houses. She doesn't want business. I'm not advertising. She's full. She's saying about everybody. Oh, yeah.

No, I. I think she's brilliant at what she does.

Yeah, I like her. I've seen a little bit of her. Cute, too.

So. So as you've spent. How many. How many years now have you spent working with youth?

Oh, man, probably 30 or so. I was like, 80s, 1980s. We started. Okay, yeah.

Have you found that you have a particular. I'll call, like, drumbeat or heartbeat to your ministry? What is that? What would you call that?

Yeah, I think, you know, man, I love young people. You know, I see a young person walking by themselves home from school, and I just feel compassion in my heart when I walk by them. I am not great with people. So I'm not the kind of youth worker that's like, hey, let's go for coffee and talk, just because I'm not very good at it. But I am really good at programming and building things and also shaping communities. So kind of my drumbeat was always to create an environment where kids could be loved and safe and, you know, could interact with positive peer influence and have godly mentors in their life. And to kind of create that place has kind of been my thing. Probably the. The two little core values that are kind of cider. I'm definitely an includer. Like, I hate seeing people on the outside, so I'm like, hey, come, you know, come sit at our table. Let's all be friends, you know, kind of thing. And the other is accessibility. Because growing up, we were a little bit poor working at the school. And so I remember what it's like to be the kid who everybody went to the ski trip and you couldn't afford it. So I'm kind of like, man, if I'm running a program, if I'm running a retreat or a youth ministry or a study abroad, it's gonna. We're gonna let. This is gonna be a program for the poor kids, too. You know, somebody else can lead the rich kid program. I don't, you know, they'll be fine, but I'm gonna take care of the poor kids, and I want to make sure they're in. Those are probably a couple of things.

And I think that came. That came alive when you did the spring. The spring.

Spring. Thigh spring.

Thought.

Yeah, it was.

It was like a thousand kids coming around here. And you.

Yeah.

Or more.

Right. Like. Yeah, we did 1000, 1200. We kind of maxed out or size that way. Yeah. The school had a grant from Lily to do theological education for high school students, and they wanted us to use it. And so went to the president, said, hey, can you come up with some ideas? And so Leslie and I gave him about four ideas, and he's like, yeah, they really like the idea of doing a retreat. So we did that for, I think for six years. It was great.

Yeah.

Lot of fun.

Massive impact to a lot of. A lot of kids.

40 churches, 50 churches came. Was great gift.

Comes alive in that. So we. We're past the halftime of. Of this podcast, so let's, let's fast forward to. And they bought a chateau. So it's. It's. It's really not. It was fascinating because it really.

It. It.

It grabs your attention, right? You have a castle in France.

Right.

Not a lot of people can be.

Like, it's crazy, the emails we get from people.

And I left my paper on my piano in my castle in France.

Right.

I mean, you can't. Like, that's a good story to like.

Right now there's a bird flying around my castle in France. I can see it on the security camera.

You can see it.

I don't know how I'm gonna get the bird out. I'm over here in America.

Well, you do have, like one of those old guns, right? You have. Anyway back over there and shoot that. So what the cool thing about it is because. What. So I'm fascinated about it. I watched your. I watch your YouTube channel religiously. I follow your story, but. Because I think there's a bigger story in it. And that's why I love, love, love the fact that you went all out and absolutely crazy idea of buying a chateau and in France.

