On hold. The next thing we need is a steel structure that includes the bases, support columns, and roof. I was sure we would have the funds to start this in January, that the Lord would work a miracle. We still do not have the funds and there is nothing we can do until we get them. We need $10,000 more to start and $30,000 to finish. So we wait patiently, well Geoffrey does at least (I have a harder time with the patient part), until the Lord brings in the funds. The second we get them, we make the agreement and start the home.
Believe me, this is hard for me to do. I am a go-getter, get-it-done, no time for laziness kind of person. The babies and the kids are out there and they are waiting...we just don't have anywhere we can legally put them until the Lord provides the donations.
Bad, Dirty, Evil Lawyer:
We bought the land for the children's home last year in May. We still do not have not one document that says we purchased the land, although we have pictures in the lawyer's office, with the seller, holding the check we gave him, etc, etc. Turns out we were recommended a very bad guy. Last year in about October when we realized something was very wrong with this lawyer and that he had charged us 100x the fair amount, took our money, and never did the work, we turned the whole ordeal over to our trustworthy board member, Cesar Macz, who is licensed to handle situations like these. Cesar has been making trips to the College of Lawyers in Guatemala City getting help from them to force the lawyer to do the work and either pay the taxes or return our money. He has Q29,960 which is approximately $3,850 of the mission money and $2,250 of that is the taxes we have to pay to the government for the purchase of the land. Well his excuse is that his secretary stole money from him and he hasn't been able to pay. Then we find out last week that in February of 2012 his license to do the land documents was revoked and he had no authority to do our land documents in the first place.
So what does that mean for us? 1) He has 30 more days to find a way to do our paperwork legally and pay the taxes and provide us with proof of payment and our title. 2) We will have to resign the documents (basically like we are purchasing the land for the first time), but now we have our Association in Guatemala and can buy the land in the name of the Association and it will be tax free, which means that we put back $2,250 in the mission account once he returns it. 3) If he does not have everything completely done and done legally in 30 days, we take him to court, sue him for the entire $3,850 and all the costs associated with the lawsuit and we pay our board member to do the paperwork, and he won't overcharge us.
So we wait until mid-March to find out what we will do.
Bad, Dirty, Evil Man who lives in our community:
His name is Rigoberto and he is the one who stole Q3000 something ($350 or so) from us along with a bunch of other stuff. He was the foreman working on the garage/apt last year. Once we got back from the States in January, we finally confronted him that we knew he had stolen from us, that we had documented proof. He had also been threatening our guard, who happens to be his cousin, nonstop. We told him that he needed to stop threatening our guard or we would call the authorities, and that yes, we know he stole from us, but no, we were not going take action against him unless he did not quit threatening our guard. The only thing we would do is make sure that he never ever worked for us or on our property again. Well he never denied that he stole from us, but he did get mad and tell us we were not allowed to assist the poor lady that moved in next door (she is on his property) and that if we did not give him work he would block the road that goes to our house and not let us pass.
So what happened? He did quit threatening our guard, but he started spreading rumors about him. We told the lady we were sorry but we couldn't let her connect to our water line because Rigoberto said. And he did try to block the road one day and almost got shot by a truck driver that he was not going to let pass. He has not blocked the road again since, but just in case, we are making a pathway to get to the road from the other side of our property. The road he is wanting to block is the only road we currently can use to get to the main road. So we are finding another way to get to it just in case he tries again. Then he will see he is wasting his time.
Pregnancy:
I am 16 weeks now and still having to take medicine to keep from throwing up all day, but for the most part it works. My husband is so kind and helps me out so much. He even blowdries my hair for me when I don't have the energy to do it myself. I can tell I am pregnant now and I need more comfortable clothes, so tomorrow we will go to the Pacas and try to find some used maternity clothes that can get me through the rest of this pregnancy. I think we have decided together that after this baby, we will just get ourselves some multicolored, multinationality children from now on and avoid going through another extremely difficult pregnancy. We thank God though for this baby and the pregnancy, as tough as it has been, because if someone would have told me it would be like this before we got pregnant....well...I don't know, but Geoffrey and I may have ended up the only Canches (whities) in our family! So whether we have a little Mary Charis or a York...we are blessed and excited!
I suppose that is all for the updates for now. Wish I had some super exciting, life changing, soul saving, orphan helping news to share with you. But pray for us as we go through this process so the next blog will be one full of just that. We have some very faithful supporters who go above and beyond in helping us financially provide for this children's home. I don't know where we'd be without them and I am so incredibly thankful to each and every one of them. We are doing everything we can to save up the donations right now in order to be able to move forward with the children's home, and I just ask the rest of you to please pray pray pray for us. Ask the Lord how you can be involved. I don't like waiting when it comes to so many important little lives, but I will and I will listen to what the Lord has to tell me during this time. Pray for the funds to come in and pray for volunteer teams to be ready to come down and help us get this thing built so we can bring in the babies who are so desperately waiting. For more information, email us at misionvidanueva@yahoo.com
Love,
Jenna
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