By Christian Müller, as told to Andrew McChesney

To be honest, I complained a bit to God when I found out that my family would have to fly home early to Argentina from the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan for our annual leave.

I didn’t want to go in June 2016. It was winter in Argentina. I wanted to go in summer — and be home with my mother for Christmas in December.

But my wife was ill, and she needed treatment. So we packed up our suitcases and left Heritage Christian School, a Seventh-day Adventist grade school and high school in Tokmok, Krygyzstan, where I worked as development director for four years.

God had an important lesson about His timing waiting for me in South America.

During my last week in Argentina, a woman called me on the telephone. She had heard that I was fundraising for a school in Kyrgyzstan and wanted me to come to her house to tell her more.

When I arrived, she said: “I’m going to be straight with you. I have been trying to sell my house for the past two years and cannot sell it. I have even halved the price of the house but still cannot sell it. So I told God, ‘If I can sell this house, I will give $100,000 to a church project.’”

My eyes widened with surprise as I listened.

The woman said she had tried to contact several church institutions, but none had returned her phone calls.

“Then I heard that you are here,” she said.

I told the woman that Heritage Christian School was trying to raise U.S.$400,000 to construct a three-story building of classrooms that would double enrollment from the current 330 students. I explained that the waiting list of children was so long that the school had been forced to turn away 40 students last year.

“Fine, I will give to this project,” the woman said. “But you need to pray. I have been trying to sell the house for two years, and it is impossible.”

We prayed together, and I left. That evening, I shared the story with my wife and 6- and 7-year-old sons. We prayed very hard that night and the next morning.

Read related story: 2 Argentine Boys Sell Paper Airplanes in Kyrgyzstan

The day after that, a buyer took the house.

For me, it was shocking experience. Here I was upset because we were in Argentina during the winter. I didn’t want to be home until the summer. The sale of the house was like God saying, “Be still and know that I am God” (Psalms 46:10).

God wanted me to be in Argentina at that exact moment so the woman could cover a fourth of the expense of the new classrooms. We now have raised three-fourths of the cost, and the building is scheduled to open in September 2017.

After Argentina, I made a long-planned trip to the United States to raise more funds. I worked hard during the month that I was there, but didn’t raise even a fourth of the amount donated by that Argentine woman.

Fundraising is all about prayer and faith.

Now I tell God, “Take me wherever You want.”

A portion of the Thirteenth Sabbath Offering for fourth quarter 2017 will go toward the construction of a new multifunctional center with an auditorium and other facilities at Heritage Christian School in Tokmok, Kyrgyzstan.