A Blind Eye

Sometimes it's easier to turn a blind eye.  After all, ignorance is bliss, right?  So we fidget on our phones or in our purses at stoplights, pretending we don't see the person begging there. We avert our gaze from the homeless person under the bridge and just go about our business.  I'm not judging; I do it too.  I rationalize it by telling myself that I can't save everyone, that people make choices and sometimes those choices have dire consequences, and it isn't my fault if...and blah, blah, blah.  

As a matter of fact, I did this just last night, when I got discouraged.  You all know that the piece of land that adjoins the piece I just bought for LI is up for sale, and a coyote wants it. (A coyote is a person who preys on people living in poverty, charging them an outrageous sum to take them to the states illegally to pursue the great American dream.  These people essentially become his slaves until they can pay him back.  If they get stopped and deported, they still have to pay the coyote or he takes everything they have.  Sometimes drugs and human trafficking are also involved.) Mr. Coyote recently got "detained" by the police in Guatemala City with 8 illegals, so now his plan is to reroute people through Huehue, into Mexico, and on into San Antonio. The land that's for sale is 5 minutes off the main highway, and right in the middle of a poor community where he can prey on more desperate people.  He wants to build a holding place for people in transit and put in a mini casino where locals can drink and gamble. I am pretty anxious to thwart that evil plan, but I need about $25K and have about $10K.  So last night I decided that maybe God was closing the door, and I needed to adjust to the idea of having this guy right next door.  It makes me sick to think of it....walking by there every day, watching people throw away what little money they have drinking and gambling, wondering what's happening to the people inside the warehouse.. if there's someone in there against their will, if they're also storing drugs in there...but I had convinced myself that maybe I'd just have to turn a blind eye to it all and focus on the ministry center. That is, until I called two good friends who were willing to be honest with me and tell me that I was giving up too soon...that when God closes a door, He doesn't just gently close it, He slams it, and He hasn't done that yet...that it's not my place to give Him a timeline...and to TRY HARDER. Today I'm thanking God for these two friends of mine, and I'm ready to try again!

See, I really don't think it's ok to turn a blind eye to this.  And I think God agrees with me. This is what He has to say about it: 

If you falter in a time of trouble, how small is your strength!  Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering towards slaughter.  If you say, "But we knew nothing about this," does not He who weighs the heart perceive it?  Does not He who guards your life know it?  Will He not repay everyone according to what they have done?  (Proverbs 24)

There are three types of people mentioned in those verses:  those who are being led away to destruction, those going of their own free will, and those who know it and pretend they don't. I don't want to be in any one of those three groups! It is true that the area of Santa Barbara where I work is full of coyotes, bars, and narco-traffickers. I know where some of the bars are, and I can guess who the coyotes and narcos are, but I don't know for sure.  It's not right under my nose, and it isn't something I can stop. But this one guy--this one piece of property--this one potential evil--we CAN do something about. And I think we should.  We can't sit back and pretend we don't know what will go on there. So until the day that God slams that door shut and someone else signs the deed to that land, I'm going to keep trying to raise the money to buy it for Loving InDeed and do something positive with it.  So many of you are praying about this, and I'm so grateful!  This is spiritual warfare, and "the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much." Please don't stop! And so many of you have already generously donated to this effort.  I can't thank you enough. Ask any missionary anywhere what they dislike the most about their job, and they'll tell you fundraising.  I know that asking for donations is offering people the chance to be a part of something they usually can't physically be a part of--to join God in the work He is doing around the world--to store up treasure in Heaven...but the asking is still hard.  It's probably a pride thing, honestly.  But I want you to know that I'm contributing my own money to this effort too.  I believe that buying this out from under the coyote is the right thing to do.  I believe God will supply what we need.  And I believe that when God said that "he who is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and He will repay him for his deed," He means it.   Every little bit helps!  And while we down here will never be able to pay you back, God can, and He will.  

Donations can be made by going to www.cten.org/lynnannmurphy and clicking on the donate button. I'd also love to hear from those of you who are praying about this.  I need all the encouragment I can get these days!  

