January 2019 Newsletter
Greeting to all!
The start of 2019 has begun with much excitement because of what God is going to do! We left 2018 with a bang and are entering 2019 with the same momentum!
We received $20,000 to begin the new kitchen, restrooms, classrooms and new chapel at the ranch. We look forward to inviting the neighborhood for prayer and church services! Please pray for an additional $80,000 to complete this project before the close of 2019.
Once we finish this new structure, the old kitchen will become a dorm and study hall for the men going to seminary. This will be a great blessing for these men studying for ministry.
Also, we will start planning with our engineer the move of the Orphanage to the ranch, this will be a 4 year plan. Where the boys and girls will have plenty of space to play and do staff! We want to build homes that will feel like homes and not dorms. A more family friendly environment!
Talking about the ranch, here is a short version of how God took care of us at the ranch!
From our home, it took us about 2 hours to get to the ranch, back in March of 2000. There were no roads or no highways leading to this part of Tijuana. We purchased the property with cash my mother took out of a second mortgage on her house.
One day as several of us were returning to our construction site on our new property. A SUV was approaching us on our narrow one lane dirt road causing us both to stop in the middle of the road. Five very large Mexico cowboys got out of the SUV wearing cowboy boots and large cowboy hats. It immediately looked confrontational.
“OK guys, keep cool,” I said inside the car, and we prayed a short quick prayer before getting out and meeting these big bad boys! I remember saying: “Good afternoon, how can we help you?”
One of the tall cowboys said; “We heard you are building on our property. We told your wife and men to get off our property.” I told them we purchased the property and have the paperwork to prove it. But they told us it was their property and they didn’t sell it to anyone!
They agreed to meet with us and out attorney so we could show them title to the property. We all got back into the car, a little on edge but managed to get around each other as we continued to dive back to the ranch. I remember sharing: “God is with us and He is in control!”
When we arrived my wife Rossy and the others met us at the car. While the others unloaded the car, Rossy told me how the five cowboys came and threatened them to get off the land. I remember bending down and getting a hand full of dirt and prayed aloud: “Lord, you allowed us to buy here and we purchase this land for your work and glory!”
We met a couple days later and learned with our attorney present, that we purchased the property without clear title to a deed. Our seller still had debt on the property which the Mexican cowboys meant to collect.
Neither one of us wanted to enter into a legal battle and be burdened with additional costs and legal fees. Plus, we all knew we were at risk because there was no guaranty who might win the case, it could go either way!
I asked then, if there was any way possible of working this out? The cowboys agreed to settle for seven thousand dollars. The seller to us agreed to pay three thousand dollars and we agreed to pay the balance. In the end we paid a little more but we still were well below the market value of the property. Plus, we were free to go back to the property and get to work!
We were all very excited about how an ugly situation, could have gotten so much uglier, but thanks to God, all parties came quickly to an agreement!
This property where many teased us by saying who are you going to reach out there, besides lizards and spiders. For there was nobody around us, we were right in the middle of nowhere!
But it goes to show, how a place like this has become a place where many have be freed from addictions and are now serving the Lord! God turned this place where there is no water and electricity, into a place of light and blessing!
God is good all the time. This is one thing we have learned in our journey, God is good, faithful and He can be trusted with it all! Enjoy our before and after pictures of the ranch!
Your missionaries, Carlos and Rosy and the rest of the La Roca team!
