The Great House Hunt
6:53 PM
Did you ever get an unexpected blessing from God that made you feel special?
When we moved to Honduras four and a half years ago, we had quite a few prayers going up all at once. We needed to obtain a vehicle, housing, appliances, furniture—all within a very short time period. After we bought our truck, we tackled the housing situation. We need to find a safe place to rent in Progreso, the key word being safe. The city can be dangerous, especially for foreigners. Our house, like most Honduran houses, needed to have a wall surrounding the property and bars on the windows. We wanted to purchase a big guard dog, as well; I was hoping to find a Rottweiler, having wanted to own one for a long time, but any intimidating dog would do. We looked at quite a few places in Progreso, but I was discouraged by what we found. Many houses were in dangerous neighborhoods or were in very bad shape. The “amenities” most new homes boast here are “Running water! Electricity! Sewage System!” The few nice homes we found were for sale only, and we were not in a position to buy, since we did not have residency in the country or a way to get a loan in Honduras. We were starting to wonder if we would be able to even live in Progreso at first; our partners, the Goins, had arrived two weeks before us. They had not been able to find anything in Progreso either, and had decided to rent a place in San Pedro in the meantime. With the 45 minute drive to San Pedro, we were really hoping that at least one of our families would be able to locate housing right in Progreso. We continued to pray, and many prayers went up on our behalf.
We decided to look in an area up on the side of the mountain, near the public hospital. We had heard that there were some nice homes there, and that it was a safe place to live. Sure enough, as we drove around the area, we thought, This is perfect! There has to be a home for rent here! We saw one sign that said “For Sale,” and we talked with the owners to see if they would be willing to rent. They were not, so I dejectedly headed for the car…another closed door. Frustration was starting to set in as I realized we had looked for housing in all of the safe areas of the city now and had found nothing. We headed down the street to leave the neighborhood, but noticed that some construction workers had blocked the road ahead, preventing us from leaving by that street. We had to put the car in reverse to leave the way we had come in. As we headed back, we noticed a man had come out of a white house and was waving us down. We rolled down the window and he asked, “Are you Americans?” We nodded. “Are you Christians?”
Robbie and I gave each other puzzled looks. “Yes, we are missionaries moving here to start a church.”
“Well, the guard from the house on the corner said you are looking to rent. I might like to rent my house to you. Do you want to see it?”
We excitedly entered the house and learned that this family had decided just days before to move to Florida because of a death in the family. They would be leaving in two weeks. The house needed quite a bit of work, but the size was perfect and it had a very large yard, which is a rare find here. The owner offered to show us the back yard and storage building, so we followed him around back. To my great surprise, I saw a beautiful Rottweiler tied up under a tree!
“Is the dog for sale?” I wondered.
“Sure is!” We bought Roxy on the spot. The Lord had not only given us a safe place to live, but He had even put my dog in the backyard for me!
Robbie and I have lunch on our faithful Rubbermaids shortly after moving in--we flew into Honduras with these things, and they have served as dining room furniture, end tables, nightstands, you name it! (Dallita and I joke that we are on a five-year furniture plan to completely eliminate the Rubbermaids).
When we moved to Honduras four and a half years ago, we had quite a few prayers going up all at once. We needed to obtain a vehicle, housing, appliances, furniture—all within a very short time period. After we bought our truck, we tackled the housing situation. We need to find a safe place to rent in Progreso, the key word being safe. The city can be dangerous, especially for foreigners. Our house, like most Honduran houses, needed to have a wall surrounding the property and bars on the windows. We wanted to purchase a big guard dog, as well; I was hoping to find a Rottweiler, having wanted to own one for a long time, but any intimidating dog would do. We looked at quite a few places in Progreso, but I was discouraged by what we found. Many houses were in dangerous neighborhoods or were in very bad shape. The “amenities” most new homes boast here are “Running water! Electricity! Sewage System!” The few nice homes we found were for sale only, and we were not in a position to buy, since we did not have residency in the country or a way to get a loan in Honduras. We were starting to wonder if we would be able to even live in Progreso at first; our partners, the Goins, had arrived two weeks before us. They had not been able to find anything in Progreso either, and had decided to rent a place in San Pedro in the meantime. With the 45 minute drive to San Pedro, we were really hoping that at least one of our families would be able to locate housing right in Progreso. We continued to pray, and many prayers went up on our behalf.
We decided to look in an area up on the side of the mountain, near the public hospital. We had heard that there were some nice homes there, and that it was a safe place to live. Sure enough, as we drove around the area, we thought, This is perfect! There has to be a home for rent here! We saw one sign that said “For Sale,” and we talked with the owners to see if they would be willing to rent. They were not, so I dejectedly headed for the car…another closed door. Frustration was starting to set in as I realized we had looked for housing in all of the safe areas of the city now and had found nothing. We headed down the street to leave the neighborhood, but noticed that some construction workers had blocked the road ahead, preventing us from leaving by that street. We had to put the car in reverse to leave the way we had come in. As we headed back, we noticed a man had come out of a white house and was waving us down. We rolled down the window and he asked, “Are you Americans?” We nodded. “Are you Christians?”
Robbie and I gave each other puzzled looks. “Yes, we are missionaries moving here to start a church.”
“Well, the guard from the house on the corner said you are looking to rent. I might like to rent my house to you. Do you want to see it?”
We excitedly entered the house and learned that this family had decided just days before to move to Florida because of a death in the family. They would be leaving in two weeks. The house needed quite a bit of work, but the size was perfect and it had a very large yard, which is a rare find here. The owner offered to show us the back yard and storage building, so we followed him around back. To my great surprise, I saw a beautiful Rottweiler tied up under a tree!
“Is the dog for sale?” I wondered.
“Sure is!” We bought Roxy on the spot. The Lord had not only given us a safe place to live, but He had even put my dog in the backyard for me!
Robbie and I have lunch on our faithful Rubbermaids shortly after moving in--we flew into Honduras with these things, and they have served as dining room furniture, end tables, nightstands, you name it! (Dallita and I joke that we are on a five-year furniture plan to completely eliminate the Rubbermaids).
The front gate of our h
ome in Honduras. We were so thankful to find this house!
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