Therefore Having Gone ...: HOUSE UPDATE

Thank you to all who have been praying (for months!) over our house situation. I write today to say, "Please keep praying!"

For those who don't know, Melissa and I bought this house in Columbus, Indiana about ten years ago, thinking we were going to be staying put there a good long time. That was just before the American housing market bottomed out and a few years before the Lord called us to serve in Haiti!

So when we got serious about going to Haiti, we moved out of the house and started renting it out while we lived at my mother-in-law's place. We would have liked to sell the thing then and there, but by that time the market was terrible and we were upside down. Still, hoping for a miracle, we had an open house at the time and had ZERO visitors. So renting became the only viable option. (Arson is illegal, you know.)

Four years and five sets of renters later, our experience as landlords has been largely composed of frustrations, headaches and financial hits. Squatters, mysterious carpet stains, cigarette burns and smoke smells, and general property damage. We've had to lean on friends and family members way too often - especially Melissa's mom. And even with the help of a good property manager over the course of this last year, landlording has involved too much long-distance communication to keep everything functioning.

So this time we're hoping to sell it and be done. We think the market MIGHT allow for a tiny profit even. We had an open house yesterday and had five or six more couples come through than four years ago. Some lingered for quite a while and gave the place a good inspection. And that certainly made us hopeful.

We appreciate continued prayers! There's another open house on the calendar for next Sunday, even though we'll be out of town.

Beyond praying for it to sell quickly (and at a good price), when the Lord brings us to mind, would you mind praying also for some other aspects of this house situation?

First, I've had a lot of thinking time while painting and weeding in this place (and there's more yet to do). This yard and house have the ability to move me - sometimes moment by moment - from bad mood to nostalgia and back again. (Mostly bad mood, though.) Working here has been an emotional roller coaster. The memories associated with each room can be a blessing AND a bit of a curse. I want to have a good attitude - one that springs from a firm confidence in God's timing and provision, with no regrets concerning the life we left behind.

Also, with all the time Melissa and I (and sometimes the kids) have spent at the house since we returned to Indiana, it often feels like a two-story distraction from what we really need to be focused on: catching up with friends and family, of course, but ALSO shoring up our funding so that we can continue to serve in Haiti! I am not good at multi-tasking and the house is very demanding - every time we finish a repair, we look up to see two more we hadn't yet noticed. The garage doors are still out of whack, the hardwood floors need attention and there's still a big hole in the back yard where the pool used to be. (Ideally, we would find a buyer who wants a yard with a circular weedbed!)

Thus, looming ominously in the background behind each wall and bush and garage door is the specter of being underfunded - and with it, the real possibility of a cut in "salary" (which would be a stretch even in a time when we are not supporting a mortgage at home) or even a delay in getting back to Haiti.

More than ever, we are sold on the value of the work God has set our hands to in Cap Haitien. We've had so much support along the way and many folks are giving regularly and sacrificially. And, honestly, that reality is never far from our consciousness.

I joke that I realize now that I should have made my fortune BEFORE becoming a missionary, but honestly, if we could be independent and self-sufficient (like good Americans SHOULD be!), then an untold number of great relationships, blessings, and prayers would be missing from our lives. AND the plight of Haiti would be a little more invisible here in the U.S. (it's thin enough as is). AND an avenue for our brothers and sisters in the States to actively care for the "least of these" would be closed. (I know it's one of many such avenues, but it is one that touches the lives of real people, people who have grown very dear to us - and even to many of you who read these words.)

So back to prayer: Could you please pray that we would follow God's leading day by day and contact by contact? That we would be bold in our witness to God's work in Haiti? That hearts would be moved and more folks would join our support team?

We still have several weeks left in the States - mostly in Indiana, but also a trip to Iowa and a short jaunt into Michigan - so if in the course of your prayers, God brings to your mind the names of individuals or groups who might be open to sitting down with us to discuss the ministry in Haiti, please let us know!

To ALL who have supported us in all sorts of material and spiritual ways, we say, "We love you and thank you from the bottom of our hearts."

If you would consider joining our support team, please drop me a note at sgross@onemissionsociety.org. Or simply go to our page at the Official OMS Website and follow the prompts there.