The Jamaica Journal - November 2003
VOLUME 13 No. 4 Waiting Patiently by Rev. Bruce and Amy Lesemann Waiting, waiting, waiting…Waiting in traffic, waiting in long lines at the bank, waiting for the bus, waiting for repairmen to come, waiting to try to get a birth certificate for our new baby.  “Soon come” is a common Jamaican expression that expresses their seeming ease in waiting compared to ours.  “Soon” can be anywhere from a few minutes to a few weeks or more, depending on what you’re waiting for!  Most Jamaicans seem to take waiting in stride, but we obviously still need some work – at least in waiting patiently!
One of our biggest struggles in waiting has been with the property that has been purchased for the future site of the Lutheran Ministry Center and church for St. Andrew Lutheran congregation.  As many of you know, Lutheran Ministries in Jamaica waited for years to get this property.  Now that we finally have it, we are all “gung-ho,” ready to build.  But – we have found out there is much more waiting ahead. At this point, we are waiting to hear back from the Office of Finance and Planning.  Why?  They are telling us we owe them an annual property tax of $425,000.00 Jamaican ($7337.00 US) on this land we purchased on which to build.  Since we are a non-profit organization we have been told that we shouldn’t have to pay…but there has been talk that we owe the government until we get a permanent structure on the property.  We are praying that this isn’t so! Before we can put a building on the property, we must get permission to do so.  And we must WAIT for this also.  We are waiting to hear from the office in charge of granting building permits that is supposed to get back with us this week Wednesday about the building plans that we have submitted.  But others have told us that this approval could take as long as six months!  We are praying that the approval happens much, much sooner! Please pray for grace to wait patiently, and wisdom on how to get the process going as quickly as possible.  Thank the Lord we don’t have to wait for the salvation He gives us through His Son Jesus Christ! For the complete Jamaica Journal go to http://www.cptln.org/jamaica/newsltr.htm
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