As I write this article, I am currently spending some weeks with friends and family in Germany. During my absence from Benin, my husband Toussaint, our local evangelists and our short-term volunteers continue the work. One of the young ladies has been in charge of all the finances, and I know that she is doing a diligent job. However, less than two weeks into my furlough, I received an urgent message from her. According to her calculation, they should have been out of money and even in the red, but they still had over 200,000 Francs (about $350) left in cash!

Now how is that for a problem?!

I asked her to take a picture of her notes and send it to me. When I looked at her list of expenses, I quickly found the mistake. On three occasions, she had noted 100,000 Francs. I knew that the actual number should have been 5,000 Francs. How could that happen? Simply, 5 and 100 sound almost the same in French. Being new to the language and the currency and prices in Benin, she had misunderstood when Toussaint told her how much he had spent. We all had a good laugh when the problem was solved.

I praise God for faithful volunteers and coworkers who take care of things while I’m gone!

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