Special Convention in Sofia Bulgaria-I Knew this was from Jehovah

 

     

     Attending this convention was a blessing in itself! I've always wanted to go to an international convention, so in 2014 when they announced that Michigan had been invited to apply to attend special convention, Al and I just knew we had to apply. We'd originally only applied to go to two locations, one was Medellin, Colombia, and the other location was Brussels, Belgium. The reason we'd chosen those places was because I'd always wanted to travel to South America and the convention in Brussels was going to be conducted in English. Well anyway, Al and I filled out our application and sent it in. Months went by and we heard nothing. We had just assumed that we were not accepted. That was a little disappointing.
      In February of this year though, Al got a phone call from the International Convention Committee in New York. He was calling to tell us that they saw our application to attend a special convention, and that although we hadn't been selected to attend the conventions we applied for, they were extending an invitation for us to attend the convention in Sofia, Bulgaria. Wow! I had never even heard of Bulgaria and I had to go look it up on a map. What's in Bulgaria?! But nonetheless it was exciting to know that if we accepted this invitation that we would go to an international convention in just a few months and a dream of mine would be realized! However there was another hiccup in the story that I should mention. Al had been laid off the month before, an we had a trip planned to Florida in March! The Convention was only 4 months away in July. Logistically, how were we going to be able to make this convention dream a reality? We would have to rely on Jehovah.
   Cautiously, we decided to accepted the invitation to attend the convention in Bulgaria. We decided at that time, not to talk to too many people about our endeavor because we didn't know if in the end we would be able to afford to go. When I initially looked up flight tickets online from Detroit to Bulgaria, they were around $1,200 per ticket. That's a lot of money,especially if you're laid off. One day, about a week or two after we accepted the invitation, I spoke to a sister about being invited to go to Bulgaria. To my surprise, she was also going to Bulgaria! I asked her about where she bought her air line tickets, and she told me that her and her brother were flying out of Toronto. Toronto?! Why Toronto?! The thought had never occurred to me to check another airport because I live 10 minutes form the Detroit Metro Airport. She told me that the tickets were around $840 to fly to Bulgaria from Toronto! Wow that so much cheaper! this would make all the difference for Al and I.Wow.We would save over $700  flying out of Toronto. I suppose the difference has to do with the exchange rate. At the time, for Every $US, it equaled a Canadian $.70. I honestly don't know that much about exchange rates and such, but I knew that with the little savings we had, we could purchase the tickets!What are the odds that the sister I talked to had also been accepted to Bulgaria and that she found tickets for so much cheaper? I know  this was from Jehovah.
     Things didn't necessarily turn around for us right away financially after that, Al still hadn't found work, March came and went and then April, May and June yet still nothing. Our Convention was in July! Now I was very concerned, we had tickets to go but I didn't know how we'd be able to afford it once we got there. We were just thankful to keep the bills paid at home. How could we afford a week's vacation in Europe?! Well in June, things started to turn around! Al started work again and was working over time, He worked overtime for the next month and a half! Amazingly, we had come up with the money for the hotel and other incidental expenses! Amazing! We also experienced generosity from a couple in our hall, who gave us $200 towards our trip! My mom also sent us a card with $200 write before we left! we were all set to go! I know this was from Jehovah.