Signatures

This week we are after signatures.  We need signatures from our Filipino mission board on all of the permits and building plans for us to apply for a building permit for the new church building.  In order to obtain these signatures, we sent all the paperwork to another island to be signed.  We have heard that the papers have arrived, but we haven’t heard if they have been signed yet.  Hopefully, this paperwork will be sent back to us quickly, as we have been told that we need to submit them prior to Christmas.

Also, at the same time, we are trying to obtain signatures from one of the former owners of the land. As you may remember, we purchased the property two years ago from a person who died 20 years ago.  As a result, we needed the signatures of his wife, all his living children and a few of his grandchildren.  This was relatively easy when we started the process two years ago.

However, it has recently come to our attention that two of the children’s names were misspelled on the Deed of Sale and the government will not allow us to submit the papers to transfer the land title until these two individuals re-sign on the original Deed of Sale for the property.  Last week, one of these individuals traveled six hours one way to re-sign.  One down, one to go.  We just need one last signature.  However, this last person lives on a different island in the middle of the Sulu Sea.  We needed to find someone in our village to make the 20+ hour boat trip to this island.  Within just a few hours of our learning of this need, the Lord provided Elodie, a believer from our village.  He boarded the boat last Friday and departed with the papers.  But on the way, the boat was forced to seek shelter due to high waves.  This morning, Thursday, we received news that Elodie did finally make it out to the island and has already obtained the signatures we need.  Praise the Lord!  Elodie will be getting on the boat on Tuesday and taking the long journey back to our island.  He will be taking the signed papers directly to the one who is helping us and hopefully she will be able to get the papers submitted for transfer of the title.

Please pray for Elodie’s trip and that the paperwork can be handed in with no further surprises.  We have heard that these papers also need to be submitted prior to Christmas.  So, we are trusting the Lord for His provision in seeing this wrapped up in the next couple of weeks.  Thank you very much for your prayer and words of encouragement.