Colombian Christian Mission

COLOMBIAN CHRISTIAN MISSION
Dale and Jeanie Meade
In the jungle and prairie of Southeastern Colombia
Volume 6, Issue 11 November, 1978

HOUSING PROBLEMS SOLVED

Our housing problems began the day we arrived in Colombia. We moved into the storage room behind the church building and I started looking for a house or apartment to rent. Having just arrived from the States we were sure that we could look at a half a dozen or so and pick one that suited our budget. We started walking up and down the streets. For over a week we looked. In that time we were up and down every street in the city that might contain suitable housing. Yet in all of that time we saw only one house and one apartment. The apartment was fairly large. It had four bedrooms and was very nice. Unfortunately the price was $350 per month. The small town house was in poor shape. The price was better but it still was renting for $135. The owners promised to fix it up a little so we moved in. After such a hassle we were happily to settle down for what we thought would be our whole three year term. Unfortunately things weren't to be quite so simple. In three months the owners still hadn't made some needed repairs and yet they raised the rent to $145. Well, that's life on the mission field. For two more months we lived in peace. Then there was the land lord again. "Things are going up," she said, "going to have to raise the rent again." "How much," I wearily asked. "$200 a month," came the discouraging answer. Now there is a limit to what a stingy missionary will pay for a small (largest bedroom was 9 sq. ft.) town house apartment. "NO WAY!" I retorted. "Then get out of my house," she replied. "There is no rush as long as you are out in three days," and she turned on her heels and stomped out. We were flabbergasted. So I went to look for housing. There was absolutely nothing available within our price range. In fact there was nothing available period. An American has a hard time understanding why it is hard to find a house to rent but you just can't imagine the extreme shortage of housing in Latin America. Every week the land lord came up to threaten us. Yet try as we could, there was nothing available.
Finally we decided that it would be wiser to buy. Rents are going up at over 100 percent per year while the dollar has rapidly been losing its purchasing power. Assuming a no inflation situation with a stable dollar and you would be able to pay off a house in 7 to 8 years with the rent money. With the inflation and dollar situation it is actually more like 5 years. We sold the house in San Jose for $3250, twice what we paid for it. But housing in a big city is far more expensive. We sold some other things and borrowed some money. At the time we began looking for a house to buy. Two months passed. Housing for sale is about as scarce as rental property. Finally we located a small but nice town house for $16,500. It had not luxuries like hot water, but was well suited for our needs. It had bars on all the windows and cistern for collecting rain water. (Water here comes in untreated from the river and is usually quite muddy.) It even has a hand-pump to pump water to the storage tank on the roof. That way we can even have water all day long. (Here water comes to the house only during certain hours of the day.) We bought the house and moved in a couple of months later. All the while the land lord stopped by once or twice a week to threaten us with law suits, fines and everything else imaginable.
We are now happy to finally be settled in our own house. But the problem still exists for others. Carl Hines has moved three times in four years. The Lord blessed us in providing the means to purchase this house. Yet we still have roughly $7,000 in loans. Any special help in paying these off would help us greatly in being able to function more easily in the face of a 35 percent inflation and a declining dollar.


WINNING YOUR NEIGHBOR.

It is normal to want to win your neighbor to the Lord. This indicates a healthy concern for them as well as a realization of the supreme importance of world evangelism. We, as a group of missionaries, are likewise concerned for those who live next to us. Only in this case it is a neighboring country that commands our attention and concern. Venezuela shares this vast prairie and jungle region with Colombia. Our rivers continue Eastward and Northward, and for the most part into Venezuela. The dugout canoes that loaded and unloaded in San Jose would often head down river to Venezuela. Many of the products of the region are exported via "our neighbor." With our close relations it is logical that we be concerned about their salvation.
Yet this vast land in which we live, is for the most part unevangelized. We find ourselves overworked just trying to take the Gospel to our own "Jerusalem and Samaria." So as we long to reach out into our "tierra vecina," we are physically unable to go at the present. But we still are preaching the Gospel there. Our radio program is designed to reach our immediate area. But the shortwave band also carries the same program great distances. About one month after there has been a steady trickle of letter from that country. One recent letter contained to following message. "Greetings in the name of Christ Jesus. This letter is for the purpose of informing you that your program 'Waking with the Lord' has a tremendous listening audience here. We have a great deal of interest in the things of the Lord and would like more information on being Christians only. Please play the following hymn by the Alvarado Brothers..." Because of the shortage of personnel here we can do no more than send tracts and other literature. But even though the shortage of missionaries prevent us from going to Venezuela in person, we preach the Gospel there every weekday morning from 6:15 to 6:30 in hundreds of homes. We are planting these seed and trusting in the Lord to give increase.