And With Still Three Weeks to Spare!

I was not looking forward to talking with Pastor Emmanuel today. For the past several months, each time I called to touch base with him in Zabré, I’d told him that we were planning to return to Burkina in early September. He, in turn, had told all the Kusassi pastors. Today, however, I was going to have to tell him that we still weren’t sure, that we still had not booked our flight because we were still short on finances.

But that all changed this morning! Last night I received an e-mail out of the blue from someone that’s not even on our EMU list. He said that a friend had forwarded a copy of our newsletter to him. Could I give him an update of our current financial shortfall? Sure! I told him that we were still $195/month short of our required budget.

This morning, when I opened my e-mail, there was another message from this gentleman. It read:

“Dear Mike, God has covered the remaining $195/month for your mission. Please let me know where to send the money to. Go forward and do your mission in confidence because He will provide for all your needs according to His riches in glory.”

Wow! Now, doesn’t that sound like exactly the kind of thing that God would do?!!!

We got on the phone to our supervisor and told her the good news. She immediately gave us permission to go ahead and buy our plane tickets. So then Kathy called the travel agent who had given us the best deal up to this point. He still had two seats for us on September 3, and the price was even somewhat lower than what he’d quoted us last time! We took them!

I spent much of the rest of the day filling out all the various forms required by Wycliffe prior to returning to the field: a Financial Readiness form, an End of Canada Stay report, an Emergency Instructions form, a Foreign Medical Plan application, and instructions on how and where to direct our finances once we leave Canada. Paperwork! It's the story of our life! :/

We have to admit that it’s been a rollercoaster ride of faith over this past week, with all the breath-taking ups and stomach-lurching downs that such a ride entails. But in this one week, the God who called us to serve Him in Burkina has provided the funding that we need to do so. On Monday, we still needed $340/month. Today, only five days later, the last dollar is pledged. (God must have decided to go easy on us this time and not wait until the very last minute; He provided with almost three weeks still to spare! :)

Oh yeah, I could hardly wait to call Pastor Emmanuel and tell him the good news. I think he was more excited than I was! In fact, it was all I could do to dissuade him from making the long trip from the village to Ouaga by public transport to meet us at the airport!

Thanks for your prayers, support, and encouragement, folks! Now we can concentrate more fully on final preparations for departure, knowing for certain (God willing) that we are definitely leaving on the 3rd. Guess I’d better go and pack another box or two before I hit the hay.