Aloha Halekohana. We've been in escrow for the past month, which is always an anxious couple weeks, but we made it all the way through and closed on Friday, the 29th. It was a bit of a pain constantly being emailed paperwork to sign, printing it out, signing it, scanning it, then emailing it back, but that's what we get for doing it long distance I guess! A couple things to praise God for: Zak read somewhere that the average length of time a house is on the market in Hawaii is 163.7 days (about 5.5 months). Ours was on the market for around 60 days (and 30 of that was in escrow!). We sold it at full asking price ($295,000) which is pretty amazing in today's buyer's market. We sold it at literally the perfect time - if we closed less than a month earlier we would have been charged a $3000 pre-payment penalty, and if we closed 2 weeks later our ARM would have adjusted and increased our mortgage by $400 a month (from $1550 to $1950)! Finally, we actually made money on the house (a whopping $580)! This is significant because we were only trying to break even considering how far home prices have fallen nationally. The fact that we bought a house 3 years ago when prices were crazy high and sold it last week after values have plummeted but still came out in the black is a miracle! Right up until the last minute we thought we were going to have to write a $1000 check to make up the difference in escrow. Praise God that we don't have to make those mortgage payments anymore. This is just one of many examples of the signs we've seen over the past month or two that God wants us to be here in the Northwest.This has been an especially exciting (and humbling) last couple days filled with all sorts of big news items. First of all, on August 29th we sold our house in Hawaii!
The next big news is that Zak has finally started seminary. He had orientation on August 22nd where he registered for his classes, bought his textbooks, got his ID and intranet access, and took a pre-seminary Bible exam to be compared to another exam he takes 3 years from now to see how much he learned while at Multnomah. Last Tuesday (August 26th) was his first day of classes. Zak is taking 5 classes (totaling 16 credit hours) this semester. On Tuesdays and Thursdays he has "Genesis through Song of Solomon" and "Acts & the Pauline Epistles." On Wednesdays and Fridays he has "Christian Theology 1," "Principles of Spiritual Formation," and "Principles of Inductive Bible Study." Yikes! He didn't do much in class the first week other than introductions and going over all the syllabi, but he says after seeing all his assignments he's going to be very busy for the next couple months (and probably years). Fortunately all of his professors stressed the importance not of getting straight A's, but of growing spiritually and deepening relationships with God and each other. To that end, we've already been to a professor's house 3 times and to 5 different student functions - just in the first 2 weeks! We find it comforting to know that grades are Multnomah's #2 priority after our spiritual well-being.
Still on the topic of Multnomah Biblical Seminary, on Thursday (September 4th) Zak became his graduate class' Student Body President! What a shock that was to all of us! During orientation a sign-up sheet was posted where students could volunteer for any of the 10 positions on this year's Student Body Cabinet. Zak eventually signed up to be considered for the position of Married Students Representative since no one else had volunteered for it after a couple days. Imagine his (and then my) surprise when a couple days later one of his professors came up to him before class and asked that he consider and pray about being this year's President, even though others had actually signed up for it! So we took some time, prayed about it, talked it over with some people, tried to figure out why God would bring this opportunity along, and in the end decided that any chance to grow through serving others is a good one (it certainly won't hurt his resume and Commissioning Application either!). So, all day last Saturday (September 6th) he and the rest of the cabinet went on a retreat (that Zak had to put together) to build relationships and to create goals, a mission statement, and a verse for the class. One of Zak's "relationship building exercises" was the game Lap Stack. I guess there's no better way to get to know a stranger than by sitting on his/her lap for a while! Zak's secondary duties as President will be to facilitate weekly cabinet meetings, meet weekly with the Dean of Students (the same professor who asked him to be on the cabinet), ensure the rest of the cabinet members are doing their jobs, and represent his class when all the class Presidents from the college and seminary get together to organize Multnomah University activities. However, Zak's primary responsibility will be to serve and care for the other members of the cabinet as they serve and care for the class. It's another Small Group ministry! Our minds are boggled by how every little experience seems to prepare us for the next step in God's plan! Who would have thought it!
But the story of God's provision in our lives these past couple months doesn't end there! Three days ago during our Sunday morning worship services Zak (and family) were brought to the front and blessed as the new Recovery Groups Minister for the Agape Church of Christ. Yep, Agape hired Zak to be a part-time minister while we're here attending MBS! He will be responsible for (get this!) overseeing all of Agape's forthcoming Recovery Groups. Isn't it amazing how God prepares us with past experiences for future ministry!? Our church is going to launch groups which provide safe places for people to support each other as they experience problems with different kinds of abuse, addiction, depression, and infidelity. From now until January leaders will be trained to facilitate each of the different kinds of Recovery Groups, and then next year the ministry will launch. Please thank God for giving Zak a job with a church family that we love, and ask Him to bless our future endeavors in Agape's Recovery Groups Ministry.
