Four years ago one of my fellow missionaries here in Colombia asked me to join him in a project to enlarge our Christian camp. I was reluctant at first, unsure that I could raise the funds needed for the project. But God blessed our efforts, and we were able to pay off our part of the camp lot and have now built the first of what we hope will be ten cabins. In fact, I am sitting in that cabin as I write this. The building has been slow and we have not been able to easily fund the cabin construction and the infrastructure needed for the expansion. But we have made immense progress.
All the while my fellow missionary struggled to try to raise money to pay his half of the lot purchase. The churches in his area of the country have been hit very hard by the recession. Several churches that had promised money for the project were unable to deliver the promised funds. As a result, four years later we had paid off only a little over two thirds of the money needed to purchase the lot. The current owner is a member of the church and has been very patient. Dates on which we had promised to pay him off came and went and he simply signed a new purchase agreement without charging any of the penalties he was entitled to.
But finally he reached a point where he said he needed his money or he would need to sell the lot to someone else. My fellow missionary had not been able to make any payments in nearly two years. Since we have invested significant amounts of funding in the electricity and the first cabin, we did not want to lose all of that or wait for a sale to see what we could recover. I spoke with my fellow missionary and with the owner of the lot. The other missionary ask if I could take over the whole project, at least for now. The owner agreed to give me a bit of time to see if I could raise the rest of the money. I agreed to place this project before the Lord and before all of you.
We now need $8,000 to finish paying off the lot and get a clear title to the property. I began to tie up the lose ends and stop the building on the next cabin so that we can concentrate on raising the needed funds to pay of the lot. This is an urgent need and our time is limited. If you or your church can help meet this need we will be able to pay of the lot and move forward with construction without any concerns for the title for the property. Please consult your missions committee or Sunday school class as quickly as possible as we need to pay off the rest of this money as quickly as possible so as to avoid problems with this project.
This problem was totally unexpected and is directly related to the financial recession in the States. We could never have foreseen this coming when we first moved to purchase the camp property. We prayed and asked the Lord for guidance. We consulted with our supporting churches. Everything indicated we should move forward. Things went very well for a while, until the recession choked of much of the giving for my friend and fellow missionary, making it impossible for him to complete his portion of the project. Your help will help the work here; it will help out my good friend and fellow missionary; it will help the Christian leader who sold us the property; it will help us to move forward with an exciting project that has hit a major snag.
One church recently heard of our problems, even before we had published this information. They immediately authorized a special gift of $1,000 dollars. That really encouraged us. Now we humbly ask you to help as well so that we can resolve this urgent problem and rejoice with you as the Lord provides through you for our special and unexpected need.