First week of old house restoration!

The past week has been very eventful as we work on our house. The agony of sore muscles is ever present but we are making amazing progress. Here are a couple videos from day four of our project and then I will write more about later adventures!

During this process I have shed more than my share of tears. First, as you have seen, I had the downstairs bathroom to clean. Typically I can hold my emotions in check until a terrible task is finished and then I allow myself to fall apart. But this was different, it was very difficult and I basically cried the whole time I was cleaning the bathroom. Bethany would come to see how I was doing and I would sniff and wipe my tears and say, "I'm all right, I just need to be able to cry right now" and continue on with my horrid task working diligently through my tears.

Eventually, I got the bathroom totally cleaned, disinfected and completely scrubbed out. I will admit though it was a very difficult process and one that I did not handle nearly as well as I thought I would. Between the human refuse and the rat droppings I was a basket case!

While I was cleaning the bathroom Bethany was working on the graffiti, Nathaniel was clearing the back yard jungle, and Gary was shoveling out dirt and trash from the basement. Needless to say we were all thoroughly exhausted when we got home.

Thankfully, in anticipation of renting this house, I cooked about two months worth of meals (in two days time!) and so our freezer is stocked full of hearty food. It is so nice to come home and have meatballs and sauce in the crock pot and only have to boil the pasta to have a good home cooked spaghetti dinner. There's still the dishes to do and the stove to wipe up but it is much better than cooking from scratch every day. (We don't have the availability of fast food in Taxco and we certainly don't have the money to go to a sit down restaurant for every meal.)




 Cleaning the upstairs is the worst part, probably of the whole project. This may sound simple enough but let me explain. This floor had the most disgusting aspect of filth in the entire house. I suppose you could just multiply the downstairs bathroom by 20 and you would get the filth that was on the second level of the home. It seems that every kind of vermin made his home on this floor, whether it was rats, scorpions, or the dregs of society looking for a place to have sex and do who knows what else!

We also felt it was a spiritually dark location. I was crying and shaking before we ever began. So the four of us held hands and prayed before any work was started. With every trash bag full and every bottle of bleach used, I felt the evilness being cleaned out of the house. I kept praying and felt God's presence in me but a sense that he could not dwell in this house along with the filth of sin and dirt. So we cleaned and prayed and cleaned and prayed some more. After a while I felt some of the spiritual darkness lift, particularly as we prayed and cleaned with bleach. It was as if the spiritual darkness was represented by the literal filth in each room. We went through six medium sized bottles of bleach and two extra large bottles of bleach .We also used four giant bottles of PineSol type disinfectant!

One interesting aspect cleaning in Mexico is that the floors are ceramic tile, and the walls are stone, concrete, and brick! There's no carpet, drywall, or wood construction.

 So after the initial trash was picked up and the grime swept with a broom, we turned the hose on and started pouring bleach and disinfectant on the floors! It was very freeing and was an incredible way to do the final stage of cleaning. We then swept the enormous amount of water down the stone stairs and out the front door! The combi drivers would go past and smile and wave as we had this river of water coming out the front door of our house!

Cleaning this way also has its fun aspects. After the grime was cleaned up, Bethany got on her knees and slid back and forth in the water like a little kid.

All in all it was an exhausting time but also very productive! We are nearly finished with the cleaning aspect of this house, which as we are at the one week point into the project is very encouraging. Next week Bethany and I finish up the loose ends of our cleaning work while Gary and Nathaniel clear out the basement. After that we will be ready to start buying everything necessary to paint the first floor!

Presumably Bethany and I will paint the first floor while Gary and Nathaniel begin the large task of electrical wiring (everything was torn out of the walls) plumbing (everything was torn out of the walls) and getting gas hooked up for our stove and water heaters (again everything was stripped from the house).

One of the encouraging aspects is how beautiful this house really is. Every time we clean an area we are astounded by the natural beauty. So in this whole process we are being rewarded by watching the hidden splendor emerge. I can't wait until we begin to paint and cover up the graffiti. That will make a tremendous difference! But this project has to be tackled step-by-step with  much perseverance and patience! (I hate that!LOL)




I will leave you with a short video of Bethany in her tower room!