Yeah. So Leslie's the faith person. We've. We've. We. And you know this. Alina and Renee, maybe you will know this, but, like, we've. I'm very concerned about the cost of education and seeing kids that want. That should be in school, that can't be, or that they're alone because they got to go to community college or something that's, you know, it's cheap, but it's not a great experience. And so we started doing, actually, with Multnomah, we take classes over, you know, working with military kids in Germany and Japan and did that a lot of times and saw just incredible growth. When you put people together for a few weeks in a. In a close situation, you can really get to know each other and amazing things can happen. And so we decided we were kind of like, well, and again, I would love it if we could snap our fingers and make all the big universities 10,000 a year. I wish we could do that, but that's not a simple thing in today's. The economics. We're working against the whole country, you know, anyways. But. But since I can't do that, I thought, well, maybe we could do a program where they could get some credits for a fairly low amount and still have an amazing ministry. And so our first idea was to build, like, to build like a frat house or a dorm close to us, like a community college where they could come and do some unaccredited Bible classes while they're knocking off their gen eds or something like that. But then Leslie said, hey, what if we bought a castle? And she's a faith person, and also she spent some time on the Internet looking at properties and stuff. And chateau were pretty cheap back then. You get one for less than a million. And. And so she looked at a lot, and she's. She's extremely good with assessing value and buildings and things like that. She's a very good person to buy houses. And so. So she's. She talked to me for a couple of years, and I'm kind of like, I don't know. I don't. So I'm like, so finally she's like, let's. She's like, why don't we just go over and look? And I'm like, okay, how about we'll take three weeks, we'll go look at 15 castles. We'll see if these are any good. And so we get in a plane, we go over for three. It was the best three weeks of our life. Like, we're. We saw like 15, 20 castles. All her favorite.

I didn't know that.

Oh, yeah, you did that. So fun. The cast. Yeah.

Okay.

And we developed kind of like a top five. And then we. The. From day one, the Chateau de la Griffray was the number one. It was just beautiful. He wanted 900,000 or something. And it was A little bit much, but you know, euro, but, but anyway, so we started negotiating and we literally negotiated for two years with him because it took him four or five years to sell. Because it's hard to sell a chateau. Nobody, not everybody wants one. A lot of work. And so anyways, we got back from that trip, we thought, okay, the chateau are amazing over there. They are actually amazing value. But I said, but who knows if we can even get students? So I'm like, well, why don't we try a tester? We'll rent one and we'll see if we can get a group of kids and you know, snap your fingers. We had 18 kids and we went over for two months, rented one and it was amazing. In 2019, just amazing experience. We saw 10 countries, we charged them 5,000 bucks. They got 12 credits. Multnomah University was great to us. They gave us an articulation agreement so the kids could go to my little school and then transfer into Multnomah, which is kind of what I've always hoped because I love Multnomah and I want to see all these kids go to Multnomah if I could. And some of them were already Maloma kids. So we just had an incredible experience. And so I'm like, okay. So then I'm like, okay, okay, so the chateau are amazing. The experience is incredible. We can get the students. But how are we gonna get a million bucks? And so I'm kind of like, okay, how about this? How about this, Bess? I'm like, if, if God gives us a million bucks, we'll do it. And I'm thinking, that's never gonna happen. Yeah, it could. I mean there's guys, there's rich people in the world could. But who's gonna give you a million bucks to buy a shot? Nobody's gonna right something. And I'm safe. And then real estate started going up here in America and we had a couple properties. By this point we had sold out. We sold our house and we built a house at the beach and I started looking and we had a couple hundred thousand when my parents were killed. My parents were both killed when I was 20 something. I throw that in. And anyways, and so we had a couple hundred thousand. I got a head start on the. And so anyways, I'm looking at the Excel chart and I'm like, oh man, we're getting close. And then my mother in law died and unexpectedly gave us another couple hundred thousand, which she was going to give it all to charity. But in the end she gave us a little bit and then. And so we were kind of like, I'm looking at the Excel chart and I'm like, okay, that's not what I meant. God. Like somebody else gave us a million bucks. So people need to stop dying. Yeah.

For this dream.

Yeah, that's not what I meant. But so basically we sold our mortgaged everything we had and we came up with a million bucks and we bought the chateau and we started the program and last year had an amazing program. And this year we actually had 51 applications. So, you know, we got 39 kids and teachers coming. It's. It's gone really, really well.

So tell, tell us a little bit about the chateau.

Yeah.

So how big? How many rooms? What do you like about it? Yeah, what concerns you about it?

It's a 25 acres. We own 12 of them so far. Okay. Six, five buildings. We've got 4, 000 square foot restaurant. I don't know, a really big stables. I don't know how big. It's cool. Chateau. I think I did the math. They said it was 10,000, but I got the. I got the ruler out and measured. They're not counting three of the five floors. So it's about 20,000 square feet, I think. 20,000 if you include all the floors. But yeah, nobody uses the top floors and the bottom ones in. In France. But it's. It's amazing. It's 165 years old, Napoleon III style. The guy who built it was a general. Fought in the American Revolution, was over here, came back, fought in the French Revolution. There's some people say that he was. He worked for Napoleon somewhere. I read. And again, you don't know what's true and I'm always reading another language. But someone said that it was part of. It was a gift from Napoleon, which. It's built on a Gallo Roman site. So there's a. Well, from the time of the Romans.

