La Finca

“Faith Stewart, what is that in thine hand?”

“A little less than five dollars, Lord.”

“And what is that for?”

“To be used for the work of the kingdom in Cuba, Father.”

That was back in the year of 1930, in the month of September, in a common little house of three rooms. One of these was furnished with plain wooden seats—purchased with money that should have paid for nourishing food, but was not—and in another room, a simple cot, a little stove, a tin cup, a pie plate, and a knife, fork, and spoon. An egg or a potato can be boiled in a cup, and a simple meal prepared for one who lives frugally.

For several years, she lived mostly on native food, saving every precious dollar for her beloved work. But in time, it impaired her health, and friends in the United States insisted that she take also some American food that she might grow stronger and be more useful on the field.

There were long days of visitation among the poor and needy of Cuba, with only the simplest of all things for physical welfare.

We have told in former chapters about the opening of the Children’s Home in Santa Fe, and how God marvelously worked in behalf of the situation when they could not even take in half of the homeless applicants on the very first day. How also this was a great sorrow to her and drove her and her helpers to their knees at once to ask for bigger quarters.

God granted this request and opened the way to purchase the estate of Los Pinos, the present El Hogar de Niños. As the years went on, the building was enlarged, a new mission building constructed beside it, and a home for girls purchased next door to the mission building. Later also, as stated, the nursery building was added, the means being provided by Mrs. Emma Meyers, a well-known Church of God minister.

Again the years rolled on. At one time, there were ninety children sheltered under the roof of El Hogar. Then the laws governing such institutions said that two children could not sleep in one bed. And though that child that has to be rejected because there is not enough room for him or her to sleep in separate beds may have to sleep on the ground, a doorstep, or a park bench in the cold nights that often come, this law must be obeyed.

So in time, the number was less, for there was no more space to put a bed, and no more children could be accommodated. There have been from 75 to 80 children now for some time and this is quite a family to be under two roofs.

Something else is happening also. The home, El Hogar, is situated in one of the most healthy sections of the city of Havana and is higher and cooler than the main parts of Havana. But as in many countries today, there is a building program going on. The fields that once surrounded El Hogar are today streets and city lots with new homes put up by construction companies. Now neighbors in their new homes surround El Hogar on three sides. This is not good for the welfare of the children, nor those who must care for them.

As Faith Stewart looked about her, she realized many things. First, boys and girls have a way of growing up to be men and women. These young people would one day need to leave El Hogar and go out to fend for themselves. But they have no trades, and they need training.

She mentioned this to a man working with her in the mission work. She felt that as God provided, a school must be erected and a teacher procured to teach these boys how to go out and work in some special place in life. The man with whom she had conversed began to attend such a school, going on steadily until he was able to get his degree in a certain line of work. He will be ready when the time comes to teach trades to the boys. But this requires buildings, means, and materials.

About this time, there came a restless feeling that for many reasons, they could not stay on at El Hogar. But the whole thing seemed to loom up as impossible. A larger property was needed where not only a home could be built, but a building for the training school for the boys. For some time, the need of the Homes has been for a place large enough to put up all the necessary buildings. The city is crowding the Home, and already the beautiful royal palms that for so long graced the front of El Hogar, standing like silent sentinels, have been cut down. The city complained that they had become obstacles to the electric lines. And now a sign stands in front of the property which reads, “Se Vende” (for sale).

El Hogar was most certainly God’s choice for the Home for several years, and it has served well its purpose. But it is no longer the ideal place for a children’s home. With residences everywhere, there will soon come houses of worldly pleasure, places of sin, and places of temptation at the very doors of the Home, and these will bring many problems.

Also, the present building at Almendares cannot furnish sufficient room for those who come to the annual convention. So they began once more to search for a place.

Many things had to be considered. First, there were no funds for a new place. Then friends in the North began to see the situation and to be burdened for the work, and two or three good ministers of God said, “It can be done. If we let the people know, we believe God will work in the midst, and the means will surely come in.”

So it began, and the “Farm Fund” began to be the thing of reality.