Incredible first day of work on our house!

This morning we began work on our house. The plan was for Bethany and me to work inside, cleaning the mounds of dirt and rat droppings off of the floors while Gary and Nathaniel used their new machete and sickle on the outside jungle.

The front drive way before our first work day!

The front driveway AFTER our first work day! Amazing!

What we did not expect was Berto's father in-law and two sons to arrive, machetes in hand and work along side of Gary and Nathaniel for the entire day clearing an enormous amount of jungle overgrowth and totally clearing the front of the house! It was incredible what they got done. Every time Berto drove by on the combi he stopped the combi bus, got out and took the grand tour of the house to see what all we had gotten accomplished. At one point he opened the combi large doors and showed everyone on the bus what we were doing. We felt like were part of a tour of homes or something! I was half expecting "News 9 Denver" to show up at our front door!

The front of the house before any work was done!

Front of the house after one day of work!

The amount of work that was done was totally incredible and the
house looks amazing! I don't think we fully realize how beautiful this property can be.

What really hit us deep in our hearts was the fact that our Mexican neighbors took up their machetes, shovels, sickles and other "implements of destruction" and worked like mules along side of us for the entire day. This expression of Mexican generosity and friendship blew our minds. Later in the day Berto's wife, baby and little girl walked up to the house and got to know us. When she left she said that what ever we needed just let them know. And in Mexico people literally mean this. They will give the last crumb of bread in their empty pantry to a friend in need. Remember, this is the family of six who live in a small ramshackle house in the middle of the poor section of our neighborhood

And then to top off the day, Carlos and Susana walked down and brought everyone dinner! So we all sat on the steps of our new house and ate comida together after sweating and working for the entire day. I knew that working on this house would be full of people and friends but I didn't imagine how much they would be helping us.

It is difficult to receive from these people without trying to let the almighty American dollar rule. I want to pay for help (not that we could!) rather than receive the humbling precious love and friendship that they offer.

I remember right after the road work project, Luis our other combi driver, wouldn't let us pay to ride the combi. It was so difficult receiving from his man who has several children and lives in a small cement block house. Yet, we knew it would not be honoring to him to refuse his kindness.What is astounding to me is that the precious Mexican people are so incredibly generous. I am constantly humbled and amazed.

Tomorrow Berto is going to help Gary figure out the cistern and how to get water to the house. There is talk of the guys coming back and clearing the back of the house. We thought we'd be waving to people during our work but we didn't know that they would give up their entire weekend and sweat and work like mules with us!

Bethany and I had a less rewarding day as we worked together on the inside of the house sweeping and mopping. We don't have water yet so we had to carry buckets of water in a wheel barrow from our apartment to our house in order to clean. Most times the floor ended up just a mucky mess but after several bucket loads of fresh water we did make progress.

There is still a lot of work to do but with friends and family working together the load is a lot lighter and our spirits have been carried by the love and support we have received.

Times they are a changin........

I'm sitting here looking out over the mountains as a donkey brays in the background. I just waved and said a hearty "hola" to Berto our combi driver as he drove passed our house. Carlos, Susana, Tonita (Susana's mom) Camila, and the new baby are coming for strawberry shortcake later on this evening. Bethany and I have been invited to a baby shower down the street. I just made cookies for our neighbor who helped us get the house and we begin work on our house tomorrow morning. In some wonderful, normal, sweet way this rugged dirt road with all her beautiful mixture of people, is finally becoming home.

I think the fact that we will be renovating and living in the house just one property down the road, has had a significant impact on how we feel in the area. In a very good way it has begun to cement us to Taxco and more specifically the area of Casallas that we live in.

Gary and I are determined to not have tunnel vision as we spend at least three hard and heavy months fixing up this house with an additional 3-6 months of a lighter but still serious work load. We know our purpose in Mexico is not renovating this house, so we want to be careful not to shove aside our calling as we do more work on this house than we've ever done in our lives.