The Big Announcement

Because the shot is panoramic, the land appears curved when truly it is a large rectangle.
 Not all of it fits in the picture, but it's everything in front of the yellow line and then some. 

I have finally found land for Loving InDeed, and the title will be transferred to me on Monday!!  Know what's funny about it?  It has been under my nose for months, and I never even knew it was there.  Let me back up...

You'd think that land in a rural community in a third world country would be cheap, but it certainly is not in Santa Barbara.  That municipality is the poorest in all of Huehue.  Most of the land that people own out there they received as an inheritance.  Knowing they're unlikely to have the money to buy more land in the future, they are hesitant to sell what they do have. Then add to that the coyotes (men who take people to the states illegally and charge an OUTRAGEOUS sum to do so) and the narcos who come through and throw big money at people so that they can buy land right along the edge of the main road.  They build big homes and drive their fancy vehicles in and out to entice people with a big show of wealth. The combination of these two things has driven land prices out there through the roof.  The going rate for about 270 square feet of land on the edge of that main road (which is a dirt road, but a very important one) is close to nine thousand dollars.  For that reason, I have not even looked at land on that main road, even though the location is perfect.

I had noticed a for sale sign on some scruffy buildings on the other side of the road from the church, but I assumed they were selling the buildings themselves. The other day a woman I don't even know told me that the buildings weren't for sale--the land behind them was.  I went back there, and was amazed at what I found.  I had my assistant call the owner, who sent his aunt out to show us roughly where the borders of the land were.  While there, we called the owner again, and they put him on the phone with me.  I was afraid to ask the price, honestly. Given the size of the property in question and the going rate, I knew I couldn't afford it.  Then my accent gives me away as a "rich American" and usually the price goes even higher.  Imagine my surprise, when the owner, Amilcar, gave me a price and then lowered it, and lowered it, and lowered it some more once he found out what I wanted it for! Turns out he is a Christian man who now lives and works in Guatemala City and would love to bless his home community.  The price he offered me for the land was phenomenal--less than half of what it is worth.  Still, it was a whole lot of money to spend.  I wanted time to pray and think about it.  And  I asked God for a sign. I told him, "If Amilcar initiates another phone call, and lowers the price by another ten thousand quetzales, I'll know."  Wouldn't you know that that's exactly what happened the next day? Amilcar has another person offering him nearly sixty thousand quetzales more than I can pay for this same land, and he's going to forego that extra money so he can sell to me!  And he reminded me that land along the sides of that road is only going to increase in value because it's next on the list to be paved.  

Taken from quite a distance, so it looks
smaller than it is.  I'll have exact
measurements on Monday, but I already
took some preliminaryones, and it is plenty
 big enough for what I need to put on it. 

The beauty of this little spot is that it is three minutes off the main highway, right off the main dirt road that goes up to the municipal head of Santa Barbara, is right across the street from the church, but because of the row of buildings out front, you'd never know anything worth having was back there. The land gently slopes down to my piece so that I can't see or hear the road from this property, I won't get all the dust in dry season, and my kids can safely run around and play out front.  There's a private driveway that goes directly to the property, and no one else back there owns a vehicle, so I'll be the only one using it. The land is relatively flat, which is next to impossible to find out there. Because of it's nearness to the river, I will not have to dig deep to hit water when I put in a well.  My closest neighbor only had to go down 12 meters. It even has two full grown trees, several small trees, and two lime trees!  It's beautiful.  And it's soon to be mine, primero Dios!  I'm so excited!  I have already sent off my very rough ministry center design to my friend Joel who is an architect.  He has very generously agreed to draw up the plans for free.  Things are beginning to fall into place!

Please pray that everything Sunday afternoon and Monday goes smoothly.  Amilcar is traveling up from the city on Sunday so we can go out to the property together and measure everything precisely and make sure the property markers are in place.  Monday we'll meet with the lawyers to sign the paperwork.   Also,  Amilcar's brother owns an adjoining piece of land that is equal in size to the land I'm buying.  I can't shake the feeling that God is going to work it out for Loving InDeed to have that piece too, even though I don't have the money for it.  Pray!  Things are about to get crazy down here! Or maybe I should say crazier!

Soon to be the view from my office!!