Breakdown

(Photos: People climbing into the truck; Tom with the students from the English program he visited; Grace and Peter looking cute.)

From time to time we mention the vehicle that gets us from place to place here on the island. We affectionately call it “the truck” or “the Toyota”. The truck is a sturdy, beat up, long-lasting Toyota Hilux with a whole lot of character. The truck is an ambassador of goodwill. It has a truck bed fixed with long benches and a tarp cover that keeps out the rain, so it’s great for transporting our team and giving people rides who would otherwise have to pay a taxi or hoof it. Because of our policy of stopping whenever we can, our truck is known all over town as a possible free ride and is well loved. We feel it gives just the right impression of our group too—not much to look at, not rich, not fancy, but always willing to help.

But the truck is also a cranky old soul. It can be a bear to drive sometimes with its wide turning radius and manual steering. And it’s had its share of trouble: flat tires, black smoke, over heating, starter problems. Every driver on our team has had to push start the truck at least once. (Thankfully, the starter problem has been fixed and we haven’t had to do push starts for a while.) It has needed lots of work, but because of its size and versatility, the truck is really somewhat unique and hard to replace, so we continue to fix it up and keep it running.

This past Monday, I (Tom) took the truck down to the south of the island to support a fledgling English school in a town about an hour and a half away. Sergio came along for the ride and a local English teacher we’ll call Madjeshi. The class went well and by 11:00am we were headed for home. The back of the truck was full of passengers. (Everyone wants to go to the capital on Monday, which makes empty taxis hard to come by.) And we were going along fine, when all of a sudden the temperature gauge spiked. I pulled over and popped the hood. Down inside the hood we could see water spitting out of the engine block. It didn’t look good. Sergio actually knew some people in the village where we had broken down and went to see if they could help, but while he was out looking, word got around that there were some people in need of a mechanic and a local guy who called himself “Rocky” came to our aid. Rocky took a look at the situation and after a few minutes (I won’t bore you with car talk) climbed up on top of the engine and asked for two things: superglue and ash. We went off to buy superglue (it’s cheap and ubiquitous here and apparently used for just about everything) while a local man (by now we had a host of observers) went off to his kitchen fire to grab some fine, white ash. Making a sort of paste, Rocky patched the hole and after a short test drive he had us up and running.

Our trip on Monday seems to highlight a common experience of African life. Few trips are routine—things just tend to happen. You’ll often get into a jam, but there are always lots of people who are ready and willing to help you out of it again.

PRAYERS ANSWERED

Although the trip had its hitches, Tom’s trip went well. We had a nice anniversary dinner. Kathryn watched the children and we went out to a restaurant. We think it was our first “date” together on the island. We are so thankful to have our family, each other and the life we have.

PRAYERS REQUESTED

The month of fasting has begun. Please pray with us during this time of heightened spiritual consciousness. Pray for our island brothers, that they would see the benefits and necessity of strong fellowship. Pray for more island sisters—they are few and far between. Pray for our team as we discuss the year ahead and how to be more focused and united in our goals.