We began our house search the day after Christmas, after waiting almost a month for the man who we now call our friend to return back to Abeche to help us with our house hunt. “Abd” has been a believer for 15 years and we are blessed to have his help here. We saw many houses with lots of potential, but two really stayed at the top of our list. One was brand new, a good price, good yard,and super nice. We loved the house! The downside is that the location is not the best – it is on abusy foot path/dirt road, but not in a neighborhood. We were getting encouragement from Abd that this was the best choice because it was move-in ready, and we couldn’t disagree with that. We went to bed that night very torn, and I tossed and turned all night, very anxious about the choice we had to make. The next day, we both still felt stressed about it, but felt unsure about what else was available. We prayed for God to grant us wisdom, talked to another worker here who had some good advice for us, encouraging us to continue our search and be very clear with Abd what our goals were for being here. Yes, we want to learn Arabic, and yes a house a little more “isolated” would be the obvious choice for anyone just moving here for the sake of moving here, but our house search is a little different than what it would be in the States. We have more to consider than just how it suits our preferences – we have a ministry to consider, how are we going to interact with the lost, how will we learn their culture and live life amongst them if we are separated from them? Why would we leave America and everything comfortable, come all the way to Abeche, Chad just to live in a nice house away from people? Doesn’t that defeat our purpose?! So, once God imparted some wisdom into our thought process, we realized we needed to consider a different house – one we had looked at first and liked but needs some work. We went back a couple days later to see it again, make notes about what work would need to be done before we could move in, and see what potential the house and compound had. We left very excited and encouraged! The yard is big for the kids, there is a row of shade trees on one side, and there is tons of space to host Chadian visitors and guests who will come to visit from America, as well as have our own office or prayer room and a large kitchen for me! We took a walk around the neighborhood to pray for the people, ask God to use us to bless them if this is where He is calling us to live, and even greet a few people. I got to pray with one woman who is a refugee from Sudan. This house does need some work – we will need to pull up old laminate flooring and paint the walls, as well as put in some kitchen counters. We have the month of January reserved here at the Orphanage, so we don’t feel too rushed to get moved in. We are working on writing up a contract on the house and we have workers who can do most of the labor, since we will also be studying Arabic. Rejoice with us that this big decision has been made and that God has granted us not only his wisdom but the peace that comes with it. Pray that as we work on getting the house ready to move in, God would also continue to grow our heart and vision for the people in the neighborhood.
