"A" was the only drug addict that I have knowingly allowed to live with us. There are hundreds of good Christian rehab centers in Spain from which he could have chosen, in what has been a major move of God. But my concern was for A's widowed mother, a member of our church in Madrid, who was hopelessly tied to her son's manipulation. I wanted to give her a break. He had been in and out of centers, and complained that his bad health (he had AIDS) would not allow him to go through withdrawal syndrome again. The only method in Christian rehab is cold turkey. He knew a doctor who could give him something non-addictive that would make it a lot smoother. I said, OK, come, if your mother and the church OK it, and if Sharon allows and if you get rid of your car. This last was the most difficult for him.
He started out well. I remember how he enjoyed jumping off rocks in the mountain streams. He came completely clean (I had him tested weekly) and he was making friends in town and took on the project of showing evangelistic movies in the open air. His case worker was talking of a paid subsidized job in which he could work on our agricultural project after a few more months. He made a prediction which proved true: in a few months I'll be OK and then my pride will get the better of me again and I'll start to go downhill. What got the better of him was his refusal to take advice. We told him, quit trying to go back to your old girlfriend. She's afraid that you will fall again. Just adjust to life here in the country. Well, he went back to the city and his mother took him in again, and the girl-friend firmly refused to get back together. He forgot his cell-phone here, and Sharon counted 100 calls to her on one day. And "A" was as lost as before or worse. We have had no news of him since his mother's funeral some years ago.
"B" was one of the better students at the Bible College where I taught. He married a girl from his church and they had a son, and she left him and took the boy. After some years he remarried, a Christian girl ("C") from another country who had a radio ministry. He had his own online ministry of promoting cell groups. They offered to spend a year here helping in the ministry. We let them use an apartment that we had rented. Some believers that we knew in Madrid were giving them monthly financial help. We introduced them to our friends and noticed that they would have people over and not include us. Over time we hardly saw these local people any more.
Then it came time to go and visit our churches and families in America, and we figured that "B", a good preacher, would be capable of looking after the believers here. When we got back we were informed that I wouldn't be preaching any more. They had "decided" that "B" should do the pastoring. After that B & C didn't stick around very long, and we heard that they ended up with no involvement in any church.
Adding everything up, it seems like these and other "helpers", although at some point may have encouraged us, did not bring any permanent benefit to the outreach.
"D" was our friend from when we lived in Madrid, whom we had known shortly after he finished his treatment in a rehab center. We were able to help him through some struggles. Before we even moved out here, he took an interest in the outreach and rented an apartment in a nearby town, and helped others who were ministering here at the time. At one point he thought he might be helping here permanently. But eventually he got a job in Madrid, and got married. Every once in a while he and his friends come for a visit.
"E", supposedly had come off drugs and his pastor in southern Spain sent him here to get away from all the bad influences in his home town. He had teenage children back home, who had told him he needed to make a break with his old connections. We liked him. He had this southern charm, he played the guitar and knew the songs from the church and made friends easily. His family were olive growers and of all the people who came here, he fit most easily in our farm project. We talked of the possibility of selling his property in the south and moving here with the hopes that he could win back his wife and family.
But what was in the little backpack that he always wore? I should have arranged, like I had done with "A", for him to have a weekly drug test. His behavior eventually became erratic and we knew that if he was not being honest with us he would have to go. Later I heard that he said we weren't feeding him enough and that he didn't like Sharon's food. The only thing people ever say about Sharon's food is how good it is, and what a good hostess she is.
"F" was a sailor from a North African country. His story was that his ship left ahead of schedule from a Spanish port, and he was stranded here. When he and his 2 friends "G" and "H" came here specifically for a Bible training program we began to focus on our Muslim friends in different towns around here. We had some good times together. Our morning Bible sessions were grounding them in the Scriptures. There were some bumps in the road. When we came to the story of Ishmael and "H" read that "he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him" (Genesis 16:12), he got so upset that we had to postpone studying for a while.
All three of these men left for economic reasons. "F" figured we should hire him so he could get legal status in Spain. But that's not what we are here for. "G" was able to get a job in another part of Spain and eventually bring his family over. He became involved there in a local church and in evangelism. We are still in touch, and he appreciates the help he got. "H" also keeps in touch, and appears to be active in a church in another part of Spain. We remain in contact with immigrants from North Africa in towns around here, and pray that God's Spirit will move among them, and that an Arab-speaking church will develop.
"I" with his friends crossed the deserts of Africa in a 4-year journey to make it to Europe. He was sent to us by a refugee agency. He became popular in town through participating in a soccer team and made friends with the mayor. He could have had a future here over time, but he wanted to see things move faster, and found his way to Switzerland, where I think he has the benefits of official refugee status. His faith seemed genuine, but sometimes secondary.
"J" is an old friend of ours and of our daughters from when they were teenagers in Madrid. Abused as a young girl, she has struggled with alcoholism and lesbianism. She received a lot of help from YWAM (Youth with a Mission) over the years. Then, after a visit here, she decided that she liked our friends and wanted to stay. Our hopes were to work together closely in outreach to her kind of people in this area. But she has always had a problem adjusting to a group. Now she is working near here, and we see her occasionally.
"K", who is Spanish with his wife "L" from Africa, feels a strong calling to evangelism and ministry in the church. They met in Africa where both were working with YWAM. But it turns out that he feels no calling to look after a garden. He says they made a mistake in coming here. He has always said he would like to return to Africa. She doesn't want to. He can't because they have clamped down on HIV positives. Because of his health and small disability pension and the economic crisis they have nowhere to go so they are still with us. She refuses to go back to living with his mother.
Just before they knew that she was pregnant she was not feeling well, and he was going to have to take over her garden. At this point they had a major disagreement and he was doing the work unwillingly. I asked him why he let all the vegetables dry up. There was plenty of water and I had showed him how to set up the drip irrigation. He said, "Because I'm rebellious". I said, "I'll give you 2 out of 10 for the garden". He responded, "I should get a 0".
Most of these 12 people shared in the farm responsibilities. I worked with them on a daily basis. You can imagine what is like to teach the same tasks repeatedly and then deal with things that were not done well. When I walk through the property I see one reminder after another of simply doing things differently from the way I showed them. Then there were the numerous confrontations when I tried to help them improve how they did things, for example, which tools to use for which jobs.
Other people have also been with us, various immigrants from Latin America, who needed help and whose help we could use, in construction and agriculture. But none of these were candidates for an ongoing relationship, although they could have been.
