Answered Prayer

One of the greatest blessing that I think that I get to see as a Christian is answered prayer. This month we had to pay to renew our residence permits for this year. In the past we have paid the same amount, which is 200 for me, 50 for each of the kids and Patty. So that adds up to a total of 350 Ghana cedis each year. This year our paper work was delayed in the capital so we knew that we where going to have to pay a months late fee of 200 Ghana cedis. That makes for total of 550 Ghana cedis. Well, we have been missionary long enough now that we knew that things can change at any time so though the total amount was supposed to be 550, we put away 850 for the expenses.

So now you know the background, here is the story. After getting my paperwork from Accra, I went off to the immigration office. My permit expired on the 8th of March, and I went on the 8th of April. The people at immigration where very helpful, and told me that if I finished all the forms and stuff that day, I would not be charged another months late fees (200 Ghana cedi, which is amount 200 dollars).

Well it was about 2:30 in the afternoon, and the offices closed by 5:00 so we set off on the task of getting everything done. So in a whirlwind of activity (African style), we got our passport pictures taken, filled out, photocopied, and processed our quadruplicate copies for our paperwork, and typed up our letters for immigration. Lets say about two hours later I was pretty proud of myself.

So here I go into immigration, I did not have to pay the extra 200, and was already planning how I would us the extra money. So they started total up the money due, and the lady at immigration told me, "The total is 1,000 Ghana cedis". At first I just thought that she was joking but she was not. They told me that in the past it cost 200 dollars for the one holding the residence card, and 50 for the dependents, but that had changed and now it was 200 for everyone. So all added up, one months late fees plus 800 for the family, it came up to a whopping total of 1,000 Ghana Cedis. Now remember it was about 4:45 at this time, and I life quit a distance from down town, and have no car, and if I did not pay by closing time, I would owe enough 200 on top. So I told the people I would be right back.

Some how before I had left the house I had grabbed a few other envelopes that contained money, and the grand total that I had on me was about 1010 Ghana Cedis, just enough to pay and get home. So I was able to part with all that money and start processing my residences permit.

But here is the answer to pray. The 200 that I used was for other things. We had to take it out of other places, and that was going to make us very short for the month. So here was the dilemma.
We could send for money, that we really did not have to use on expenses, or just try to ruff it out, and figure something out. So we just decided to pray about it and leave it in God's hands.

Well here is what God did. Every month we pay almost 200 Ghana cedis on electricity. It is very expensive here. But for about one year now we have been paying, but the electric people have not been putting it on our account. So this has led to a lot of fun, like them trying to cut our lights every month, but that is another story. Anyway, I have been asking them to fix the problem for some time, but the accounts still say that we are behind in payments. But, here is the blessing. This month they finally fixed it, and not only that, we had a 150 Ghana cedis surplus, so our bill was only 40 Ghana cedis this month. The amount that we will have left over after paying the bill today, will be almost exactly how much money we need to make up for the extra money paid to immigration.

So we have a wonderful God. He helped me to pay my immigration fees, He fixed the problem with our electric bills, and to top it off, He gave me the money I needed for the rest of the month.