We have had a lot of fun watching the Miracle Worker in action today.  

Here in Cameroon when a young man wants to marry a young lady, he knows it is going to be pretty costly.  He has to pay the bride price which is set by her father and uncles and other members of the family.  They can basically ask for anything they want.  All young men are trembling while they wait for the "Dreaded List" to arrive (as it is affectionately called). 

But in our friend Donald's case things were different.  The lovely young lady he has fallen madly in love with turns out to be an orphan.  She is the youngest of seven children.  Her mother died when she was just a tiny tot.  A few years ago her father also died.  So Donald and his family members went before her five older brothers to ask for their little sister's hand in marriage.  They were very sympathetic as they are all young men who have not been married that long themselves.  They have no desire to be hard on Donald.  So they have (quite amazingly) told him that there will be no bride price.  A handful of years from now, when Donald is established in marriage, they will expect him to contribute to any and all future family crisis.  This is do-able.  Donald had no problem accepting their condition.  What a blessing.  He does not have to struggle to come up with lots of money before he can marry his beloved.  

We have known and loved Donald for over seven years. During that time he gave his heart and life to the Lord.  And now God is blessing him with a godly young lady to be his wife.  In a giant step of faith, Donald selected Saturday, December 29th for his wedding day.  (It's the Groom's wedding out here...the exact opposite of weddings in America.)  Little by little they are watching God provide all the things they will need for their wedding.  

For example, last week he brought his young lady to Shiloh for us to meet her.  (I would tell you her name, but it is quite unpronounceable and I'm struggling mightily to learn how to say it.  Besides which, if I could pronounce it, it is a guarantee that I would not be able to spell it and you surely would not know what to do with her name!!)  We asked the bride-to-be if she had a wedding gown, which she does not.  So we told her that we have two here at Shiloh if she is interested in borrowing one of them.  Today she came back to have some fun girl time with we the ladies of Shiloh.  She was immediately taken with one of the gowns.  But the bodice is too small for her.  Well, Mama Alice has all sorts of ideas so we went looking in my supply of fabric and guess what?  We found a large piece of satin that matches the wedding gown color exactly.  And that's not all...we also found a large piece of very fancy lace this is the same shade of off white.  It's like God had these things tucked away here at Shiloh for just this occasion.  We are sending her to a godly widowed pastor's wife friend of ours who will do the make over for the wedding gown.  She is an excellent seamstress.  When Donald's future wife left Shiloh, she was floating on air.  Never in her entire life has she ever imagined that she would one day wear a very expensive looking wedding gown from America!  A poor orphan girl such as herself does not entertain such dreams, though even they, like all girls all over the world, begin dreaming of their wedding day when they are quite young.  

What a joy and delight for we, the ladies of Shiloh, to have a small part in blessing this lovely, godly orphan girl on her wedding day.  We serve an Amazing God Who can do all things.  Nothing is too hard for Him.