Two Veteran OMS Directors Arrive

Nine months after OMS work began in Colombia in 1942, two veteran OMS directors, both recently released from Japanese interment camps, arrived to assess progress.

In Search of Some Property

They decided to find property in Medellín for the mission offices and for a seminary. One of them was confident that God would lead them to the proper location. Less than a half an hour after the men prayed, a realtor came to their door to tell them about a property that had been placed for sale. The owner needed to move and wanted immediate cash for the property, which he was willing to sell for half the price. When the owner gave the men 24 hours to raise the money, they sent a cablegram to OMS headquarters in Los Angeles asking if funds were available for the purchase.

God Provides

They had forgotten to check their mail that day, but found a letter the next morning from Mrs. Lettie Cowman, then president of OMS. Mailing the letter ten days previously, she wrote that while she had been praying for the men, she felt a strong leading of the Lord to empty the account which had accumulated funds from selling her Streams in the Desert devotional book. To Medellín she sent $20, 000, enough in Colombian pesos to purchase the property, legalize the title, and pay for the move from central Medillin to location in the country. They named the property Manantiales del Desierto, Spanish for streams in the desert.

“The Widow’s Pot of Oil”

Lettie later wrote about the Streams account. “The proceeds from the sale of Streams in the Desert are dedicated to giving the Gospel to the ends of the earth, and every penny of its profit used for that purpose… it has been indeed the widow’s pot of oil, miraculously multiplied for the sustenance of her missionary family.”