Do I have a story for you...

Get ready!! It is a long one...but sooo goood!

Last entry was the beginning of a series of event that looking back have absolutely blown my mind about how flippin’ cool of a God I serve!

I left you on Tuesday night I think.

On the evening I started packing up the apartment because I knew I would be moving the next day. The landlord even came by and said the apartment I had been waiting for 3 months to get remodeled was all but done…just wallpaper to do! He said I could move in tomorrow! So it was a “for sure” thing…or at least I thought it was!!!

Lelde and I decided it would be best to go and speak with the landlord and talk about making a contract (the advice we took after every person I talked to about this situation said it was a necessity). We decided to meet at the apartment to check it out and see how it looked after the remodel. (I have to say I was a bit excited, knowing it had been three months…they must have done some really good work!)

Wednesday evening I met Lelde and we walked to the apartment to meet our “new landlord” to talk “business”. When I met Lelde, she said that the landlord called and asked if we could help wallpaper.

Hmmm….

Well that would have been nice to know a bout an hour ago BEFORE I left the other apartment in normal clothes!!! Oh, well… whatever helps us get in there faster, were my thoughts.
We walked up the stairs and knocked on the door of our “new apartment” hearing that they were working inside we just let ourselves in…and to our CoMpLeTe AmAzMeNt…nothing was done! It looked just as bad as when we saw it last, actually a bit worse as now there was an inch layer of white dust over EVERYTHING and the kitchen was completely torn up…no cabinets, no stove, actually nothing but a old dirty sink that they were using for the work. And this is what I am supposed to move into in less than 24hours!

2nd Hmmmm….

I took a deeeeeep breath and said, I can do this… it is not that bad, and once I am in here I can help them when I am at “home”, and then it will go faster. On that note we jumped right into helping them wallpaper the room I would be living in. They had two sheets already put up, which meant after about fifteen more, and two and a half hours later the wallpaper was up! “All” that was left was a sanding of the floor, sealing it and putting the overcoat on top, then painting the wallpaper… then ONE ROOM out of the three, not including the bathroom and kitchen was complete… this needing to be done a dry by the time I move in the next day, and at that time it was about 10pm!

3rd Hmmmm….

After finishing helping with the application of my beautiful textured wallpaper we went down to the landlords apartment to “talk business”.

That’s when things got kinda “sticky-weird”!

The minute I said “contract” the mood changed, the landlord said that he had other people who already said they would pay more, but since we had been waiting so long and since he had promised us the apartment he would let us still rent from him, but he did not want to sign a “legal” contract because then he would have to pay taxes… and he said if we wanted a legal contract out rent would go up 20%...

4th Hmmm…

Then we talked about utilities, he said it would be about 70ls to 80ls for all the utilities. That is about $160 dollars! This was weird to me because I had just come from the other place I was looking at before (when I thought I had lost this apartment) and the landlord there said that utilities would be around 25ls at the most 35ls. (on the really cold winter days for heating) That is about $60! That was a BIG difference for two apartments that were close to the same size….

5th Hmmm…..

The landlord also said that they would fully furnish the apartment including beds. Since I would be moving in tomorrow I thought I should at least ask about the beds (even though I knew that nothing else was there yet!) then the wife took us into a room where there was an old wooden bunk bed, she went on to tell us that they were planning on cutting the bunk bed in half and Lelde could have one and I the other! This was almost comical because I am 6ft tall and had a pretty good idea that I would not fit on that bed anyway. I told her that it was not necessary for her to cut the beds, because I would not fit, and I would prefer to purchase a bed that I could sleep comfortably on… she said, “none sense, try the bed!’ so I laid down and let her see my life long dilemma of not fitting on beds with railings! She dropped the issue.

6th Hmmm….

After our very insightful “business talk” we left to walk to the bus stop. I was quiet. Lelde was quiet. Krista (one of the orphanage girls, who came with us) was quiet. I was not feeling very sure, but decided to ignore those feelings because I was in desperate need of a place to live, because no matter what I was to be out of the other place tomorrow!

We got on the bus and I looked at Lelde wondering how she felt since she understood 100% of the conversation and I only about 50% (due to my lack of understanding Latvian!) Even though she said she was ok, and she thought it would be ok, she was not very reassuring.
Then this overwhelming feeling came over me and I knew that this place was not the place, no matter how desperate I was. I asked Lelde if she could call back that guy from the other apartment we looked at a few days ago (when we thought we had lost this apartment), she got this BIG smile on her face and asked if I was serious. We talked through my concerns and she completely agreed! Yet is was already 10pm so we could not call the guy that night, so before parting ways we agreed that we would spend that night in prayer to our Jesus for guidance and direction.

After the long walk home, I was certain that I would not be living in the apartment I had waited so long for. I had nowhere to go, and had complete peace! I knew that the Lord knows my stubbornness and he took me through all of these things, all of these “hmmm’s” in order for me to see that this is not the place for me!

When I got to the apartment I would spend one more night in, I could not stop smiling! I called Paul Levenda and told him the whole story and he confirmed and assured me that this was obviously not the right place for me. Then I asked him if I could not find anything within the next day, if I could bum a room off of him for few days until I found something. He said of course! (Since 80% of my belongings have been sitting in his house for 5 months!) ha ha ha!

Got to work the next morning and had Latvian Language and then came back to the office, Lelde was in the office, so we sat down and took a deep breath ad called that guy from the other apartment. I really did not have high hopes knowing that it was a great apartment in a great location at a great price.
5 minutes later we had a meeting to meet him in an hour and give him fist and last months rent, sign A LEGAL contract, and move in!
And we did just that!

AHHHHH! Who was right in the middle of this? Who was in control the whole time? Who was patient and just loved me through the doubts, through the confusion, through the unbelief and lack of trust in Him?
THIS is the flippin’ cool God I serve, that loves me and is right beside me, even when I feel like he is not taking care of me!

Since this is turning into a book I will finish…

Short end to the story:

I have an apartment!
A great apartment!
With a great landlord!
In a great location!
With a great price!

PRAISE JESUS!!!!

Thank you all for your prayers during this long and trying process. Thank you for walking through this with me.
I have learned more about God through this than I could have if this was easy. So now (in a small way) I can see what Paul says, “…consider it pure joy when facing trials of many kinds…”

Experiencing God and living in intimacy with Him is worth ANYTHING this world can throw at us!

Thank you family…