The Last Minute

Talking to the final landlord!

We never were super excited about the idea of having to find houses for all our teammates. It was a daunting tasks and we knew it would stretch us. Plus, with three little kids it meant that most of the weight of the task fell on Tom. He was the one going out and canvassing neighborhoods for leads. He was making the initial assessments and taking pictures for us to look at and discuss about at home.

We got an early start. We had extra time during the month of fasting so we started the house hunt in July (almost 4 months before our team’s arrival). The first two weeks we came away with two houses! What an answer to prayer, a huge encouragement. God is with us. We can do this.

The third house was a lot slower coming, but when we found it-- everything was in order. The house was in good shape, no major work needed to be done, the neighborhood was good and the landlord was friendly and cooperative.

The final house has been a battle. Our deadline had always been today. We leave the island on our way to vacation tomorrow and we really wanted the houses settled before we left.

Our kids having a snack

From the beginning we’ve had our eyes on one town but every house had a “deal-breaker” issue.  We kept trying.  Another week went by and then we had a couple possibilities-- we thought we were done! But one landlord quoted an absurdly high rent price. Another suddenly said the house wasn’t available.  We kept looking.  Time kept slipping by.  At the beginning of this week we didn’t know what we were going to do. We had a possibility but the landlord was nitpicking about every detail and the house needed lots of work. We didn’t feel good about it. All the other houses had felt so right and the relationships with the landlords were easy- we were fighting with this house. It wasn’t the one. So on Tuesday Tom hit the street again. He was discouraged after hours of seeing nothing when he decided to sit down next to a friendly looking man. They talked and he called some friends who thought and talked and eventually led Tom to a neighborhood we had both liked a lot and right to a house that fit the bill. This was it. The landlord was friendly and obliging. The house is the right size and in a good location. Wednesday, we went as a family to see the house. Thursday (yesterday) Tom went and signed the contract.

We have all our teammates’ houses and right on time! God is good.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We have all the houses and we feel good about all of them! Ma Imani has continued to hold her ground and has found support from others in the community (Ba Imani hasn’t married again yet).

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Some of our teammates are still working to get the financial backing they need to come to the islands. Please pray that the right people would come behind them and that they would all be able to come! Their deadline for raising funds is the end of the month-- as we saw with the houses sometimes things don’t come together until the last moment. We are leaving for some much needed rest BUT we have a number of plane flights before we get to rest. PLEASE pray for Megan’s back during the flights (right now extended sitting usually leaves her in pain) and also pray for our three little kids on all the flights. There is a conference starting tomorrow to coordinate translation projects in all the different island dialects-- pray it goes well and that there would be unity.