Jehovah Jireh

God the provider. It's so easy to say, but to know it and experience it is something out of this world.

Just over two weeks ago on Monday I jotted down some notes about the possibility of putting together some Christmas shoebox type presents for some of the poorer families in Baray. Alvin thought it was a good idea so then we talked about it further, things like what to put in the box. We presented a basic plan to two of the pastors and contacted CCIL on the Tuesday. On Thursday we received an email from CCIL saying that prior to receiving our email someone had donated £1000 to us to use in whatever way we wanted. We were absolutely gobsmacked. Even before we had asked the money was ready for us. Amazing! But there's more....

Now that we knew we had this lump sum of money we started to calculate how many presents we could put together based on prices of things in Baray. Alvin calculated we could put together between 500 to 700 boxes. However prices in Baray were quite expensive, and we figured it would be cheaper in Phnom Penh. So last Friday Alvin and I went to Phnom Penh. On the journey there we were blessed again with $500. We thought "Great!! That's another 250 presents!!"

Whilst in Phnom Penh we spent a lot of time going around the market trying to get a good wholesale price for things like toothbrushes and exercise books. The prices were a lot cheaper in Phnom Penh, Alvin's been blessed with some pretty good bargaining skills, and more usefully the ability to speak Mandarin. Many of the stall owners were Chinese, so Alvin ended up speaking more Mandarin than English and Khmer combined!

In the evenings Alvin would calculate how much each box would cost to put together. However what we neglected to do was check what the exchange rate was. When we left the UK it was USD$1.9 to £1, and in our ignorance of the chaos going on at home all Alvin's calculations were based on this exchange rate. With no access to foreign tv and very limited internet we had no idea that the rate had decreased to USD$1.5 to every £1. We just happened to see it on the news in our hotel room, and imagine the panic that followed.

BUT!!! I reminded Alvin of the $500 we had received earlier and told him that it would be enough to cover the loss. After a few more calculations Alvin sat there staring at the laptop in disbelief. God had made up for our exchange rate error completely! And further more, the $100 bills we received state "In God we trust". How true, how very very true!

Now we are back in Baray with all the things we need to put the presents together. And guess how many presents we can afford? That's right, 1700!!! Jehovah Jirah, God the provider :)

All we have to do now is wrap ALL the presents!! Not only has God provided the funds, but He has also given us a team of youth who are pretty much up for doing anything! I'm sure we'll have a lot of fun wrapping everything, and even more joy giving out the presents to the children in December.