When we arranged the dates of the trip and Sherry’s new job we knew it was right around our five year wedding anniversary. We planned to return to the U.S. on January 11 and take a family and/or anniversary vacation after we return. We weren’t quite sure how things would work out financially, considering I would not be paid for more than two months and I would only be paid for the vacation time he had accrued. We didn’t really know what would come of it, but we prayed about it and trusted that God would do what is best for us.

We would check on our bank account every couple weeks from Africa, just to make sure the mortgage and monthly bills would clear. We got to a point where we weren’t quite sure we would clear the January or February mortgage and we thought for sure we wouldn’t be able to take any vacation. We prayed and trust God with the situation. We put our desire before God and submitted ourselves to His will. We said…this is what we would like God (a special five year anniversary vacation celebration), but your will, not ours because we know you have the best plan for our lives… Little did we know what God had in store for us!

As I mentioned in the previous post, we had to change our tickets so that we leave from Dar El Salem instead of Nairobi. We wanted to leave on January 5 because that was the same day that Bishop Paul and the rest of the missionaries that were with us were leaving. British Airways told us they didn’t have any flights that we could take until January 7. A friend who was helping us change the reservation from the U.S. told us that they didn’t have any flights that we could take until January 7. But we wanted to get home…what were we going to do by ourselves in Dar El Salem for two week days? We didn’t know anyone there. There was no church there. When we arrived in Dar El Salem, we saw a sign at the airport that said British Airways was flying directly from Dar El Salem to London on the 5th in the morning. We were really excited! We would get to leave with everyone! We asked at the airport about the flight and they didn’t know anything about it. We called our friend in the U.S., who is a travel agent. He said that the the status of that flight was undeterminable and there was no information on the flight because it arrives at Dar El Salem after it stops in Nairobi. At that point we realized, we had no choice. We would be stuck in Tanzania until the 7th. We prayed and asked God what he wanted us to do for the two days in Tanzania.

We remembered having a conversation with one of the priests in Kenya and he mentioned that he would love to take a relaxing vacation to Zanzibar. So we said…why not? Let’s research Zanzibar… After everyone else left for the airport, we sat at the hotel and researched hotels in Zanzibar after praying that God make His will clear by either opening or closing the door for us to go. We began calling hotels in the order they were listed on trip advisor…booked, booked, booked…until we got to the seventh or so hotel and they said they had availability. Before we started calling, I had looked at that hotel and said we would never go there because the sandy white beach was a short drive away and not on the property. But God had different plans, and what amazing plans they were. It was the most beautiful hotel, location, and beach we’ve ever stayed at in our life. It was an amazing five year anniversary gift from God. See for yourself…

“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think…” Ephesians 3:20

This is only one silly worldly example of how God always does exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think. I hope to post more about how we saw God’s hand at work exceedingly abundantly above all that we asked or thought in our lives and in the ministry during our trip.