Divine Coincidence?

106-year-old Elisa and her 88-year-old sister-in-law Maria pose with Russ Thornberry in front of their new home as it was being built by an all-men’s mission team from Montgomery, AL, in Jan. 09.

During the third week of January 2009, our group of 16 men flew to Tegucigalpa, Honduras, on a weeklong mission trip to serve Forgotten Children Ministries, which rescues desperate children from the perils of Honduran street life. Our plan was to build hanging overhead sliding doors on a large storage building on Grace Farm, in the village of Monte Redondo, where many of the rescued boys live. In addition, we were planning to deliver beans and rice to many of the impoverished families FCM cares for. Plans were laid and ready to go, but suddenly an unknown woman entered the bodega and began a very animated conversation with FCM founder Stan Nowell. We could tell the woman was very upset. When she finally left, Stan told us why.

The woman told Stan that several very old people were being evicted from the house in which they had lived for 35 years. One woman was 106 years old. Her brother was 79 and her sister-in-law, 86. All three were told to leave without concern for how they might survive. The compassionate woman who came to tell of their plight begged us to help them.

Suddenly plans changed.

Stan and several men from our mission team drove off into the remote countryside to see if they could locate the three aged refugees, and they did. “Coincidentally,” we were told that there was a small vacant piece of property right next to Grace Farm, which the landowner was willing to donate to the elderly people. Alan Brewer, our building leader, just happened to be an experienced house builder, as were several other men in our team. Alan drew up plans for a small house that night and priced materials the next morning.  We had just enough in our missions fund to build a small house!

Our team of men dove onto that little piece of property, clearing it of a small mountain of cactus and one good-sized tree. Alan ordered the building materials from the vendor about 40 minutes away in Tegucigalpa, and they said they would deliver the building materials that afternoon. After the ground clearing was finished, we waited anxiously for materials that never arrived. We called the vendor and he promised we’d have the materials by 10 a.m. the next morning. After much frustration and waiting, the materials arrived at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon (we had to fly home on Friday morning).  Though our remaining time would never allow us to finish the house, the men flew into a building frenzy with a passion.

The following morning we arrived at Grace Farm and were back at work by 10 a.m. The work continued throughout the day as the men worked tirelessly. It looked as if we would get the walls up, but the roofing would have to be done after we left. It was disappointing to have to leave it that way. Some unspoken determination motivated the men to work even harder and eventually we realized that getting the roof on might be possible.

While the team worked feverishly, Stan drove away and returned an hour later with the two old women, so they could see the miracle of their own home being built before their eyes. They were astonished as they entered the house and realized that they were going to have their own home.  We placed two lawn chairs near the building so they could watch the construction process. As the last rays of light dropped behind the mountains, the final sheets of corrugated tin were attached to the roof by flashlight.

Team members raced with daylight to finish roofing the house.

The impossible had been accomplished. The 500-square-foot house with two bedrooms and a living room had been built from start to finish in 11 ½ hours – a miraculous feat by any measure.

Because of the limited building time, we contracted the concrete foundation to be poured after the building was standing.  We also were able to cover the costs of door, windows, and paint, which would be added after our departure.

Our team left Honduras with an amazing sense of accomplishment, satisfaction and gratitude, knowing that we had been used for such a wonderful purpose – one that appeared to be set up by a series of divine coincidences. But in reality we know that there are no divine coincidences. We had experienced divine appointment by God’s own compassionate hand. What were the odds of those poor people being displaced after 35 years at the same time a group of Gringos happened to arrive in Honduras? What were the odds of that little parcel of land being available and being donated for a building site?  What were the odds of our group having the right amount of funding on hand to purchase the materials to build the house? And what were the odds of building it in 11 ½ hours? In God’s economy the odds were very, very good.