As the workers in Cuba looked about, they soon found a place in the country and went to look at it. All the time, they were also looking at the poultry farm next to this property. The price of the first place was rather high, but then all property is high in Cuba. While they were praying for God to lead them and awaiting to give their decision, the price was raised a few thousand dollars. That was enough. They made no further effort to purchase the farm.

About that time, the owner of the adjoining property informed them that he was willing to sell his place. He named the amount and stated that it could be made in payments. This was exactly what they were in need of. With great joy, they made the first payment which had been accumulating for the “Farm Fund.” The place contained over thirty acres and sold for $37,500.

It is situated a short distance from the city of Santiago de Las Vegas and several miles from the present El Hogar.

As one enters the large front gates, the main building (the residence of the former owner) faces the end of the drive. It is a house of eight rooms and several baths and a large enclosed patio in the rear.

There are several barns for cattle, poultry houses, and buildings for raising hogs. On either side of the front entrance stand large royal palms, and the lawn around the home is screened by the beautiful tropical foliage.

A veranda runs around three sides of the house, and the living room is large and the ceiling so high it seems almost stately. The floors, of course, are tile.

There is room on the right side of the central building for a Girls’ Home and a nursery building, and on the left for a Boys’ Home, a vocational school, and a government grade school. Also beyond, with still proper frontage, there is a lovely location for a tabernacle.

This last building must provide a place of worship each week as well as provide classrooms for the Bible students who are preparing for the ministry in Cuba.*

Before the homes can be built, the present property in Los Pinos must be sold to provide means to go ahead in the work of building. Materials are almost unbelievably high, considering the wage given to men in Cuba. But we thank God that the money came in for each payment, and God supplied.

A Christian woman in Ohio asked God to help her give $10,000 to the work in Cuba. After faithful prayer, she and her husband gave five thousand dollars of that amount; later a check came for one thousand. Time wore on, and the day for giving the last payment of $4,000 was nearing.

The saints began to pray and to plead especially for the payment to come in. If that money was not forthcoming on the proper date, then they could still lose the property; hence the burden on their hearts. One day when the mail came in, there was a check from the man and wife in Ohio who did not know the amount asked for in the last payment. That check was for exactly $4,000. There was real joy and thanksgiving.

No checks ever come like that without a real emergency or special need, but how wonderful that God laid it on the hearts of these good people to supply the last payment to secure the farm, called by the Spanish people, “La Finca.” So God worked on hearts in the United States to put their shoulder to the plow and to purchase La Finca for a future home for the children.

The plain little home given to Faith Stewart by her brother and sister-in-law was sold just prior to her last trip to the United States, at her request. The money that was received will be used to start building the tabernacle as a memorial to them.

(There are many such plain little places of worship on the Island, erected by prayer and faith in God and loving sacrifice—in Pinar Del Rio, two country churches, also a building at Pinar, in Bonece, Almendares, Santa Fe, Punta San Juan, Esperanza, Velasco, Evara, Santiago, Guantánamo, Sagua.)

There is a man and wife living at La Finca, caring for the property, tilling the fields, and doing the general work. And someday when God provides, the mission will be housed there in the new location; and, as God provides, will move forward.

There is no tractor on the farm, and the only means of tilling the ground is by the slow-moving team of oxen that patiently walks through the fields, typical of the country places elsewhere in Cuba.

As one passes along the road, just out of Santiago de Las Vegas, farms, fields, and estates are passed until we come to the entrance of a certain farm. On either side of the two iron gates, palms and shrubbery are banked so thick that they form a dense wall, but looking between the iron rods of the entrance, we see a rambling one-story farmhouse settled not far from the entrance. This is the only building at La Finca that is ready for occupation. There is a high bamboo hedge on the border line of La Finca. This hedge is so thick that the branches are interlaced, and as the breeze sweeps through the bamboo branches, they knock against each other, causing continually strange sounds and a soft murmur in the branches. The whole scene is typically tropical, with the mango and banana trees and the palms and bamboo.

It was the desire of Faith Stewart to live just long enough to see the buildings put up and the children housed at La Finca. This was her goal. Like Moses of old, she longed to go over into the “promised land.”