|
Klassen Newsletter September 2007 |
|
|
Let me tell you a story about a house.
Over the past months, we have prayed about our need for a house to rent. We have been repeatedly assured by the Lord that He had it all under control. We need not worry. It was already taken care of. The following is proof of that.
In July, I took a scouting trip to Phuket to look for a house. There was one house that I thought would be good, but the owner wasn't there and I did not know how to get a hold of him. Some time later, others on our team found out that the owner lived in Kuwait and got his phone number. In mid-July, we called him and expressed our interest in the house. He told us the price and we said we could not afford it. He then said, he could not lower the price.
This past weekend, Karlene and I went down to Phuket to look for a house to rent. We were the last ones on our team not to have a house. When we got there, we went to see a house that had potential, but there would be a lot of work involved. But it was a good house in a good location. We were happy, but we didn't have that deep down, in your gut, knowing, that it's the right place, kind of peace. We proceeded to look here and there, but didn't find anything.
While we were looking, Karlene tried four or five times to phone the house owner in Kuwait to ask if we could look inside the house. We wanted him to know that we were in Phuket and we wondered if he would reconsider the rent price. When we called him in Kuwait, there was no answer. On Sunday afternoon, there was a break in the rain, and so Karlene asked if we could drive by the house one more time. When we drove up to the house, someone was in the yard. Yes. It was the owner, who's name is Aziz. We spent the next hour and a half talking together about many things, including the house. At the end of our conversation, Aziz said he was very glad to meet us and wanted to rent the house to us. He proposed a new price for rent. And the new price that he gave would fit within our budget. We walked away very excited and grateful to God. The peace was there.
We are excited about this house because:
It has enough room for all of us.
It has a yard. (this is a rare thing in Thailand)
It is furnished (mostly).
It has storage space. (another rare thing in Thailand.)
It is in a wonderful neighbourhood. (for our American friends, yes, this is how we spell "neighbourhood")
It is near a park.
It is near the Ouellette family.
One more reason that we are excited. We spent a few hours the next day with Aziz just talking and listening. God has not only brought us to this house, He has brought us to Aziz. God has placed this man on our hearts and we will be praying for him. God has something wonderful in store for him.
Thank you for your prayers. We could never have planned this. Aziz didn't know we were going to Phuket and we didn't know that he would be there. If he hadn't been at his house at that particular time, we would have missed each other completely. Some will be tempted to say, "Coincidence." Some will be tempted to say, "God doesn't speak like that to us." I guess we are all entitled to our own opinions. But I have found the more time I spend in prayer, the more I hear the Lord speak. Thankyou Lord, for providing a house for us.
A Prayer Request:
Please continue to pray for a teacher or 2 for our team's children's schooling this year. We will be starting school again in 2 weeks.
With love from Thailand,
Kevin, Karlene, Tyler, Andrew and Jesse Klassen
|