(This is the continuation of a series of posts that you can begin by clicking HERE for PART ONE and HERE for PART TWO.)
Shortly after that, Fabio was offered a
job back in the town we used to live in. This would require a move,
as the base was too far away to commute. We had a Peruvian friend who
was about to travel to Peru to join his wife and daughter for
vacation, and he offered us his tiny apartment. He was also renting
to an older lady, but he said she worked long hours and only slept
there. So we agreed. Problem was, he never went to Peru, and the
other lady lost her job right after our move in, so there were all
five of us in a total of about 375 square feet. If our living
conditions at the YWAM base had been limited, this was downright
claustrophobic! And indeed, there were times I felt I certainly might
not survive. It was not only a matter of space (or lack thereof), but
there were a lot of other complicated dynamics involved in this
situation. Just to mention one, our Peruvian friend was a “gomi”
man (garbage collector), and as I mentioned you can find some pretty
neat “gomi” in Japan, which our friend did regularly. He could
not resist collecting it all! Since his apartment was only about big
enough for a dog to live comfortably, he boxed all of his gomi
treasures up, and stacked the boxes floor to ceiling, lining all the
walls of what was now our bedroom (minus the “bed” - there was
barely room for the three of us to sleep like sardines on the tiny
bit of floor space that was left). This left no space for our
suitcases, which had to then stay in the trunk of his car. For three
months. So, every time I needed a change of clothes or anything else,
I had to go down two flights of stairs with a baby in tow, rummage
around in our suitcases in his trunk – which was not easy with a
baby in my arms – to find what I needed. Frustrations abounded.
It was during this time that I found an
Elisabeth Elliot quote that brought comfort to my despairing soul:
“All those things which go against my will and my desires, are
things which God desires to use to shape me into His image.” This
deep truth gave me hope during those months when it seemed that my
entire life and every detail of it was going against my will and my
desires!
In September of 2003, nine long months
after our initial move and Fabio's deportation, we were finally able
to move for real. It had been a time of the Lord stripping everything
away from us, and while I don't desire to volunteer for a replay, I
am SO thankful for everything He did and taught us during that time.
We arrived with only the clothes on our backs and our faithful
luggage, but at least we had no debt. Fabio's job those last three
months had paid our rent in Japan, our tickets to America, and bought
us a Ford Econoline van for $1000. Now we were broke again, but at
least Fabio was able to start working in construction with my dad and
brothers right away.
(This picture was of our last days in Japan.)
It was an amazing thing that after only
one month of staying with my parents, we were able to get our own
apartment. We couldn't have been more thrilled! And thanks to my
family mostly, as well as some other friends, we were supplied with
all the basic furniture we needed to set up housekeeping, without
spending a dime! Good thing, since we were rather short on dimes
still.
As we were unpacking, I was so excited
to open those few meager boxes of our most precious things that we
had shipped from Japan months before. They had been unopened at my
mom's house, just waiting for us to have a place to unpack them. The
day had come! I ripped the tape off and began to remove the newspaper
and bubble wrap I had placed so carefully around everything.... only
to find that the vast majority of it was broken! Oh, this was a hard
blow! How could it be? I had packed so carefully!
I eventually came to understand that
this too was a lesson. Now I was finally able to see it in myself:
materialism. I had been so incredulous when the Lord had first
spoken it. Now I was beginning to understand! You don't have to be
wealthy or extravagant or into the latest fashions to be
materialistic. The tightest penny-pincher of them all could be just
as attached to “stuff”... or more so! And I was attached to my
stuff. Now I could agree with the Lord's synopsis and ask Him to work
in my heart to make me more like Him. And I could be thankful that He
had already begun.
I remember one day shortly after we
were settled, looking around our “new” apartment, and all of our
“new” belongings, and being amazed at how nice it all was and how
God had provided for us so, so well. And there was that voice again,
“Didn't I say I could give it all to you again?”
And then just a year and a half later,
we were offered the parsonage of our church – an enormous,
beautiful home that was also partially furnished. It was amazing. And
there was one day, shortly after that move, when I was looking around
in awe that God had granted us the privilege of living in this
unbelievable home that God said it one more time, “Didn't I say
I could give it all to you again?”
How could I ever doubt it again?
(The beautiful church house we were privileged to call home.)
TO BE CONTINUED....
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