As I went through the front door, I flicked on the living room light to see our cat, Mr.Henry. "Hello Mr.Henry." I said as I stroked his black fur. He meowed as If in compliance with his massage. I turned just in time to see Melanie burst through the door, and run to her laptop on the table.
"And what might you be in a hurry for?" I asked, even though I was already sure of the answer.
"I just wanted to check and see if there was an update on the contest." She said as she hastily opened her laptop and began clicking and typing.
"Please tell me you won't be on that laptop every second of every day until the results are actually shown." I said as I went into the kitchen and grabbed a cookie out of our light pink cookie jar.
"Sarah, I think I'm getting a vibe that you're not exactly as excited about this as I am." She said, and I sensed a tone in her voice that suggested she was mocking me.
"You think?" I said as I sat down next to her.
"Oh, go read your book or something" She said as she typed.
"Listen, Melanie...I don't want you to get your hopes up on this just to get them knocked down." I said. Melanie stopped typing abruptly, and faced her whole body toward me.
"Sarah, It's like I said before. I just have this feeling like I'm suppost to do this, that I need to. Please try and support me and focus on the positive." she said, then went back to her earlier position and began typing again. I began to feel guilty. Who was I to question what she felt was what God was telling her to do? I'm her best friend! I should be supporting her, I thought, not knocking her down.
"I'm sorry Mel. Its just I dont want you to feel sad if you're not picked, or if we can't come up with the money." I said.
"Well, It looks like it wouldn't be too pricey for two tickets to London." She said, as she pulled up the costs for flights for two round trips.
"On flightbooked.com, tickets cost 1500 each, for coach. Thats 3000 thousand dollars, and if we both have two suitcases that weigh over 60 pounds, then thats 30 each, which would add to 3060. We can bring sandwhiches for food on the plane with us, but we would need money for food for however long we stay in London, and I have no idea how to convert U.S dollars into pounds." Melanie must have seen my face go white, because she gave me a concerned look.
"You OK Sarah? Are you ganna puke?" She said.
"Uh...I...You...Melanie...How are we going to get that money? We barely can pay rent and the bills, much less take a trip to London for a few days." I said, feeling a little queasy.
"Remember Sarah, If God wants us to do this, He will provide a way. Doesn't mean God's way is cheap, but that he'll provide a way, nontheless." Melanie said with a glimmer of hope in her eyes.
"Allright...Well, I guess you're right.." I said. "I guess I'll just have to trust God that His will, will be done." I said.
"There you go! Focus on the positive, but just in case we don't win the contest, I won't buy the tickets unless he replies to my email with the survey in it saying we won."
"Yeah, because that would be just wonderful having to pay for flight tickets, when we didn't even win the dumb contest." I said. "So how long do you think it will take him to go through all the surveys?"
"Well, he said that he will be accepting surveys for two days, and then he'll start rejecting the late ones. Considering he has 100,000 subscribers, I have no idea how many surveys he will actually have to look through. So, It could take a really long time."
"Like How long?" I said.
A look of uncertainty passed over her face, and she slowly and quietly said, "Well, I guess if you wanna be realistic, a month?" She said, with uncertainty hanging in her voice.
"A month? This will take forever!" I said, feeling defeated.
"Hey, look on the bright side. It'l give us a chance to build up our savings." She said, smiling sheepishly.
"Speaking of which...How the heck are we going to do that when we have minimum-wage jobs?" I asked, feeling like the obstacles adding up against us just kept on coming.
"Do I need to tell you again, Sarah?"
"I know, I know, God will provide... I just feel like 3060 dollars is a lot."
"Don't forget the extra spending money. In fact, lets just round that up to 3100" She said.
"Thanks. Way to make me feel better."
She rolled her eyes."You know what I mean."
I sighed as I brushed my dark brown hair out of my face. "You know, It would be kind of cool to meet this boy you obsess over."
She laughed. "Don't tell me you're getting interested in him." She said before winking at me to let me know she was only teasing.
"Well, all I know is that we better pray about this situation, so get off your dumb laptop so we can pray." I said.
"Allrighty."She replied as she closed her laptop, then reached for my hands, closed her eyes, and bowed her head.
"Heavenly Father," She began, "Thank you so much for this wonderful opprtunity to witness to Levi. If It Is your will that we go to London, please help us financially. We pray to you that we could go to London so that we might be able to tell Levi our testimonies and tell him about your love. Please bless this trip, and help my survey to be picked. We love you, Lord. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen." She finished. We both looked at each other, and I saw a look in her eyes- a look that said she believed this was God's will, and that it would happen.
