As many people might be aware, missionaries often move quite a bit renting apartments or houses throughout their missionary service. As a result, many long-term missionaries are never able to purchase their own home and upon retirement have few housing options for the remainder of their lives. 

Arriving in New Zealand at the ages of 50 (Steve) and 46 (Rita) along with our two teenage children, the thought of ever owning a home for ourselves seemed quite remote. However, during our early years living in Tauranga, we were introduced to Liberty Trust. The notion of investing into a Christian trust that would be able to provide folks with a no interest home loan was truly exciting. However, because we were familiar with so many scams, even scams involving Christians, we were somewhat hesitant and thought that we would wait awhile and ask around to see if Liberty Trust was legitimate. 

Thankfully, we discovered that since its founding, Liberty Trust had proven to have built a solid track record as a reliable trust and we continued to be impressed by the many testimonies of those who had been helped. So, in February 2008, we stepped out in faith and joined Liberty Trust hoping that one day we would be able to help our children purchase a home. (We also prayed that our children would be gracious enough to build either a granny flat or an extension to their home so that we would have a place to live in our retirement!) 

We continued contributing to Liberty Trust for several years. Soon after moving to Christchurch in 2015 we were contacted by Liberty Trust. We unexpectedly learned that we had qualified early for a home loan. We discussed this with our children. Both children agreed that we should take this opportunity for ourselves since we were still employed as missionaries and had a few more years before retirement. We were also overjoyed to discover that both of us qualified for a first-time homeowner grant from the government. We made our calculations. Added to the Liberty Trust loan, we could also use our KiwiSaver funds and personal savings to purchase a small townhouse in North Canterbury. Our repayments to Liberty Trust would be about the same amount that we were presently paying in rent! Again, we had never imagined that we would ever be able to own a home.

We cannot begin to say enough: “Thank You Lord, and Liberty Trust, for making the seemingly impossible, possible.” We are now anticipating being able to own our home and being completely debt free by the time we retire. 

We are also thankful that because of our Liberty Trust contributions, others will be able to experience this similar blessing. 

Although, we look forward to our final home in Heaven, we are truly blessed to have a home of our own during our pilgrimage here on earth. 

May our Lord be praised!

 “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” 

(Philippians 4:19) ESV 

Steve & Rita

30 June 2021