Dear Praying Friends!
I know that you all will be excited and encouraged by what we're about to share with you! Can we just stop for a second and give thanks to our good God before anything else?! He is so good, far beyond all of our imaginings!
When we were in the States just a couple of months ago, we were so glad to share what the Lord had been doing over the last months and years since we'd last visited. It is always such a good reminder to us too of how the Lord is active and working.
The big question many of you had was, “What will you do next?” Our plan was to stay in Trujillo for the Bible Institute (IBEM), look for new lodging in Tarapoto (the jungle) via friends & contacts and move back there – the plan was for this to take a month or two max! Yet, here we are still in December, writing you from Trujillo (the coast).
However, the Lord has just surprised us with a huge answer to prayer – a prayer we were almost hesitant to even pray because it just seemed WAY too big.
When Micah was in the jungle a couple of weeks ago, he took advantage of the time to look around for somewhere for us to live. Many of you know how potentially difficult it seemed it would be to find something that would meet all of our specifications. Near the city, big house/big lot for big family + extra rooms for hospitality to lots of guests – visitors from the river churches and city people coming to visit the jungle – all for reasonable rent. Right. It seemed pretty far-fetched to us too. :)
However, the Lord has provided what we see as a pretty much ideal opportunity. A mission organization would like to sell us their property, about a mile from where we were living before (close to the city). It was originally intended for a school (big building/big lot for big family), and isn't fully finished (so it's adaptable to our plans for lots of guests). Now here's the clincher, because anybody could find a huge piece of property with lots of room to build or a big fancy building with a blinkingly high price tag... but the mission wants another ministry to benefit from the property and has offered it to us at about a third of it's value.... They are asking for just $50,000! When Micah told them that we don't have that kind of money they came back with the amazing answer that we can pay for it over time... with no interest!!!!!!
Um... yeah. Are you clapping a standing ovation yet?! Seriously.
The lot is about 12,000 sq ft. and would be perfect as a base for river operations and Bible Institute classes, evangelistic Bible studies, offering hospitality, our homeschool and community classes. But taking on this project has some serious implications for us. If it all works out, we might be a little strapped with the payments, while living in rather interesting conditions for some time (think tent + 2 adults, 5 children), while we finish floors and walls and windows and... hahahahah! It WILL make for interesting blog posts/prayer letters, don't you think?! (see photos) But, all that to say, if it all works out, we'd love to hear from you if you're interested in bringing a team specialized in construction down for a visit early this coming year!! ;)
If you'd like more details, please don't hesitate to e-mail us your questions!
We'd love to share more! :)
Micah and Amy Tuttle
http://thetuttletribe.blogspot.com