Yet, we also see this project as being a very public one. It is an extremely well known house, with somewhat of a jaded history. People know this house all over Taxco so having the "Gringo family" move into it is going to cause a stir. We seem to cause a stir what ever we do (in the best sense of the word) and this very major project will certainly become well known. Also, the house sits fairly close to the road, where everyone from the tortilla man to the family selling bread pass by. We will be right in front of everyone cleaning, painting, and hauling broken glass away. Therefore, despite the intense amount of work, I think it is going to be a very good opportunity to get to know more neighbors and become closer friends with the people that we already have a relationship with.

Therefore, this "first work day eve" seems to be surreal and quite significant. I think the difficult part will be leaving Carlos and Susana. I'm not sure what has made this so different than other "apartment" situations but it feels more like we've been living together rather than just being in an apartment. Maybe it's because the building only houses two families rather than 50 or more which is typical in an American apartment complex. Maybe it's that we can hear each other's daily activities through the window well, (Including Susana and Camila singing a funny song in the shower about Carlos!) or that we stand in the landing and talk for an hour or more many evenings when Carlos gets home from work. Or waiting up until 2:00 in the morning for them to come home after Susana went to the hospital thinking she might be in early labor. It's all the little every day things that we've shared with them, like Carlos finding a large scorpion and bringing it down (dead of course) to show us or them hearing us cough when we were sick and offering a word of concern as they leaned over the balcony to say hello, that have made this living arrangement so unique and special. It's funny, the close proximity hasn't bothered us but it has been a comforting aspect as we learn to live on our own in Mexico.

We began our life in Taxco at Casa de Las Palmas a B&B run by a dear family, Oscar and Silvia, who we are forever indebted to. For those two months we were in very close quarters with them and grew to love them deeply. Our bedroom window looked across the flowers to where they would sit at night and talk or use the computer. If we wanted to, Gary and I could sit in bed and wave to them! This didn't bother us during those first few months. (Besides we were sharing the bedroom with Nathaniel and Bethany!) We needed the stability of people who loved us and offered their hand in friendship from the moment that we met. It was comforting to look out our window and see Oscar working in the early morning at the B&B. It was joyful to have them there at any time of the day or night to help us and answer our many questions.

And then we moved....We moved to this apartment where we have a lot more privacy but still have the comfort and security of good friends above us. We can't wave to them from our bedroom but we know that any time of the night or day we are there for each other. As I mentioned earlier, as families, we are closely aware of each other's habits, likes, dislikes, joys and sorrows. This has been wonderful but now it is time to be on our own in Mexico. We are ready but like a young fledgling it is difficult to take those first few steps of independence.

We are renting the old abandoned house!

I love the early mornings in Taxco.  I have discovered that it is an extra blessing, when I get up early to pray, if I set the coffee maker to turn on right before my alarm goes off. There is just something so wonderful in stumbling sleepily out of bed and smelling the delicious aroma of coffee brewing in the kitchen!

I am also enjoying the fragrance of the spirit after having spent nearly two hours in intercession. I love going out onto the balcony, with my steaming cup of coffee, bundled in my snugly robe and have a quiet time of prayer. There's nothing quite like communing with God while the stars are still twinkling and the only sound is the roosters crowing in the distance!

One of the main things that we are rejoicing about right now is the answered prayer regarding the old abandoned house that sits on the property next to this apartment. We slowly and prayerfully have approached this house and have finally talked with the home owner! We did this whole process Mexican style without getting hyper and demanding to have information NOW!!! The oil of relationships is what greases the machinery here and this takes time, kindness and effort. But the result is beautiful and much better than the attitude of: "It's not personal it's business!"

 Last week we talked with our combi driver, Berto and he suggested that we talk to our neighbor, Guillermo who possibly would know the owner. As Gary talked with Guillermo, who is also fairly fluent in English, we got more of the story behind the house.

The house has been abandoned for five years. Prior to that it had been rented for 15 years by a German man who was obstinate, obnoxious, and very annoying in the neighborhood. He didn't have a friend in the area and when he fought with the home owner and left, the house was pilfered in his honor!

Guillermo knows the home owner, Mauricio Galicia Salinas, in a distant sort of way so he spent the past couple of days trying to contact him. Today when we were all taking our trash out to the trash truck, Gary and Guillermo were talking and Guillermo decided to go into town to Mauricio's silver shop in order to talk with him on our behalf!

