Friday, November 9, 2007

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In case you missed in on the main trip journal page, we added a special Mercy Ships report from yesterday which you will find by clicking on this link.

Today we slept in a little.  Jan, Mario and Matt were to meet with Robert and Emma to discuss Crown – Liberia planning.  The rest of us was to meet with Major Dixon of the Salvation Army to see a particular piece of property that they had located.    We left about 9:30am but didn’t realize that James would be delivering our governmental dinner invitations as we went along.  So we were running a little late and I called Major Dixon to let him know.  His property manager, David Bainda, was also running a little late so there was no problem.  James dropped off letters along the way (the postal system in Liberia is still not fully in place yet) and we arrived at the Army headquarters in Sinkor around 10:15.  We were introduced to David and he road with us to the land which was on the main road in Congo Town (a very desirable area for accessibility to both Monrovia and the airport road area.  We had absolutely no idea of what the property would be like.  I had simply shared our desire to have a place for a headquarters, guesthouse and, if possible, a business location.  I had also said that these could be split up if necessary.  We drove along and I kept looking at places as we progressed thinking, “that one would probably work” and “it’s not what I’d like but there’s probably not much available here anymore”.  When we stopped it was by an open area that looked pretty rough.  “Okay,” I thought, “this could work.”  Then we walked back just a little to the actual property that he was showing us.  I can only tell you that (in spite of needing substantial renovation) is everything we could have hoped for in size, location and potential.

Having said that, we do not know if the owner is willing to sell it, what the price would be and, therefore, if we could afford it.  There are some pictures in today’s photos of the property (I hesitate to even show them as it seems too good to be true).  We are praying only that God would show us the property that He would be pleased with us having.  I believe that there is a struggle going on right now in all four of us that saw the property to remove our personal love for the place from our prayers for God’s will to be done.  It’s hard sometimes to do that.  We are also aware that God can provide whatever He wants us to have.  So we are simply praying about this property.  I would ask you to join us in that please.

After seeing the property we rode around with James to deliver the rest of the invitations.  Following that we met back up with Jeremiah and gave them $150 to recover their shelves and pay for the materials and labor to have the wall installed in the container.

Finally we make it back to the Norman’s for some rest and work.  Beccy and Gayla decide that they want to look through the website as I keep a copy of it on my computer.  I tried to lay down on the couch for a nap but Gayla kept yelling out to Dave, “Look what he said about you under this picture.”  So I got up and began working on this update.

We’re waiting for Jan, Mario and Robert to get back from the business meeting that they attended in town.  I think they just drove in.  I’ll likely update just what’s here tonight and try to get to bed before midnight.

 

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