Road to Indonesia---Gifts and Prayers

 When I got up this morning I read a clarification message. I woefully miscalculated the exchange rate when I figured out how much the shipping cost was.  It was not just under $200, but rather just under $2000.  Tears came to my eyes in gratitude for the generous gift from our friends, fellow missionaries with ERRC, in South Korea.  But then I was sick to my stomach when I thought about how much money this was for things that in monetary value are almost worthless.  I was/am convicted about pushing so hard to get these things. They. Are. Just. Things. If the timing had been different and I had been available to consult about the costs on this shipping, we would have had our important papers sent and abandon the rest of the items. However, I was busy teaching and was not available. (God? I do not mean this question mark.)  I had certainly been very thankful for my friends paying what I thought was $200, but I was overwhelmed with the thought of paying $2000.  When I contacted my friends this monring, this was their response:

"The prices of your stuff may not match the shipping cost, but with the years of having them, you selected them as some of your favors with a good reason, I believe their value is beyond their prices. The Lord wants to bless you. He provided money and someone who was available to handle at this time. Praise the Lord and enjoy His goodness."

Tears again.

And then there is my young friend who filled out the paperwork to authorize her to enter our apartment, travled to our apartment, spent the hours necessary to go through everything in our apartment, transported the things to her and her father's apartment, packed the things, transported the things to DHL,  repacked the things, brought back home the things that were not able to be shipped. Yesterday alone she spent 5 hours on the phone researching getting our medicines and herbs and spices to us.  After another hour's worth of emails with us, the idea was abandoned as impractical and impossible. When I wrote to thank her, the response was:

"I'm so honored to be helpful and reliable. My mom told me that it is so magic you chose me and believed me to do the moving. I will keep all the things that cannot be mailed for you. Let's hold up help and look forward to coming reunion together."

The Lord has always supplied abundantly for us.  We have never raised money and rarely even had gifts given to us.  Our Social Security supports us now.  Because we have been so well supplied for, we have declined offers of gifts just in the past few weeks. When we finally get our money out of the bank in China we will be able to pay back the money we owe to ERRC for the past year+ of administrative costs, so even that is covered. We are thankful for an organization that can wait for this money.  Anyway, we are just thankful.

I also have another praise.  At the end of Indonesian class on Tuesday, the teacher recorded a prayer for me to memorize and be ready to pray during class. So today I prayed my first prayer in Indonesian.  God is good.