Guatemalan Journey: How Our New Home Came to Be--timeline

Los Cardinales, our condominium complex
Our house is at the far back
(more pictures at the end of this post)

On Mar. 23, I reluctantly began looking at houses and land. Reluctantly, because the amount needed to fulfill this dream was more than I could imagine. It was a rather discouraging process. Everything was sooo expensive (the least expensive house I had seen was $235,000, and did not meet our needs; land was at least $65,000 a lot, and we would need two for the size of house we require.)

Only a few days before I was to leave for the US, I received a call from Tere, our very excited realtor! She had just come from seeing a new listing, and insisted I make time to see it before I left. "I think God built it for your guys!" March 25 I went with her and immediately fell in love with the house, though kept reminding myself as I was walking through the house, "This has got to cost more than you can spend." It was the end of the tour before she told me the price, grinning as she did so--$170,000 US. This was $65,000 less than anything I had seen. Surely she was wrong. I even asked her to go back to the office to confirm the price--and it was $170,000. I began to think maybe she was right in her original statement to me. Maybe this was THE house God had in mind for us.

Still, $170,000 seemed an impossible amount to raise for it's purchase. I left for the States asking God to help me hold the desire for this house with open hands.

Our Taste of Guatemala dinner was held April 25. It was originally scheduled for last September, but staff changes here changed my travel plans and I needed to stay in Guatemala longer than I expected. I am awestruck, once again, that God had His perfect timing in arranging for our dinner and finding THE house to fall within a month of each other. At the dinner, we raised $27,000, more than we needed to make an offer of 10% down.

On April 28, I called our realtor and made an offer on the house. She emailed me the papers to sign, and I sent them back the next day. I had no sooner hit "send" than I received word from her that there were two other people interested in the house--both with better financing than we would have. I have to admit that while I was disappointed, I was content knowing that we at least now had a floor plan which I liked and could use to build. I returned to Guatemala fully ready to start the search for land, yet again. By this time, we had received over $50,000 towards the house.

When I got back, I talked to Tere and we arranged to have coffee and discuss other options available to us. I almost fell off the chair when she told me the head of the real estate firm had said we should resubmit our offer; the owner of the land had not accepted either of the other offers. It was my turn to knock Tere off her chair when I told her we would now have $40,000 to make a down payment!

After almost a week of waiting, we received word that our offer had been accepted. However, the head of the firm had concerns that we were not eligible to live there since the condominium by-laws prohibit businesses. I had an appointment with my attorney that afternoon to review the paperwork, I felt a small amount of panic, but decided to proceed.

When I met Manuela Rosales, the attorney, I breathed a huge sigh of relief. Fluent in both English and Spanish, and a woman of deep faith, she immediately took charge and started making phone calls. (Thank you, Judy Kerschner, for referring me to her!) It just so happened that Manuela was an attorney often used by the real estate firm we were going through. It just so happened that she was able to reassure me that this was a very reputable company. After talking with the owner, and stating that under Guatemalan law our home is considered a family (since we don't rent rooms, and have a stable list of residents) so there should be no problem on that account. Also, it just so happened, that she personally knew the attorney for the seller (who happened to be the owner's father) and he, too, was a man of integrity and faith. For those of you not familiar with business dealings in Guatemala, let me tell you that working with three trust-worthy firms on a business deal of this type is nothing short of a Godincident!

The next step was do make the down-payment. The owner of the property actually lived in the US, and I thought that would make transferring the money easier. WRONG! Since I was not in the States to sign for a wire transfer, that was not an option. The realtor sent me the phone number of the owner in the US, and he graciously agreed to accept a personal check. This I could do electronically, only it would be six days at least before the bank would send the check. I have to admit that it was a tense time waiting for confirmation that he had received the deposit, and that somehow I had not gotten his address wrong when I spoke to him long distance.

On Monday, June 15, I finally signed the agreement to purchase. We have a $13,000 payment due on August 1st, after which we can assume possession of the house if we pay 1% of the remaining balance as rent until the house is paid off. Our plan is to move in late October, when our lease here runs out. It just so happens that All Nations Church in Omaha working with the Josiah Foundation is sending a time to help us make the move!

Our final payment is due February 1, 2016. We would like to have as much of the balance as possible before we take possession October 15 as it will reduce the amount we pay in rent until the house is paid off.

Will you join us in praying for God's provision to make this happen?