The Living Word: The miracle of room #217
LEORA SCHMIDT
thelivingword@mail.com
Some stories beg to be shared. Again and again. Here’s one:
In the fall of 1987 an international student came to Andrews University and moved into room #217 Burman Hall. He was called Manny...In a short time he was involved in many campus activities. He was one of those high-impact Seminarians who wanted to be an active part of both the graduate and undergraduate programs.
The months slipped quickly by. Now Manny needed only one more quarter to graduate. He had a job awaiting him back home and he was anxious to begin the next part of his journey. However, as he attempted to register for spring quarter he was confronted with that infamous “roadblock” called “financial clearance,” and it looked like the Sahara Desert before him. He needed $2,000 to register. He had no resources.
Near despair, he headed back to Burman Hall. There in room #217 he knelt by his bed and prayed desperately for a miracle, but the fog of despair was so thick that his words seemingly were swallowed up. Discouraged, he left for the library. It was test week and he really did need to study for his winter quarter exams.
But he was so restless that he left the library, finding it impossible to concentrate enough to study. With a heavy heart and sagging shoulders he became aware of several sparrows splashing in a sidewalk puddle left from an unusually warm early morning rain. Stopping in his tracks, Manny implored the heavens, “Lord, You promised to take care of even the sparrows. Surely You can take care of me!” (see Matthew 10:29-31)
Comforted somewhat by this prayer, he hurried back to his room. As he opened the door he discovered a plain business-sized envelope just lying on the floor in his room. Hardly daring to breathe, he picked up the envelope and found $2,000 in crisp, new $100 bills. It was exactly what he had prayed for and exactly what he needed to register!
Manny and his residence hall dean prayed beside the bed together in #217, thanking God for this amazing miracle. This miracle of Room #217 was shared with each occupant thereafter. It was pointed out as more like a shrine for Jean Emmanuel Nlo Nlo (Manny) who ministered after graduation in West-Central Africa. In their gratitude for God’s miracle gift he and his wife saved money from their pay checks each month to provide an endowment for room #217 for other struggling students who would occupy it. As the miracle of #217 continued one young man told his father, “I know that God knows the address to my room”. (Adapted from account by Donald Murray, men’s residence hall dean for 42 years.)
2019 Update: Donald Murray is still living in the same area and had recounted this story to the current resident hall dean of Burman Hall. The dean has been prompted to tell the story to the present and future students in Room #217 as an encouragement to their faith experience.