Finding a piece of suitable property proved difficult. We needed some miracle land soon because of the increase in population in the orphanage. At this particular time, I had eight girls living with me in a little apartment below the big house, where the rest of the girls lived with house parents. Because the apartment had only two small bedrooms, I had a bunk bed set up with a curtain around it in the living room for two of the girls. Would we have to resort to wall-to-wall beds?
We left the machete-bearing Guatemalans and entered the van. The friend of the realtor spoke up. “My sister owns some property in Monjas, which is thirty minutes from here. I can call her to see if she is interested in selling a portion of it.” The sister agreed, so we headed to the little town to meet the lady and see her land. She guided us out of town, and my heart jumped for joy because the ten acres were in the country. “Oh, Lord, this has to be the place,” said my country-girl heart.
One mile from Monjas, we stopped by a barbed-wire fence. We climbed through, and there stood a huge towering ceiba tree swaying in the soft breeze of the cow pasture. Gib, Joanne, and I looked at each other, smiled with thumbs up, and said, “This is it.” I turned slowly in a circle and saw the beautiful mountains all around us in the distance. The deep blue sky with big fluffy clouds looked just like my Montana sky. My heart soared even higher. This had to be the perfect place for Shadow of His Wings Orphanage.
We found the land and now we only needed money to pay for it. I believed the Lord already had a plan for that, and a miracle would happen. We waited with expectation when one large donation came in, but the donor had designated it for something else, and we honored the request. Then we were hit with an unexpected twelve percent tax, which hurt because it hadn’t been included in the land budget. The Lord helped us hurdle each obstacle, and the day came when He faithfully provided the money from a combination of donors. James Project of Latin America became owners of ten acres of land less than two months after finding property.
The children could now play safely in wide open spaces while breathing fresh air. With a population of about six thousand people, we did not face the strong diesel fumes like in Guatemala City. We did, however, find ourselves in some traffic problems. I laugh when it happens, because I remember asking the Lord to take us to a place where we wouldn’t have to fight traffic. In His humor, we now have to fight for a portion of our space on the road to the Project from herds of Brahmas. Daily we have to weave around those huge horned animals as they brush the sides of the vehicle, reminding us that they are bigger and dominated the road first. There haven’t been any fatalities and it made me love this country more.
We found the miracle land, and God provided the money needed to make the purchase. Our faith and hope grew as we prepared for moving Shadow of His Wings Orphanage to Monjas, Jalapa. As with any move, it looked easier on paper than the actual moving. We pulled up roots to transplant the children to another place, and this affected everyone involved with Shadow. I took it on with great joy and excitement, for it was a new beginning for the orphanage.