As we were leaving New Life Children’s Home in Jalaca, Honduras, I promised to return when I had collected 100 more books for the library we started there. The need was so great and God just laid that on my heart in a way that I could not ignore.
I selected 100 books that I felt would be appropriate and began a campaign in our church. I prepared a chart with each of the titles on a little cut-out book. People were encouraged to adopt a book for $10 and place the money and the little cutout in an envelope we provided. That money was then given to the church as a designated donation to the Honduras Book Project. Through this project and some individual donations, we raised $1305.
I placed a book order for 50 books with amazon.com (using my own credit card account) and soon the books began to arrive, a small box or two every week. I placed orders in increments of 50 items and when I had spent about $950, I turned in receipts to the church for reimbursement. A check was mailed to me, but it never arrived! When I called the financial secretary after a reasonable time to check on it, neither of us had a clue concerning where it might be. She canceled payment, wrote another check and I went to the church to pick it up. (Not taking a chance on losing another one!)
Because I wanted the financial secretary to be able to close out that account at the end of December, I placed a final book order with the remaining $350. The books began to arrive and the shelves in my guest room began to fill up. Just when I thought all the books were in place, another shipment arrived – duplicates! Because I am not a frequent online shopper, I assumed that I had made a mistake. Having already spent all the money collected through the church campaign, I resigned myself to absorbing this extra cost and considering it a donation to the New Life Children’s Home library. I must admit, a part of me was a little bit excited because some of the teachers on our mission team had talked about how great it would be to have duplicates so that two children could read the same book at the same time and talk about it. However, December was not the best time to absorb an extra expense.
On December 15, I received an email from amazon.com telling me that, due to a web site error, they had duplicated my recent order. I was asked to respond to the email so they could credit my account for the duplicate charges. In addition, the duplicate items do not need to be returned! That means an additional 37 books are headed to Honduras with the next Spring Valley Baptist Church mission team in July 2012!
When God puts His hand on something, no one can predict the outcome!
When God puts His hand on something, no one can predict the outcome!