A couple of hours later we were in Mauricio's office talking about the terms of a lease on this property! Some one once said that God takes a long time to move suddenly. This was certainly the story of the events of today. We've been praying about this house for so long and now suddenly we are ready to sign a lease on it!

Mauricio is a very nice man who we felt instantly at ease with. The tentative terms of the lease will include a monthly rent of $200 with our being free to fix it up as we desire. In the long term this will greatly help our finances as it is $500 a month less than what we are paying now! The initial expense will be high but as time goes one we will certainly reap the benefit of our labor.

Mauricio was also thrilled to hear that we are missionaries so the hurdle of using the house for ministry purposes has already been crossed! God is opening amazing doors before us. We are forever grateful!

Yesterday afternoon we walked over to the house, spent about an hour walking around the outside, and then eventually "let ourselves in" and spent another hour in the interior of the house. Gary was pleased at some electrical information that he was able to discover and I spent a lot of time figuring out how much paint we would need (to cover the graffiti) and the placement of furniture!

While we were at the house I took some videos that I would like to share with you. The first one begins in the dinning/kitchen eating area, and kitchen. When I talk about a patio/deck, what I meant to say is balcony. I couldn't think of the correct word as the camera was filming. There is a long balcony outside of the kitchen, eating area, dinning room and office. There are large windows and a door in each room (except the kitchen) that gives access to the balcony.
The second video is of the upstairs, which is the more "interesting" floor. On this floor there will be the master bedroom. There are two sets of spiral staircases on either end of the hall way, which go up to the tower rooms. Nathaniel and Bethany will each have a tower room as a bedroom. The next area of the upstairs is what we now call the "rec-room" for lack of a better term. This area consists of a bathroom, stage, open area, and second kitchen. We have designated these large rooms as a rec room for Nathaniel and Bethany and their friends. In the second kitchen there will be our washer as well as a school table for Nathaniel and Bethany's high school homeschooling years!

The next section of video is on the side of the house. There is  a lot of tropical overgrowth but it is a beautiful area and one which has much possibilities for planting and enjoying flowers year round!

I am sure I will be writing more as this chapter of our life unfolds. I will try to take more pictures and certainly keep a photo/video journal of the restoration. There is much work to be done, yet we as we keep our eyes on the ultimate goal we will have the strength and perseverance necessary for this project.

Anyone want to go on a mission trip to Mexico and fix up an old house and turn it into a ministry center???

Old house and a new baby!

I have Cinnamon rolls baking in the oven (for Susana!) The new baby and mom are resting quietly upstairs. I have a lot to ponder right now as our life takes on new twists and turns in this never ending adventure of living in Mexico.

We have seen our relationship with Carlos and Susana deepen in these last couple of weeks before the baby was born. Everything from waking up in the middle of the night with a false alarm trip to the hospital, to being privileged to pray for Susana and the baby before they left for the birth, to taking care of Camila while Susana was in the hospital, to being part of welcoming the baby home and crying as Camila kissed her new brother. We've cherished every moment of this new baby event and have really fallen in love with Camila, not just as a sweet Mexican toddler but that deep nurturing parental love that comes when a child is in our life. Gary is now "poppi" to Camila as he is certainly in a grandfatherly roll in her life. These relationships mean so much to us as a family.

This whole "baby event" is swirled around with the "house event" in our lives. Thankfully, they aren't in competition for our attention and time. Right now the house is on the back burner but ever present in our heart and mind.

As we pray about the house we feel God nudging us to move forward. We have no assurance that we will have this house handed to us on a silver platter, we have no assurance that the doors won't slam shut in our face, but for now we are being led steadily forward with each movement having his grace and mercy covering our lives.

Gary spoke with Berto, our combi driver and neighbor a few days ago. He said that the owner lives in town and owns a silver shop. He is in the process of getting the name of the shop and phone number for us. He was excited that we are going to put down roots here in the barrio of Casallas. For now we wait, Mexican style on Berto to get us the phone number, "Mañana!

 What people don't realize is that the definition of the word mañana is not tomorrow as in the very next day but actually the literal translation is "sometime soon". When Americans translate mañana as tomorrow it is a sure recipe for frustration! What we've noticed is when something is going to happen the next day there will be a day of the week attached to it, such as "I'll deliver that on Martes" but if it will be "sometime soon" they say, "I'll deliver that mañana!" It really helps to know the cultural definition of a word. In any case, this is just a little "helpful hint" of living in Mexico that we've learned.

