A Tale of Two Deeds

There is a compulsion in me to tell this story in its entirety just for the sake of the hilarity of the last chapter.    If you are able to follow this craziness from beginning to end, may you get a giggle while simultaneously giving thanks that the experience is over.

Last fall, the mayor of Puerto Lempira promised a donated piece of property for a future school.  We bought a piece of property to build our personal home right next door to the school property.   To receive the deeds on these 2 pieces of property, we visited the mayor's office 20+ times and spent endless hours waiting and asking.  In January, we received the 2 deeds.

We traveled to the US at the end of February.  Rather than take the risk of losing the deeds in the US, we left them with friends in San Pedro Sula.   In the same package as the deeds, we left student grades that we were going to be taking to the school in Copan on our return trip.

We returned in April.   In my haste to get the grades together and get things packed, I completely forgot about the deeds.    A few days after our arrival back in Puerto Lempira, we realized that we did not have the deeds.  It was a tough day, filled with 'what ifs' and 'what in the world are we going to do.'

One of the deeds was found at our friends' house... the other missing in action.

During this time, we found out we needed a revision on the donated land's deed and we also needed a map and affidavit for both properties to be able to properly file them in the Regional Office in La Ceiba.   Plus, we had to ask the mayor for a new deed on our property.  

We had already planned a trip to the Honduran interior to fix paperwork on our kids' residencies that was not fixed in time for our return trip from the US.   If we could coordinate the deed trip to La Ceiba with our family's trip, we could save one plane ticket from Puerto Lempira to La Ceiba. ($200 per person).

Miraculously, on Monday - the day BEFORE our trip, after some serious begging, Alex picked up everything we needed from the mayor's office.

All went well with the kids' paperwork on Tuesday.   I woke up on Wednesday morning, ready to tackle the deed filing. 

Aidan was my trusty knife-bearing protector/companion who traveled with me to the Property Registrar's Office.   The attendant gave me a website address and instructed me to go to an internet cafe and print off 4 copies for each property with our name and the amount of our tax.  Then, I had to take the papers to any bank and deposit the tax amount.   Next, I was to return the deeds and wait 20 days to come back and pick up my filed deeds. (another plane ticket)   Sigh.

We headed to the mall to an internet cafe.   For 45 minutes, I tried to access the website, to no avail.   I went to the hotel and we tried to access it on every computer for hours on end.

I woke up today and was feeling doubtful.  Reminded of my life verse... 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness,'  I looked up 2 Corinthians 12:9.    Reading on, I found this:  "Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. ¹⁰ That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

OK... so, I will delight in this difficulty.    Whew.  How in the world will I do that?   In God's power.

Aidan and I were off again.  

On my second visit to the Office, a very kind woman suggested I try a specific internet cafe.    I was suspicious and doubtful, but at least had a direction to move.    True to word, the owner of the internet cafe knew exactly what to do and he had my papers printed within 30 minutes.

We walked through downtown La Ceiba as preparations for Carnival ensued... heading back to our hotel to retrieve my passport.    Off to the bank... in a mere 30 minutes more, we paid our taxes and had our receipts.  Yippeeee.   Most importantly, we ran into some missionaries from another town in La Moskitia and they shared that they were headed back to the US to visit their college-aged son who was having medical problems.   Thankful to have the opportunity to pray for them and for their son.   Divine appointment in the midst of a place I would not have expected to be.

Now for a pit-stop at Dunkin' Donuts.    I put my bottled water up on the counter as Aidan asked about the flavors of the frozen drinks.   Within an instant, a roach ran right across the counter and without hesitation, Aidan slapped the roach while simultaneously asking for a 'strawberry slurpee.'   That's the way we roll here in Honduras.

We headed back to the Property Office and turned in the papers.   I went out on a limb and asked the attendant if there was any possible way to get the papers back today instead of the 20-day wait period.  I explained how we lived a looooong way away, accessible only by an expensive airplane ride.   After visiting with his boss, he gave me a receipt and said bring this back at 3:00 this afternoon.    I asked him if my husband could pick it up and he said, 'Sure, anyone can pick it up if they have the receipt.'

Almost to the finish line...

Alex headed that direction around 3:00 with sodas in hand for the entire office.    As he approached the Office, the guard said, "You may not enter in shorts, only long pants."   No exceptions.   Sigh.

So, Alex made a quick trip to the mall and tried on every pair of pants and guess what, Hondurans are much shorter than Scottish men.  There was not a pair of pants for him at the mall.

He decided to go back to the Office and beg someone to enter with our receipt and pick up our deeds of gold.

Thankfully, the cab driver was more than willing and had the paperwork in a few minutes. 

We have 2 deeds, filed legally in our Region.   Bring on the building!!!!!