Fred Erb shaking hands with land owner.
Here we are already at the end of the first week of March and I have yet to get off a blog that was begun back in the middle to February. Theresa began one at that point, just after Fred Erb had been here and we had been involved in a couple of heavy weeks of meetings and preparations for the land purchase. Fred had also been very busy with teaching another cycle of Project L.A.M.B.S. courses every evening as well.
From that point until now we have not stopped running, and I will simply tweak her blog from February and post it along with an update of what has happened from then until now.
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In February Theresa wrote:
Pastor Fred Erb from Listowel, Ontario spent the last two weeks in Cd. Valles with us skillfully balancing many roles. By day he served in various meetings as the Board Administrative Representative for Listowel Community Church and Voice in the Wilderness Ministries (Canada). In the evenings he became the Project L.A.M.B.S. (Light Abroad Mobile Bible Schools) teacher and trainer. In between, he was a sounding board for Steven, and a good brother with whom to discuss again the vision for a unique Bible and Vocational Training School here in the Huasteca region of Mexico.
So what did the multitude of meetings accomplish? Well, the truth is, we are finally, at long last, only a few steps away from the completing of our second goal.
Our first goal, as you may recall, was to officially set up a registered nonprofit association under which the Bible School and Vocational Training Center could legally function under the laws of the Mexican government, while also satisfying all the Canadian nonprofit regulations. This nonprofit association, named Obreros Unidos para Cosechar (Laborers United for Harvest) was finalized last month, and its corresponding Scotia Bank account was opened. This now means that money can be sent from the Canadian Ministry bank account into the Mexican nonprofit account.
Our second goal is to complete the purchase of the 6.5 hectors of land which we have already located, and which we believe God has chosen for us to use for the School and Training Center. After hours of meetings in which we hashed out the legal details of how money can be raised, transferred, distributed, and accurately accounted for, we were finally able to fulfill all of our responsibilities. Since the legalities of a work between three countries is much more complicated than working with the regulations of one government alone, we have a Board of Directors for VitW Ministries (Canada), as well as a completely separate Board of Directors for OUpC. Both Boards then have delegates in a Management Committee representing both of its respective members.
Since the relationship between the Canadian Ministry and that of the Mexican nonprofit is in the form of a Joint Ministry Agreement, a very formalized arrangement needs to be maintained between both ministries, and careful accounting made of what each party in the joint ministry brings to the table.
Into this mix, Steven is also responsible to keep careful accounting with the Voice in the Wilderness (U.S.) counterpart. This all makes for some stressful times for Steven, but thankfully he is “gifted” (or cursed) with a pedantic nature which drives him to look after the boring details required in this arrangement.
We now simply need to wait until after the Ejido (land cooperative) meeting on March 6th for final permission to transfer the land title, including the full sugarcane contract into the name of Obreros Unidos para Cosechar. After this formality is taken care of and we have been received by the ejido as acceptable buyers, we can make the final payment to the landowner. This payment will take place in front of a Notary on March 7th and will complete 1 ½ years of legal paper work on our part. Now the REAL physical work can begin in earnest!
The OUpC Board of Directors has chosen to hire Javier Santos as the Farm Administrator and Production Manager, representing it to the Sugarcane Grower’s Association and the Sugarcane Company in Cd. Valles. As soon as the final payment has been made on the land, and as soon as OUpC holds title and cane contract in hand, Javier will begin to prepare the soil for planting in late summer when the rainy season begins.
Javier is a husband, father to three young sons, pastor, native evangelist, Project L.A.M.B.S. graduate and teacher at Light of the Nations Bible Institute. He also has a background in sugarcane farming and has a godly passion to train young men and women to become servant leaders for Christ. We know God has prepared him with all of these needed skills to be used to further the work of His kingdom in this region of Mexico today. We are so excited to have him as our right hand man in this whole endeavor since Steven and I have no knowledge or skill whatsoever in sugarcane production!
