thankfulness

We now have our car! And through the whole process, we have seen how God has provided and put things into place at just the right times. First of all, we were very blessed to receive gifts from people who wanted to help us buy a car for our work out here. On arrival, another missionary recommended an agent at the Port of Cotonou who would be able to find us a car among the secondhand cars that arrive at the port every week. We didn't give a very precise description of the kind of car we wanted, as we weren't sure what would be best, yet the car chosen has turned out to be ideal for us. It is a Toyota Picnic, which is a 6-seater where the back 2 seats can either be put in for extra passengers or left out to give a huge boot. It has air-conditioning, which is very nice in the kind of temperatures we get here, and particularly on long journeys. Despite being secondhand, it is in very good condition, with few signs of wear and tear. And it is silver-coloured, which is very important in my family ;o)

Marc travelled down to Cotonou to fetch the car on Monday. He left home at 5.45am, knowing that he had to be at the bus station by 6.30 but not sure if he would be able to get a taxi-moto at that time in the morning. As he walked along the main road, someone from church (who he didn't even know) recognised him and stopped his journey (in the opposite direction!) to offer him a lift to the bus station. What a blessing!

Then at Cotonou he found out that an experienced missionary had just arrived back from Home Assignment, and was travelling back to Parakou the following day. This worked out very well for both of them. The other missionary didn't have to get up at the crack of dawn to catch the bus, and Marc had someone to help him sort out the car's insurance and had company for the long drive back to Parakou. God was obviously looking after all the details!