Only God knew the best path for us so we both agreed to seek God separately and not discuss until we both heard from Him. God did indeed speak! He told me first to market in Moscow, Russia then Brazil. To Annie, He confirmed the first country we were to go to was Moscow and secondly South America. It's amazing how God spoke so accurately to both of us. So we decided to act on His word.

There was an exhibition in Moscow and we booked and paid for a choice position for our booth. However, we were told 2 months later that it had been taken by another company and we were placed in another stand (stand no. F501). The organisers also gave us an alternative choice location (stand no. F511).

We were disappointed that we didn't get the location we intended but decided once again to go on our knees and seek God for wisdom to choose the right stand. Separately again we prayed and I got the word from God to accept stand F501. Whilst praying, God led Annie to look up on the wall where a poster had a bible verse, Psalm 105:4-5. Looking closely she noted the number 105, which was the reverse of 501. She believed that must have been God's answer to us. We then decided to accept stand F501.

God is indeed our Provider. When we were at the exhibition, we discovered that stand F501 was way better than both the stands we lost out on and the alternative stand! Further, as a company, we were able to stand out amongst the other exhibitors at stand F501.

Another hurdle we faced before going over to Moscow was the issue of our business visas. Less than a week before the commencement of the exhibition, we realised we did not have the original invitation letter from the Russian authority, which was a requirement by the UK organisers. Time was against us as the Russian Government would take 2 weeks to prepare and send the invitation letter via courier. If we couldn't get the letter, we couldn't get our business visas. And if we couldn't get our business visa, the prepaid hotel flights, exhibition stand and marketing materials such as banners, booths, samples and catalogues already sent by air freight to Russia totalling $70k plus will go down the drain!

We started to pray for favour and we reminded God that it was He who asked us to go there and that He should cover us to ensure a smooth transition going over to Russia. After all, He has redeemed and conquered all!

Our travel agent asked us to approach the Russian embassy in Singapore directly to appeal for a waiver to do without the original, accepting just the informal emailed copy. That day, the appeal together with our travel visa application was sent in. We got a notice to return in a few days and Praise God... when we returned to the Embassy, our visas were approved!

Next, this was to be our very first exhibition and we were concerned about whether we had missed out anything for the exhibition. We committed this concern to God and asked that even if we missed out anything or made any mistake, whether major or minor, He would uphold us. After all, did He not say in His Word in Psalm 37:23-24, "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and He delights in his way. Though he falls, he shall not be utterly cast down; for the Lord upholds him with His hand"?

Truly, we missed something! In the very first minutes of the first day of the exhibition, I was approached by a lady asking if we needed an interpreter. How could we have possibly missed something SO essential was beyond us! So we hired her immediately. 3 days later, she told us she had an unusual problem of not being able to find a company needing a translator for this exhibition.

She was here a few days before and without success, decided to go 100km away to another exhibition ground and again, no success. On the very first day of our exhibition, the very first hall she came to (out of the 8 to 9 halls), the very first stand she approached (out of the hundreds of stands), was ours! Our God is truly Jehovah Jireh, the One who foresees everything and provides in advance.

The exhibition ended with what we believed was a success with many potential leads but we had brought an excessive amount of 1,500 catalogues left which we did not want to ship back to Singapore. We believed we would return to Russia to appoint a licencee or distributor. We decided to keep the excess catalogues at the hotel and took the step of faith and informed the hotel we would return in a month's time. When we left on 12 April 2010, we even told the chauffeur that we would text him in about a month's time to pick us up from the airport.

2 weeks after we returned to Singapore, we began to receive many emails suggesting we return to see them on dates varying from after 11th May, on the 12th May and from the 12th May onwards! Exactly 1 month from our departure date, 12th April!

The above is one of the many challenges we have had to face but we have learned to take it in our stride as believers knowing that He will do what He has promised. He has already redeemed us and we must remember to appropriate His victory. As we walk right with Him, continually doing His will and with His Spirit empowering us, we merely activate His promises and expect miracles!

We give thanks to God who has allowed this to happen, as an opportunity for us to build our faith and to glorify His name!