Land... Please!!

As some of you have heard, Nunu and I are looking for some land to purchase. We need not only a place to live but are also looking for a place to start a new ministry.

Nunu has been doing all the looking, as my being there could affect the price of the land. And he found something and is really excited about it. It's in a good location, where we would have access to roads, electricity, water and people... oh and you can see the ocean from there =) so that doesn't hurt either.

View from the edge of the property toward the beach.

View from middle of the property (I think), but those trees
aren't part of the property.

It's all a little confusing for me as all this is done face to face with the owner of the land who mainly speaks the local tribal language. Nunu told me that he was meeting the owner of the land today while he was measuring the land. Before he left the house he was looking for a measuring tape, all I could find was one for sewing. I said, "If they are going to measure, won't they have one?" He didn't really answer. When he got home he told me they used a piece of bamboo that was about 2 meters long and that is how they measured the land.

Based on the 2 meters of bamboo and my conversions, I think the property is about 65' x 100'

The other thing I found out is that not only are others interested in purchasing this land but their is a man who owns a lot of shops in town who wants to purchase. I guess he is going around buying all the land he can, knowing he will be able to sell the land in even a few months for double. Lucky for us this man is Middle Eastern and the man who owns the property told Nunu he would rather sell to local =)

Buying land here is crazy right now. I feel like a broken record but for those of you that don't know why, it's because they discovered oil off our cost a year or two ago. Oil brings money and people with money and then the cost of land goes up and up.

Two weeks ago I mentioned a small property maybe 30 x 30 (feet) give or take that 5 years ago would have sold for maybe $2,000 (because it's on the major paved road into town) was going for $33,000... well now the owners wants $100,000!!! Yikes!!

So all of this to say WE NEED YOUR PRAYERS!!! Please, please join us in praying that God will make a way with this land. We have been trying to wire money since Friday without luck, but think we found another solution. (Praise God) Now we just have to try to get the money from the bank and to the owner and pray he accepts our offer (which is under his asking price), or that he could agree upon payments that we can afford.

I'm a little nervous wanting tomorrow to come fast, but I also have a sense of peace... if this doesn't work out God has something else in store for us.

I ask again, please join us in praying:
- That we can get the funds together to purchase the land.
- That Nunu can make a deal with the owner, a deal we can afford.
- For patience and good timing tomorrow.