A Miracle Happened in Africa

This is a journal entry that my parents sent us from their Mission in Africa:
Monday June 30th 2008

Today is the day we are to check back with the lady who owns the house in Lilongwe. When we called her she said that she had got back from Tanzania on Wednesday and had already rented the house to someone else. You can imagine how crushed we were. When we had prayed about the house with the branch presidency we had had such a positive witness that that was where the branch should meet. How could it slip away like that? About 20 minutes later Sister Bouwhuis called her back thinking that maybe we were the people that she was thinking about when she said that it was already rented. We told her that we had told her daughter last Monday that we defiantly wanted it and to have her mother call us as soon as she got home. She again said that she was sorry but she hadn’t spoken to her daughter since she returned and that she had taken a deposit and she was to meet with him this afternoon to finalize the deal. We decided to fast that the Lords will would be done. Sister Bouwhuis and I went to our room to have a prayer to start our fast. We asked the Lord that if this was the place for the Branch to meet that we would see a miracle and that peoples hearts would be changed and we would still be able to rent it, but if we were to meet somewhere else that He would give us another miracle and we would be guided to be able to find the right place. Sister Bouwhuis was despondent all day, some times to the point of tears. She felt that we must have not done enough and it had slipped away. I tried to reassure her that we had done all that we could do, at that point, and that now it was in the hands of the Lord. At that point if the Lord wants that house he will work a miracle. If He wants another place he will work a different miracle. It is now up to Him. She finally felt at peace around 2:45, that it was in the Lord’s hands and would be as He wanted it to be though she didn’t know if that meant that we would get the house or not. Just knew that it was O.K. with the Lord.
About 3:30 Sister Bouwhuis called her back to see what the outcome was with her meeting with the other gentleman. Miracles still do happen. She had decided to NOT rent it to the other man even though he had offered her 10,000 more a month. Sister Bouwhuis told her that she was so thrilled and grateful to the Lord as we has been fasting and praying all day and that when she saw her she would give her a great big hug. It is certainly a testimony or a witness to the fact that the Lord takes a personal hand in His work. HE IS IN CONTROL! Godfrey had called in the morning asking how things were progressing with us getting the house in Lilongwe. We had told him what had happened and that we were fasting and praying that we could get it. He called back about 4 and asked if there had been a change. We told him of how the Lord had changed her heart and we would have the place to meet in. He told us to meet with her and pay 90,000 Kwacha for the first months rent and he would be up most likely on Friday to sign the lease agreement. It wasn’t long after that Mrs. Manda called back and said that she had the keys and we could come and get them at any time. We arranged with her that we would meet her at the house at half 10 (that’s how they say 10:30 here) the next day and that we would pay her the first month’s rent and that Godfrey would be up on the Friday or soon after to make the lease agreement as we didn’t have the authority to do that, he did. Sister Bouwhuis had purposely left it questionable as to when he came because he has a habit of not coming when he first says he will come. We were on cloud nine!!! We had the house!!! Now the work will progress in Lilongwe!!! Now we can have missionaries there as they will have a place to stay and we will have a church to meet in!!!

My Parents are currently serving in the Zimbabwe Africa mission and we are so proud of them for the work that they are doing there!

Bargin buys!!

Things are a little tight right now, and it just so happens to be time to start thinking about school clothes. Scary thought right?

I need to run to Walmart to put the pictures from our Sim card onto a disk because it was too full to take any more pictures. Well Because Alex needed a new tooth brush from her orthodontist, I ended up not going to the Walmart I usually would go to, and went to the one closest to the orthodontist to save gas. so the whole way there I'm thinking to myself that this is ridiculous that I have to waste the gas just to get a special toothbrush. Why didn't they give us a spare so I didn't have to make a special trip? (yeah, I was having a pity party for myself and need to repent now).

Well I'm pretty sure now that the Lord has a hand in even the little things in our life! As I was heading towards the photo lab at Walmart, right there in the middle of the isle there were several racks of clothing on sale for $1, $2, and $3. I can't believe it! I was able to get at least 6 items for each child for school clothes, for under $3 each! Awesome! I love these kind of deals!
I even got some toys for Harrisen's Birthday (that is coming up soon) that were on sale 50% off.
Needless to say I was not complaining any more on the way home.

The Lord really is looking out for me and my little family!(well, we are actually kind of big)