So, when I left off in the last blog, we were looking forward to the month of May being a thrilling whirlwind of theocratic activity… well, it was… for everyone but me 🙁
May 4th we travelled to Ladyville for Rich to give the public talk there, even though Rich was suffering the remnants of a pretty bad cold. That actually went great, but that night we ended up sleeping in a room where mothballs had been placed to ward off creepy crawlies, and if you recall, I have MCS (multiple chemical sensitivity), so needless to say, I was a mess by morning, and for a few days afterward with a migraine and myriad other symptoms. This caused me to miss the first public talk in Caye Caulker given in the Belize Kriol language! (I managed to get a little of it drifting in through the window that faces the Kingdom Hall.) It’s such a cool language to listen to… very entertaining! Directly after recovering from that, I ate a mango that (I discovered after eating half of it) had worms… ewwwww. Anyway, I got quite sick and Rich went to the pharmacist to see what I should do and she gave us both some pills for parasites, which kept me from going anywhere for another couple of days.
Just as I thought things were looking bright, I came down with the cold that Rich had just got over, only much worse. This caused me to miss our Special Assembly Day! I spent that whole week in bed and by then it was only a few days before the C.O. and his wife were to visit our congregation and were slated to stay with us! Surely I would get over it before that! Not! The day arrived and I was worse, so Brother Hagerty (upstairs) offered to take them.
I was also supposed to be auxilliary pioneering for May… this did not happen. I tried to keep my appointment to work with Sister Garcia during the C.O. week… showed up for the arrangement, took her to my bible study and part way through, my coughing hit me so bad, I had to run out of the house hacking and and gasping for air. For a long few seconds I thought I would die as I could not breath in! This was just the beginning of the next 3 weeks of the worst coughing fits of my entire life!
As you may know, we’ve been trying to sell our house back in Nova Scotia. We honestly thought when we left to serve where the need is great in Ecuador that it would only be a matter of months before it would sell. It has now been two full years, and a move to a higher cost of living in Belize, so, our finances have been suffering…to put it mildly. There was no better time than this miserable May to be informed that our insurance company would no longer insure our house because of it being vacant. We had 2 weeks to come up with a solution. Should we find a renter? Are we going to be forced to leave our assignment here? We started looking for another insurance company that would insure the house. We found a few, but the quotes were outrageous! Not even possible for us to afford. We were distraught! The bank would take our house away if we failed to insure it! We were praying fervently for direction, a solution, anything!! It seemed the only solution was to get a renter so I went onto kijiji … and there was what looked like the perfect renter… a retired single senior… non smoker who just wanted to rent for 6 months because she lived in Mexico the rest of the year.
I sent off an email to her and she was thrilled with the pictures and description of our house and made an appointment to view it. The very next day, our friend, neighbour and brother Victor told us he had received a call from a person who wanted to view our house …. to buy!! Arrangements were made. The renter person, in the meantime, drove up, saw how lonely she’d be way out there by herself, and just left a note on the door… didn’t even wait to view the house. The next day the prospective buyers viewed the house, loved it and emailed us an informal offer that was too good to be true. They wanted to pay our full asking price if we would throw in as much of the furniture as possible!! (we had planned on doing that anyway!). We really thought this was the answer to our prayers. But alas! A few days later they requested to have a second viewing, and upon going over the house with a fine-toothed comb, changed their minds 🙁
Back to square one and faced with the monstrous insurance cost, we were once again distraught, not knowing what we could possibly do! Through all the praying this has prompted, one thing has become crystal clear to me: Satan is playing his hand, thinking that we will crumble and lose faith. I have been reminded that sometimes brothers and sisters have had the privilege of showing Satan how wrong he is. They have withstood extreme pressure after losing everything and come up even stronger in faith, and happy knowing they had given Jehovah a reply to Satan’s taunts. Others, like the Apostles Paul and Peter, endured the ultimate trial, being put to death rather than turning against Jehovah! So, even if it seems distressing right now that we *appear* not to be having our prayers answered, I am confidant that Jehovah knows the situation and I’m prepared to take on whatever outcome is over the horizon, “knowing that this tested quality of faith works out endurance”. And like the Watchtower for tomorrow pointed out, “Jehovah is cognizant of those seeking refuge in him” and protects them like “a stronghold in the day of distress.” And so, like the brother in the example I will ‘stop worrying overmuch’ and keep on in the preaching work… the whole purpose we are here…and thus show trust in him while we keep searching for the right solution.
Maritza & Jorge
Despite the month of May being mostly miserable, there is a silver lining. My Bible study, Maritza (and Richard’s study Jorge) got married!! And, although it was a very small private wedding for family only, we were invited! That was very special to me because it told me that she was doing this because she wants to please Jehovah. Special arrangements were made for the ceremony to be free of any false religious teachings, and, because most of the guests were worldly, they decided on no alcohol or dancing. Just a simple ceremony, saying their vows, and after, a yummy dinner prepared by Jorge’s sister (who is in the Spanish congregation). It brings such joy to see them take this step to bring them closer to Jehovah!
Just occured to me… this wasn’t part of my miserable May… it was a June wedding 😉