So we wait and pray regarding the house. We've had some positive information flowing in. First of all, we had an afternoon heavy rainstorm, which isn't all that common. Typically the rains come at night but a few days ago we had a heavy afternoon downpour. As soon as it tapered off, Gary and Nathaniel ran down to the house to check on the roof. The interior ceilings were dry as cactus! ahhhh what a huge relief!!!!

Gary also was able to locate the water supply and it isn't as complicated as we thought to tap into the local water. He's also checked the electrical feed and it shouldn't be as expensive and complicated to get a 220 or even 110 drop put in. (He was an electrician so this is his area of expertise!)

We've put all our finances on paper and hope to move into this house on February first with the preceding months used to fix it up (rent free of course) and make it livable. We are hoping to pay around $2K pesos in rent (which is under $200USD!) our upward limit, when we talk to the home owner, would be $3K pesos, which is under $300 USD. We are paying $7K pesos right now so this would be a significant drop in rent.

Our goal therefore, is to have a large home to live in with spacious land and gardens but at a fraction of the rent that we are paying right now. Of course in the beginning the expense will be a lot but as time goes on we'll certainly be reaping the benefits of our labor and financial investment.

This house has such possibilities. I know it is premature to assume that this will all work out and we will be living there. But if we do get it I will be too busy to blog about all of this so I'd rather write about it now before I have a permanent paint brush in my hands!

Initially of course, what thrilled us was the family aspect of this house. The tower bedrooms for Nathaniel and Bethany, the large kitchen for me, and the private office space for Gary. Yet, shortly after we thought about the family space the ministry possibilities hit us in amazing ways!


The downstairs area, which I'm not sure what it was constructed to be, would be an amazing ministry section of the house. It has large arched windows (and I mean LARGE arched windows) on either side of a large arched window sliding door. The doors and windows face the road and are extremely accessible to neighbors and friends. The floor is paved with flagstone and it also has direct access, via a spiral staircase, to the kitchen!
Okay, so my cooking passion, along with my ministry passion has been ignited in this setting! First of all, we could set up the common Mexican plastic tables and chairs and welcome our neighbors in for Tacos and jamaica! (A hibiscus flower drink not the country!) It would be fantastic for Nathaniel and Bethany to be hanging out at the soccer field and invite their new friends home for tacos or some other delicious quick meal. (They are constantly meeting Mexican teenagers as they hang out at the soccer field!) Also, all of our neighbors could be welcomed in for large informal meals. Secondly, as this very public aspect of this house would become known as a friendly place and somewhat of a local hang out, we then could hold bible studies and other types of evangelistic outreaches in this same very large open space that sits very close to the dirt road in which we live.

If someone were to design a house with public ministry in mind, there couldn't have been a more perfect setting than this particular house! It also has a large living/dinning indoor space that could be used for more intimate settings, biblical counsel and     prayer. Furthermore, as people might need special attention during a bible study, a Mexican mom and I could easily walk up the spiral stair case into our living room and pray together for her marriage or comfort her in what ever way is appropriate.

I think one of the most amazing things is how there is a distinct ministry space as well as private family space. We couldn't have asked for a more perfect home!

Of course beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. There is MUCH work to be done. Yet, nothing is insurmountable. We have a tentative plan of what is necessary for move in and what we can work on once we are living there. Given what we anticipate paying in rent for that house, every month in this house we are "wasting" $5k pesos by staying here. Yet, the new house has to be habitable before we can move in. We figure we can live without light fixtures (just pigtail's with light bulbs) without bedroom doors and glass in the windows but we have to have water, electricity and paint for the graffiti filled walls. The first step of course is major cleaning and clearing away of the tropical overgrowth. And then Gary and Nathaniel will work on plumbing and electrical while Bethany and I paint our hearts out!    

But for now we wait and we pray and ponder the amazing things that God is doing in our life here in Mexico!

Historic abandoned house!

