We love the game ‘The Settlers of Catan’ and we play it regularly with friends and family here. We don’t so much love the real life situation of having to move and get settled somewhere new though!

When Phil originally came back to Nepal in January 2012, somebody from UMN helped to find him a flat. After we were married it became apparent that we’d need to move as it wasn’t quite right for the both of us. We set about looking for somewhere else and found a lovely house that was a good size for us and the right price. It was larger and cleaner than our old place and we moved in on January 1st, 2014.

We were initially very happy to have moved and enjoyed the new space we had. It soon became apparent, however, that there was a major issue with the water supply at this house. Water in Nepal is scarce, and many families have to store water as it comes from a local tap just for a few hours once every few days. The situation didn’t improve, and with no rains forthcoming, it didn’t look like it would get better any time soon.

We really wanted to make sure that wherever we moved to, no matter how much we liked a place, it had to be where God wanted us to go, and we prayed for Him to guide us to the right place. We had an agent helping us and he found us a few properties for the right price that we looked at, but God would close the door to one after the other. One we really liked, we prayed hard about it before going to the landlord to say that we would like it, asking God to close the door to this property if it wasn’t His will for us to be there, and then prayed for a week while the landlord and his family made the decision. We had a good feeling about it and they seemed really keen for us to move in. However, they came back and apologised to us, but they were giving it to a relative. We were sad that we had lost a good property, but had to continue to trust that God was in the decision.

One place we saw we couldn’t believe. When we walked in for the first viewing it blew us away. The building and decor was so beautiful. The price was way too high for us however, and even though they had listed it as furnished, we couldn’t imagine that a price for unfurnished would be low enough for us to consider. We thanked them for showing us their lovely property, and left it at that. About a week later we had a call from the landlord saying that they’d like to offer it to us at a much lower price than we ever imagined possible. It was still a little high for us however, and so we declined once again. We did pray about it though. We prayed for a sign that this was where God wanted us and we decided to lay out a fleece. We prayed that if the landlord came back to us with an even lower offer then this was indeed the place that God wanted us to be. He knew our means and so no matter how much it was dropped by would be the sign from God.

A couple of weeks went by and we finally received a call from the landlord, without any prompting on our part. They had discussed it as a family, and while they had offers from others to pay much more, they had decided to offer the flat to us at a lower price. They said that it wasn’t so much about the money but about having the right people as well. God had answered our prayers and we were so thrilled at being able to move into somewhere so perfect.

A week after moving in, God then answered our financial prayers. Two friends came to us, and without knowledge of any specific needs, offered us the exact amount of money needed each month to bring up the shortfall in our budget. What a wonderful God we serve!

Prayer Requests

Water
Water is scarce in Kathmandu during the dry winter season. The situation we were in before we moved to where we are now made us realise this and appreciate it when we do have it all the more. Many people in Nepal don’t have the luxury of piped-in city water, or a well in their backyard (as we have), and they can’t even afford to pay for a tanker to deliver to them. They have to rely on the city water that comes to a communal tap and queue with others from their areas to collect as much as they can carry. Please pray that in the coming year’s things may improve here.