Our finances were now in somewhat dire straits as 2015 was a disastrous year for the school which we had now decided must close. We had received an offer and had signed a promise of sale for the house from a friend of the contractor who we had brought in to refurbish the bottom floor. We were confident that it would go ahead but, at the last moment, the sale fell through.
I had just recovered from a massive heart attack a month or so previously and was standing in the front patio looking out at the sea and our lovely views. This very cheerful gentleman came towards me. He had been swimming and appeared to be in a very refreshed mood. He stopped to talk and said how lovely it was to swim at this late time of the year and how lucky I was to live so near the beach. I noticed that he had what appeared to be a bible in his hand which I thought was rather strange since he had just come off the beach. He told me he had to rush back to the Hilton, where he was staying, since he had a plane to catch very soon. Suddenly, he asked me if I knew of a place to rent in that area. I told him that our house was up for sale and asked if he wanted to see it. He came in and looked around the house and fell in love with our roof garden.
I said goodbye and gave him the school number and my wife’s mobile number as mine was permanently off at that time to give me some peace. He rushed off and I clean forgot about it. I had rather liked him because all he talked about was prayer and God.
About 20 minutes later, Ursula phoned to tell me that he had got in touch with her as he was interested in buying the house. He came back from Germany several times to see us and pray with us and we were delighted to see that he was very open to the Holy Spirit. We became good friends and met his wife who was also a committed Christian. Eventually, they put an offer in for the house and the sale was completed a few months later.
This let us exit from our company with no debts and the second house in Pietrelcina which we were planning beside the prayer-garden, could then go ahead safely.