We've had an adventurous past couple of days, so being true to my passion of writing I must get this on paper. It is somewhat difficult to explain what is transpiring. By all indications we've been happy in our "house" so why would we be exploring a pilfered abandoned property?

Well....it is a bit complex. First of all, this apartment isn't as large as some of you have indicated. I think the pictures are deceiving as the actual square footage isn't that much. We have a family living above us, a family living beside us and a large storage area below us. The living/dining room is large but that is the extent of the living space, there isn't a family room or any place to "kick about in" the rest is just a few smallish bedrooms. The facts of our house is that it is indeed an apartment building. There's no escaping that reality. We have a balcony but no "outside" aspect to our home. We don't have any land, trees, or dirt to walk out upon. It's not like we live in the city and have to learn to deal with city life. There is country all around us but we climb up about 30 concrete stairs and there we are at our entry way door.

Our apartment is the center set of windows

We have a lovely balcony but aren't totally thrilled to be waving at our neighbors from some grand distance like we are on a parade float!  Gary and I want to be more ground level or at least only one story up so that when children walk past we can talk with them rather than just wave from a distance. In addition to this our kiddos can't plant a flower, climb a tree, or run around. Nathaniel is 14 years old, I want to see him running, exploring, and planting flowers, not stuck in his bedroom with no way to be outside.

 We as a family have discussed this at length and feel that this apartment was a huge blessing when we needed a place to move into after our stay at the B&B. Carlos and Susana have been incredible. We couldn't have survived our first few months in our own house without them. They have helped us, befriended us and taken care of us in tremendous ways. All that said, we simply don't feel we will be staying in this apartment for years on end.

 I wouldn't say this recent expedition began out of discontentment but rather curiosity and an adventurous spirit. But at least my explanation will help to clarify why we would even think of looking at a house in the first place.


Gary and I noticed this house the first week we lived here. It sits fairly close to the road and is on the next property down from our apartment building. (There is a vacant lot that our landlord owns that is between this house and our apartment.) Anyway, we've noticed this grand house during our many walks around our neighborhood. At first we weren't positive that it was vacant, given Mexican style housing but as we observed it on a day to day basis we realized that it must be abandoned. During a couple of our walks we would walk up a path that got close to the house but never ventured beyond that.

Earlier this week that all changed. We pulled the front gate open and walked into the property. We peaked into the windows and walked around the land. We could see quite a bit of graffiti on the interior but it appeared that most of the graffiti was on the easily painted walls rather than on the brick and stone work. When we got back to our apartment, Gary and Nathaniel decided to go back over and climb in one of the upstairs windows that was not locked!

They were gone about an hour and I was beginning to get nervous. We are in fact in a foreign country with a different code of law than we are accustomed to. Those facts are ever before us as we step out into the unknown. (One thing on the positive side of the law that is different in Mexico, abandoned property is much more open to squatters rights than it would be in the States. So walking through isn't nearly the "crime" that it would be in Colorado!)

When Gary and Nathaniel came back they were a bit discouraged. The work and expense involved seemed to be insurmountable. We talked for several hours and then decided to close the door on the whole idea. That was last night! This morning I woke up and could not get that house out of my mind. I wasn't greatly disappointed, I hadn't had time to get attached to it. I simply felt that we were not to say that it was impossible but to pray about it and allow God to lead us rather than looking at our own human frailty. I also felt that I needed to see the interior in order to understand the obstacles rather than Gary just relating things to me.

wooden stage is to the left and the extra kitchen is straight ahead

One of the huge obstacles were bedrooms. According to Gary and Nathaniel there were only two workable bedrooms, one of which was "miles" away from a bathroom. In the upstairs section there was one bedroom and then a huge open space, including a stage (literally a wooden performance stage!) and second kitchen, that Gary believes was once three more bedrooms and two bathrooms. He felt that we would need to restore the bedrooms by building walls and tearing out the stage, to make the house livable. This proposal, along with the necessary plumbing, wiring, light fixtures, sinks, toilets and water heaters, seemed to be totally impossible. (Thankfully the brick work and stone work is still in beautiful condition along with the tile flooring.)