No way.

Chateau de la Griffre means castle of the claw. And I think it's because there's so many birds. Like it's in a really high point and just there's always cool birds around. So it's really cool. Okay. Big trees. Big, huge trees.

So is that what you like about it the most?

Oh man.

The history or is there.

You guys need to come over and one of these years we're get all the faculty come over hopefully for just a retreat or something and open invitation.

To the audience of MU talks to join.

Yes. So it's, it's. It's Peaceful. Like, you sit out there and it's just quiet. All you can hear is birds and the sun. And France is in the amazing food. And just the level of work they put into the building. Like, I took it to. I took it to an insurance I was trying to get insured. They're like, yeah, I won't sure for six and a half million. And I'm like, we don't need that. There's no way we'd be able to rebuild, you know, but like, you know, sculptures everywhere. The French just understand beauty, you know, and so it's a beautiful, beautiful building. And not that bad shape too, honestly. Yeah.

So what's. What's your next goal for it? Yeah, you know what I mean? It needs a lot of work. I know you have. So I'm sure you have, like a plan that's. That rolls out. What's the kind of.

Yeah. We have 20 years of work in front of us. The first couple years have been just basically like, we had to put in a kitchen, a commercial kitchen, and we had to make sure all. So we have like, I think nine or 10 working bathrooms and nine bedrooms that are good. There's another 12. A big job for us is the roof. The roof is 100 years old. It's slate, and it's extremely complicated, if you see a picture of it. So we'll have to get that fixed. And I have a couple board members who are about ready to get that fixed now. Like, they want us. And honestly, people have been really good to us on the YouTube channel or wherever, and so we'll probably get that fixed. We're. Our existential crisis is do we kind of stay like around the 20. 20 kids, or do we go more like 50 kids? And. And my wife, I think, would like us to stay 20, because she really likes that vibe, you know, it's such a beautiful thing. I'm a little bit more ambitious. Well, she's ambitious, too.

But you're also moving from a van to a bus.

I know. Yeah. Although I'm already, you know. Yeah.

Traveling in Europe.

Yeah. Well, we have to change the way we did that. Yeah. We have to do separate out trips. Yeah.

And actually you can follow Rob and Leslie's story on the YouTube channel, Chateau de la Griffre. Oh, yeah. And if you don't know how to spell that, just look up Rob Hildebrand.

Just.

Just Google Rob.

We can link it too.

And we should. Oh, yeah, yeah.

You can probably find it because you. You're actually going to get to see some cool Stuff. So here's. Here's one of the. Here's one of the cool things that I appreciated very much. Well, I appreciate it on one hand. And on the other hand, I was like, man, I hope Diane doesn't see this. That's my wife.

Yeah, yeah.

So Rob was able to not only survive thrive on a hundred. Was it $100 a year? €100 for 24 or 25 days.

21 days.

21 days on €100. I want to. Like, that's a challenge. That is if you're listening to this right here today, and you are single or not, I want to challenge you to live for €100, 21 days. And you get to see that on video. You actually get. That is documented, ladies.

It was pretty funny. Like, like, I'm a really mediocre cook. Like, I'm not talented at all. Les is really good. But. But people are like, I got a lot of, like, if I didn't put food in the videos, they're like, where's the food?

What you eat?

What you. And everybody had, like, opinions, like, not enough greens. And, you know, too much of this. I'm like, oh, brother.

He makes crepes. He lives like a king in a chateau on 100 potatoes.

They're cheap.

Why that was really cool and why I really love that is the message that. That sends that to. To young people.

Right?

Because I was like, when he came back, I was like, rob, I want to take you to a restaurant and just like, spend $100 just for redemption. You know, say one meal for redemption purpose says, but what a great example to a generation that, like, just doesn't know how to do that and. And has no incentive to do so. Right. Even though landfill. Even though, like, all the moral and ethical issues that are around us, they just go out the window when it comes to, like, a 40, 50 meal that, like, it's nothing.

