Day 8- Recap

We came back from the auction rather emotionally worn down and I did not get to post until today. We left for the auction, excited that God was going to do a miracle, and 7 miles outside of Burley, Weston's car stopped working. The cap on the radiator was loose and caused the engine to overheat and it continued overheating. We sat on the side of the interstate for more than an hour as my mom took the van full of two small children, their mom, and two older teenagers who were going along to see the campus. My mom left the people from the van in a park near the Snake River and came and picked us up. We started heading up toward Albion, but by this time the auction had been going for half an hour and we were about ready to quit.

Around this time a friend, Mark, called and told us that he was at the auction and they had not started selling the campus yet, but had been auctioning some blankets and stuff. Someone commented that we could at least go and see what happens. I kept hoping for some miracle that would bring us the college, but each time the phone rang, it was Mark with news on the bidding.

Now they were up to 365,000 dollars and had taken a break. As we were driving onto the campus, I felt in my heart that this whole week had been in vain and that God had completely abandoned me. The next hour as the bidding went on, I was struggling with the fact that I trusted in God, but He seemed to have abandoned us. I kept trying to hope that God could raise up this college, but it seemed impossible. I sometimes forget that the God of the loaves and fishes is also the God who made relationships.

All of us left before the bidding had ended, except my brother-in-law. He stayed to see how it was going to end and to try and talk to the people who won (see: relationships). It just so happened that the winning bidders made it quite easy for Weston to talk to them and they showed interest in working with a college.

While Weston was staying to see how things were turning out I was dropped off at a mall with a friend because our ride down did not have time to drop us off at home. Though sad, the intensity of depression and feeling abandoned by God had dropped off and I knew that God was faithful, and that we would continue working on the college, whatever happened.

To Conclude:
We have started talking with the winners of the auction about possibilities of still doing a college on Albion Normal School Campus. We are working on an Academic Calendar as well as Statements of Faith, Mission, Vision etc. We are preparing some classes for this fall that will be taught at a satellite campus either in Jerome or Twin Falls and we are looking at the process of accreditation, as well as continuing paperwork (Bylaws, 501(c)(3) application)