I am incredibly grateful to those of you who wrote to share Bible verses or words of encouragement, urging me not to give up but to "hang in there" and trust for a breakthrough. Others of you wrote, humbly confessing that you hadn't in fact been praying for my housing; that it was hard to persevere in prayer for a situation that was continuing over such a long time frame.... and I totally understand that. Thank you for your humility and honesty, and for your renewed prayers in recent days.
As time has gone by with seemingly no answer to prayer (except for all the short term housing options God has provided for me), I've been only too aware that for some people this raised the question of whether it was God's timing for me to leave Spain. One person in particular was rather vocal in the belief that my lack of housing meant it was time for me to retire from missions, to leave Spain and to move back to the UK.
Believe me, despite all the assurances to the contrary, I have regularly asked God that same question over the past two years. As far back as last summer, I typed up a list of everything I would need to do if the time ever came for me to leave here. It was a long, complex and costly list, including things like:
- filling in all the government paperwork to surrender my Spanish residency and my right to ever live in Spain again in the future
- surrendering my Spanish healthcare card and re-applying to get into the British NHS
- handing in my Spanish driving licence and re-applying for a British one
- closing my Spanish bank account
- selling my car and giving away my furniture, kitchen appliances, etc.
- finding a family to adopt my dog
- resigning from all the teams and roles I hold as a missionary; finding people to take my place in some of those teams
- letting all my prayer partners know that I will no longer be a missionary and therefore no longer a recipient of their financial gifts
And those are just some of the things that would need to happen before I left Spain; the list includes other things that would need to happen once I was back in the UK... things like finding a doctor and dentist.... and probably some kind of part time job to support myself in the future. Reading the list was heartbreaking, and was one of the main factors that made me very wary of taking such a big, life-changing step without complete certainty that it was what God was asking of me.
Then a few things began to happen in recent weeks. One Sunday, the pastor stood up in church and led a special prayer time for all the people in the congregation that were homeless. After the service, a woman came to me and said that her sister was an estate agent and had access to some property listings that didn't have squatters in them. Her sister turned out to be someone I had met in the street a couple of times, as she got a border collie puppy around the same time that I got Maiki. She's been taking me to see one or two properties for sale in AlhaurÃn and in another nearby town. (Nothing suitable yet, but at least things are beginning to move.)
Over this past week, one of my homeless church friends phoned me. She had been offered a flat for rent, but, with only two bedrooms, it was too small for their family of five, which includes grown up children. Would I be interested in viewing it? It's centrally located in the main avenue of the town, and so I made an arrangement to view it after church today.
Then, during church, a second option presented itself. An American lady who is renting a house in the next town (about 15 km away) told me she was looking for a housemate and would love to share with me if I'm open to it. So, I also went to visit her place after church today. Suddenly, after months of no options, two places became available in the same day.
The challenge with the second house was that it was full of antique furniture and displays of china; my friend didn't yet know if the owners would be open to having a dog in the property.
The first little flat, on the other hand, was very simple, even slightly "worn" looking, as the previous renters, who just moved out a few days ago, had broken some light fittings and obviously allowed their cats to damage some of the furniture. I told the landlord that I had furniture of my own, and he said he'd be happy to get rid of all the old stuff that was there, as it wasn't his original furniture anyway. When he heard I was going to the UK for a month over Christmas, he said he'd carry out repairs of the light fittings, fix things up in general and repaint the shabby outdoor patio while I was gone... but that I could store my furniture in the flat during December, and start paying rent from January. (Initially he said he'd waive the one-month deposit they usually ask for, but then realised he'd need the money to fix things up.)
It's not my "dream home," but it will be a stable place for me to live while I continue the search for a permanent home to buy... which should hopefully become easier after the government passes the anti-squatting law. (Click here to read about that. The law was passed by Congress, then rejected by the Senate and is currently still being debated.)
The flat is in the town centre, in an apartment block that has a pizza restaurant on the ground floor (but not so close that I would be able to smell pizza cooking, haha.) It has two small bedrooms, an internal patio where I could hang up my laundry, and an underground parking garage so that I wouldn't need to search for parking out on the street.
After two years of searching, this is finally a solution that will allow me to have a place of my own while I continue to look for something more permanent. It's close to my old neighbourhood, so I will easily be able to see all my old neighbours and take their dogs for a walk with mine. Perhaps the most amusing thing of all is that the neighbours in the two flats that look down on my patio are ladies that I've known for several years, as we've often met while walking our dogs. They were quite excited to learn that I might be their new neighbour.
Two of the things that have made it impossible to find rental property have been a) that the landlords demand proof of income, not wanting the rental contract to be more than 20% of your salary, and b) that most landlords are unwilling to rent to someone with a cat or dog. So it was completely unusual today that this homeowner asked for no proof of income and was perfectly happy for me to move in with a dog. It certainly seems to be a door that God is opening in response to renewed prayer over the past week.
If all goes well with the lawyers and preparing the contract, the arrangement will be confirmed next week - allowing me to leave my furniture in the flat while I travel over Christmas, and then to move in when I return in January.
If this indeed is God's provision for the coming season, I look forward to giving you the news very soon.
(The photo above shows the location of the flat in the main street of the town, while the marker more to the right of the photo shows the location of the house that I lived in for 13 years.)