Right?

So I love that example.

Yeah.

Now we have a few minutes left. You are not immune to rapid fire.

There we go. Rapid fire.

So we're going to start some rapid fire, and I'll go fast.

Here's.

Here's my first question to you.

Ready?

What was your best purchase this year under €100?

Oh, man. Drone. Got a drone. You got a job, Bucks. Yep. Super fun.

You like it, right?

Yep. Okay.

Okay, Renee, if you could use magic to do one mundane task for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Magic. Oh, come on, Rob. Dishes. Yeah. Since I do the dishes in the house. Yeah.

If you were the ruler of the world. We asked this.

I love it.

I love it. Who would be your top advisor?

Jesus.

Bible College, ladies and gentlemen.

Jesus is not my advisor. He's my boss. Yeah, I don't know the apostle. No, no, not the apostle Paul.

So, okay, let somebody alive. Somebody.

You guys for real? I know. I mean, Leslie's not an adviser. She's part of the ruling. But sure, let's say Leslie. Yep.

It's like she would be the actual ruler.

Yeah. No, she would be co ruling. Yeah.

What's the most useless talent you have?

Oh, man. Useless talent. Oh, I. This is a good question. Useless talent. I have no useless man. I don't know. Donald Duck voice. It's not very good either. It's not that good. Yeah. Useless.

What was the strangest thing you've ever eaten?

Oh, well, I mean, the steak tartar. The raw hamburger was tough. That's not real crazy. I had a. I had a.

Still hard to.

Oh, yeah. It's tough to get your mind around. I didn't like it. Snails. Escargot. You probably got some better ones because you've been to Africa.

Oh.

Oh, man.

I've been to China.

Oh, you've been to China.

I've been to China. I actually seen a wet market.

Wet market. Oh, man, I feel bad.

I've been in it.

It hurts my little heart, so.

But I can't say I. I ate.

I just.

I. I made my way through it and I was like, I can't do that.

Wow.

What's something that scares you?

Yeah, probably, like, not financial ruin, but just, like, squandering our talents. Like, obviously, this has been a dangerous thing. And so there's every real possibility that a tower falls over. We have to sell it. We lose all our. Our stuff, and everybody goes, boy, those guys are idiots. You know, we're generally panned around the world, like, for our lack of wisdom and foresight.

Before you build a chateau, calculate the cost.

Nothing safe about it. Yep.

Here's my last question. And it's like, I don't know why. This is my. This is my favorite question. I have no idea why. If you had a pet parrot, what would you teach it to say?

I'd probably like, hey, I don't know. That's fun.

Is that a Canadian for, like, what are you doing?

Like, hey, welcome here. Kind of like, that's my brothers and I say it to each other. I don't know.

For real?

Yeah.

Okay.

So that has a lot of meaning. Yeah. If something's good, it's like, hey, Congratulations kind of thing.

Ladies and gentlemen, you got a chance to hear a little bit from Rob Hildebrandt from Reverend Doctor.

Thank you.

Robert J. Hildebrand. And I'm, I'm doing this for your students. This is, this is now I'm going to convince your students to call you.

Oh yeah. Reverend Doctor. Right.

But I, what I love about this is that this is a true story of faith and I get inspired by Rob's creativity but by Rob's faithfulness and follow following the story that and the narrative that God is building in his life. You can follow Rob on social media. Most social media things. What are you mostly on Facebook a lot Facebook.

But YouTube now is the thing that's born. Yeah.

You can just look up Rob Builder brand and then do us a favor and follow his channel, follow the story, support it, give money, donate. Send some money to his, to his house.

We're non profit.

Yeah, it's a non profit.

No salary.

Hey, it's and it's a great ministry. It truly is a great ministry. Thank you again for being with us.

Renee.

Thank you again for, for the questions for organizing this for us. Very excited. And Rob, do us a favor.

Okay. Take us out. Okay. Now I'm back to co host and now I'll sound. Well anyways, the, the opinions and comments shared here are not representative of Multlomo University or its affiliates. Thank you for listening into the show.

Thank you.