Ring the Bells

 Good Morning, 

I was planning to write you about a dear friend who passed into glory this week, but fortunately she’s in Heaven now and we can talk about her next week. 

I think of that song, “Ring the Bells of Heaven”. You may remember it.

It may not really apply here, because no one became a Christian, but that’s the way I felt when I heard this story. Maybe the angels were rejoicing just a little bit.

We have been shepherding a lovely, committed to Christ young couple from Chile for the last couple of months.  They came to us thru a recommendation from one of our missionaries in Santiago, singing their praises as being hard working, dedicated Christians.

As you don’t always have something like that fall in your lap, we went for them like the last piece of chicken at a Sunday dinner. And we realized they were even nicer!  They came prepared with all the documents in order to find housing and everything, she’s enrolled in English language school, and he’s already found a job as a mechanic.

Apart from that, they’ve been buffeted and battered at each turn.  First, they poured out a fortune for almost a month in a crummy motel at $100 a night (no kitchen, etc). Then, at our recommendation, they went to a lady recommended to us who would ‘shelter’ them till they found something. I must add the disclaimer that we’ve never actually met this lady, and talking on the phone, she seemed good hearted but a bit ‘casual’. So we were optimistic as we hooned off to Thailand.

That stay ended amicably but it only lasted one night. Our friends walked in and cleaned the kitchen for 2 hours so they could reach the stairs to the room they’d be staying in.  It became apparent that they’d be sleeping on the floor, next to the landlord’s son.

To my disappointment, no one was able to help them.  In everyone’s defence, what could, after all, be done?  We all had valid excuses; Tony and I are renting a relative’s apartment till we can get back to our own house. Also, there’s the fact that they need to be close to school and work, which rules out just about everyone we know. 

And so they spent Easter morning not in church, but in a coffee shop crying, whereas the husband declared, “Let me deal with it, we’ll have a good place to live in by tonight!’

He found an advertisement on Facebook that was misleading at best. This lovely foreign couple (whose English is still lacking) got to the address that the “apartment” was only  a single room $450 a WEEK (that’s how they do it here), in addition to a bond of $900. Then they were shown to their single room, with one bed and nothing else. The bath was down the hall and shared with three men. And to add insult to injury they were told that since he worked as a mechanic, they couldn’t use the washing machine, since it might make it greasy. 

I’ve seldom felt so mad or sad, but they just kept assuring us that they were OK and “God would provide”.

Now put your Kleenexes away, because this last Wednesday, God and a kindly agent put them at the top of a list of over 20 applicants for a lovely apartment close to school and work!! Same price, with rooms and doors and locks, all their own and furnished with a modicum of items like a bed, chairs, dresser and a laundry set!  I may have cried a little to the agent because when I called to verify that we weren’t misunderstood, and they truly had the apartment, she replied,  “It just makes me so mad to see innocents taken advantage of!”  God love her!  Makes you proud to be Australian!

Something this little wife told me in a text the night before they knew a miracle had happened, went like this (Note  her improving English skill),  “I think I can better my writing, I was want to say, ‘I think that I am really trust in the owner of my life and my heart.’”

Isn’t that beautiful? Aren’t we blessed to be blessed by these kids.

Till next week, keep serving the Owner of your life and heart,

Marsha