Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Troubles with the Landlady

It has been hard to do a second post - almost as hard as the first one - because I have a hard time knowing where to start. It seems as if everything I could say is somewhat like coming in halfway through the story . . . and so, I haven't been posting. But today, I have an urgent prayer request for Redeemer House, so . . . here goes!

I received a call early this morning from Elysia, the young American woman who is working at our orphanage. We rented a private home as our orphanage last October, and the transaction was handled by a man named Patrick at a property management agency. The owner, a Ugandan woman, has returned from Ireland and now wants to evict us so that family members can live there. We signed a one year lease, and we paid six months at that time, so the rent is paid through March 31. Although she apparently can't evict us before then, she wants us to leave ASAP, and has said she will not refund rent.

The real problem is that there were some structural problems with the walls in the house, which Patrick noted and agreed to fix, but which have not been fixed, and have deteriorated. There were also some other minor problems, which he denies were there at the time, although we have a written list of them. Patrick now is claiming that he never agreed to fix the walls, saying there was no damage when we moved in, and denying he knew there would be 15 children in the home. The landlady, who has seen the house briefly once, is coming within the hour to inspect the house and is planning to level HUGE repair fees. Patrick's comment was that it was really not that much for an organization to pay. Of course, we are a bare bones operation and don't have the money for substantial repairs of the nature he is trying to make us responsible for.

Please pray that the landlady will be reasonable, that she will believe us and not Patrick, and that she won't hold us responsible for the poorly constructed walls. Also pray about us finding another place to live. I have asked Elysia to try to contact a couple of Ugandans to have them present at the meeting with the landlady, to be our advocates, and we are trying to contact a lawyer there. Most of all, we are trusting God to be our advocate.

I contacted my son, who is on the Board of Directors, and he just sent me a text that said "Read Psalm 34". Just a few verses:

7) The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, and rescues them.
15) The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry.
16) The face of the Lord is against evildoers, to cut off the memory of them from the earth.
17) The righteous cry and the Lord hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles.

What great truth to rest in while we go through this! Thank you for praying!

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