Forty days. That’s always a significant period of time in the Bible.
Think of the incredible things that happened in a 40 day period: Noah, Moses, Elijah and of course Jesus could all testify that big things can happen in 40 days.
I’m pondering this because of course we’re 40 days from commencing our training school for medical missionaries. It will run from July 6 to December 6, and God is definitely cranking up the preparations from His end as that starting date gets closer.
I’ve been telling you about all the work that’s happened and happening here. A steady stream of visitors with various skills is getting this old hotel ready for its new purpose. As I write I can smell beautiful paint as the room adjoining this one is finally being painted – it took a lot of filler and Selleys products to make this room look as good as it does. Granya’s best asset is its team of very dedicated helpers.
But what makes us really confident that God has this whole training school in His hands are the pathways He is opening before us: I’ll just share one, The Mission Trip.
We had wanted to go on a local or overseas journey for our students to apply their skills in a real setting beyond these walls. God led us to realise that the local mission work needs to be integrated into our district throughout the five months (and the ensuing years) that we are running the school. Then we met and started hanging out with the solitary Adventist from up the valley, where a Church has been threatening to emerge for the past couple of years. Perfect. Stage 1. Then at an OCI Conference we met a person who runs annual trips to a Southeast Asian nation which fit our bill of balanced health and gospel ministry and are not a one-off visit. Another member of our team has known this person for years, and in our discussions, we have found that the time that suits us best is the fortnight that she has a holiday break from her work. There are many more dovetails – a pastor in that nation has reached out to her requesting an additional trip this year, and on it goes.
As I said, there are plenty more of these blessings. A steady stream of guests visiting, with specific skills; an international staff volunteer getting a visa almost instantly after we wrote a letter of support; meeting one person after another who have been able to advise us on setting up an op-shop. That’s not getting to the bottom of the bucket, but I hope it will satisfy you that God is hard at work helping us to be ready to train gospel health missionaries in just 40 days’ time.