Miraculously, there was just enough money – with $60 dollars in the black – to pay for the land and legal issues in
Theresa gingerly walking across a very rickety foot bridge.
setting up the nonprofit. However, we do not have any money left over to begin working the land, nor planting the crop in the fall. We hope to take a loan from the Sugarcane Growers Association to begin cleaning out the old cane and cultivating the land, as well as for the purchase of seed cane for planting. It will cost approximately $8,000 dollars to cultivate and plant the five hectares of sugarcane. However, once planted the crop should be able to produce annually for the next eight or more years if it is fertilized and kept irrigated during the dry months. The one-time heavy initial investment will produce many years of harvest, and a loan should never need to be made again since the expenses can be budgeted into the returns.
This brings up one of our next expenses – a well. Since there are two creeks running nearby, one on the north, and the other on the south side of the land, we are convinced that the property has a good water table. We have contacted a ministry which has told us that we should be able to have a good well dug for about $5,000 dollars which will provide an ample water supply for the crops as well as facilitate the entire Bible School and Training Center needs. Without water we cannot even hope to begin. We are praying for the funds to drill a well.
A second need is for a small, used tractor and implements in order to do our field work. The tractor need not be big, and some pretty basic implements would be all that we will require. If God provides these there will be several natural spin-offs – first of all, we will be freed from the expensive need to rent fieldworkers and equipment every time that our land needs to be worked. Secondly, we can then rent out our own tractor and workers to the surrounding farmers for a source of revenue for the School. Then, finally, we have a very natural “classroom” to teach heavy equipment mechanics to our students. We are praying that God will lay it upon someone’s heart to donate a tractor and implements for the school for an income tax deduction. Surely there is a farmer somewhere who has a very useable tractor which he would love to donate to the school.
If God has touched your heart concerning any of these needs we will be greatly blessed.
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So, now it is several weeks later, and in fact the day when the ejido meeting took place. I was not there, but Ezequiel represented OUpC to the ejido. Everything went very well, and now the next step is simply to sign all of the paperwork and make final payment to the land owner. Then we will own the property, and can begin cultivating for planting in the late summer.
Huastecan vistas.
We have been very busy. Theresa and I are still “moving” into our new place. Actually, we are living in it, and have been here since January. The trouble is that since we are in the process of finishing off another little room by the market area where the computers and computer desks will be utilized, until it is finished they are all being stored in our second bedroom. Because everything is stored hither and yon we are still in the living-from-the-suitcase-mode. Also, I still need to finish the kitchen cabinets – varnishing them and putting the doors back on. This means that Theresa is still stashing her kitchen stuff anywhere that she can. But, it will all get done when it gets done I guess. Mañana is still a good sentiment in this case. I am trying to juggle administrative work, ministry outreaches, painting and patching walls, etc., etc. But how is this any different from what any one else is doing – we are all living full lives. Life and work in Mexico is not really very different from anywhere else.
In two weeks Cleo Yoder arrives for another two-week cycle of Project L.A.M.B.S. classes. The very exciting thing that is happening with this Bible School now is that national teachers are being trained to take over the school. Last month when Fred was here a brand new twelve-course cycle began. Fred worked with two young women – graduates of the L.A.MB.S program – who were his teaching assistants. This time Cleo will do the same with two of the men who are also graduates. The whole concept is to work with them, and hand more and more of the course load over to them, so that by the end of the twelve modules, the national teachers will be able to continue without any more assistance from Canadian and American teachers. This is very exciting to me.
Project L.A.M.B.S. times are always busy times for Theresa and I. We are not only responsible to the hosting and cooking for the men, but also I need to make sure that the administrative things are taken care of before they arrive, as well as putting out any fires while they are here for the two weeks that they are teaching. But it is always a good time as well. Each of the teachers who have been coming down over the years are our friends, and it is always good to spend time with them.
I apologize to all of the northerners who are still shoveling out of the snow drifts for what I will say next, but it is beginning to get very hot again. The pleasantly cool days are a thing of the past for another year I am afraid. While you shovel snow and shiver wishing for warmer weather, we sweat and wish for cool. We both end up paying in the end, just at opposite ends of the spectrum.
Until our next blog…
