Moving Out

During the last several days of August, I spent several hours each day helping Natasha move desks, boxes, supplies etc. out of her school and to her apartment and garage for storage. She had to have everything out by September 1. It was a huge job, and I'm glad I was able to use our team's van to help out.

I want to ask for your prayers for Natasha because she's in a difficult situation with the city over the fence around the school property. Ever since she found out that she would not be able to use the building for her school this year, she has been trying to sell some of the things she purchased for the school over the years of it's operation. One of the big things is the fence she put around the property a few years ago. She found a buyer, a neighbor of the school, but then the city started pressuring her about it. They think she should just give them the fence at no charge because they claim to have given her such a great discount on the rent of the building over the years that it more than justifies this. This was not stated in any agreement up front when the contract was signed, of course, because the fence hadn't even been erected. Since the city stepped in, the neighbors who agreed to buy the fence backed out of the deal.

The last I heard from Natasha is that she will advertise it in a nearby city to minimize the possibility of further political entanglement. I hate to see her in this kind of situation because she has poured her heart and soul and personal finances into this school over the years, accumulating not a little debt to keep it running through her cancer treatments and through the decline in attendance due to unjust rumors spread by one of her former employees.

Yet, through all of this, I can still see a light shining in her eyes, a hope that there is something better on the horizon, a determination to not give up. Maybe that is because she was recently engaged to a man from England, but it might be because of Christ living in her. Honestly, I'm not sure what it is, but it's there. She will continue teaching her evening school students this year and will be busy 6 evenings every week doing this. I have volunteered to help her again this year and will be teaching 2 evenings each week beginning after our upcoming visa trip. So, I ask that you pray for her and her future which is a little bit up in the air. Thanks!

Patrick

Picture - This is a picture of the classroom where I taught most of my classes last year. Here, it is filled with many of the things Natasha has accumulated over the years for her school.