The Mayor of Zaragoza Killed

The Mayaor of Zaragoza was found killed late last week. The news of his death was overshadowed by the tragic events in Tuscon. Zaragoza is one of the communities in Mexico wherre we are working. It is a town of about 5,000 and is about 45 miles from Eagle Pass. He was on a trip to Saltillo for a governmental or political meeting. He attended the meeting and was not seen since. His body was found in the neighboring state of Nuevo Leon. We have been in communication with Carlos and Josefina in Zaragoza and all is still calm in Zaragoza. We would appreciate your prayers concerning the work in Zaragoza and for our safety as we spend time on both sides of the border.

Update on our quest for a house!

For those of you who have been following our quest for a house, we are now at a standstill. As you may know, we got the winning bid of $26,000.00 on a house which was being offered by a real estate agent in October in the neighborhood of $66,000.00. The bank had the right to refuse the winning bid. They countered with an asking price of $45,000.00. We increased our bid to $30,000.00 and then to $35,000.00. The bank wanted closing within 30 days of acceptance. We have been approved for a loan through the USDA rural development program. The USDA has approved 100% financing with all closing costs included into the load. But there is one problem with this program, since it is a government program, funding would not be available until Congress passes a budget. Since we knew we could not close within 30 days, we had to suspend negotiations. When we know we have funding of our loan available, we will once again get back into negotiations. The property is currently being offered at $66,000.00. There are a couple of other possibilities in the area we are also looking into.PLEASE KEEP THIS IN YOUR PRAYERS. Because of a the response to our situation, we do have $1,500.00 set aside for an Earnest money contract (Which would be returned at closing!) and relocation expenses.