Yet, as I said, I felt a nudging in my spirit that we had closed the doors when God hadn't told us to close them. So back we trudged ready for our second lesson in breaking and entering in Mexico! (If you come visit us there is never a dull moment!)

I was actually quite fearful. For one thing, there are tons and I mean tons, of huge spiders in the over grown tropical forest that surrounds the house. We had large walking sticks to break the webs but they still really creaped me out and I kept feeling as if the spiders were crawling in my hair! (I carried a scorpion home on my body the day before when we explored the land!) For another thing, I was simply nervous about breaking into this vacant house in the middle of Southern Mexico! Call me a wimp but I was scared!

Gary waiting while Nathaniel worked on getting the door open

Nathaniel and Bethany climbed into the window, while Nathaniel worked at the wire on the front door (we replaced it when we left). He finally untwisted it and the door came open so that we could walk in. At first I walked around quite jumpy but after we walked all through the house I felt more confident and enjoyed the exploration immensely.

The first thing you notice upon entering the house is the graffiti. Yet, as Gary pointed out, the graffiti is almost 100% on the paint able walls and only very rarely on the brick or stone work. Also, there isn't the trash that we expected to find. There is some evidence that animals can get into the windows but as far as human destruction there isn't anything done maliciously such as ruining the beautiful brick work etc. Also, the only windows that are broken are the straight windows, which provide entry. Every curved piece (expensive to replace) has been left without a scratch. There was one empty six pack of beer and a couple cigarettes. Other than that cosmetically it just needs a good mop and buckets of paint!  

I didn't take nearly as many pictures as I would have liked to take. I was too occupied with looking around and figuring out if this house would work for our family to take a lot of pictures. The kitchen though is my delight! It is large with brick walls and a lot of beautiful arched windows. It is a separate room so it would be perfect for cooking, prayer and worship!

The main "issue" than needed to be solved was the bedroom issue. It seemed like way too daunting of a task to rebuild the walls of the upstairs stage/kitchen area and recreate the original bedrooms. Yet, we are a family of four, with a teenage son and a teenage daughter. There's no getting around the fact that we need more than two bedrooms. What could we do???

Well, one trip up to one of the two "tower rooms" and I flipped over the idea of Nathaniel and Bethany using the tower rooms as bedrooms! Let me explain: There are two small "tower" rooms above the second floor. They are on each end of the hall and each have a private spiral staircase to get to the rooms. The rooms themselves have huge windows on the front and back and the room is small but would fit a bed, dresser, and small computer desk. We would have to feed their furniture through the windows because nothing can fit up the spiral staircase but once that is accomplished they are perfect for two teens bedrooms! Problem solved!!!!

 Gary's and my bedroom would be at the bottom of the spiral staircase going to Bethany's tower room! Our bedroom is small but would fit a bed and dresser and has a bathroom!




One of the main details of this house is the ground level "garage" type space that is paved with flag stone, has huge arched windows and doors and would make and incredible space for a church! It is ground level for people to simply walk up to the large doors and come in. What a vision for the future! What a tremendous opportunity for our ministry in Mexico!

Having said all of this we are completely clueless as to whether it is possible for us to rent/buy this house. The only thing we have a clue about is that our combi driver mentioned the word for "Murder" when we he mentioned the owner of the house! We don't know anything beyond that or even anything regarding the circumstances of the Spanish word for murder! All we know is that it hasn't been lived in for years.

Gary is going to walk down the road to our combi driver's house (Berto) and talk to him this evening about how to get in touch with the owners.

Are we crazy to want to fix this house up? Well, some would say a resounding, "YES!" Yet, others would see us as visionaries. I suppose most visionaries are a bit crazy! There is a ton of work to do on this house as well as a lot of expense. Yet, in our long term goals we are assuming we could either live there rent free (in exchange for fixing it up) or for very low rent because it is totally uninhabitable right now. This way we could have more available income to give to the poor, supply Bibles for people, and to help our neighbors in many ways. We also see the possibility of the "church" space being an incredible aspect of the future of Swordmaster Ministries.

So here we are waiting to find out something about the owner of this house. Another slight possibility is that it is totally abandoned and therefore, all we would have to do is pay the back property taxes and assume ownership. Now that would be an amazing provision of God! Please pray about these exciting possibilities!