The Dove and teams

I didn't realize I had not written in so long. I guess living in the "fast" lane has kept me pretty busy. So much has gone on in the last few weeks, I'm not sure where to start.

We had two weeks of teams. I guess that's where I'll start. The first team spent most of their time in another town, doing medical work. And then one day here at a church doing a clinic. Our involvement with that was minimal. They sure did accomplish a lot in the week they were here, though. They helped so many. We are thankful for that. The second team was a construction team, who came to work with the new orphanage (IDADEE). These guys we WERE involved with. They are a group who have been here before, with a few added new recruits. We had a GREAT time with them. The team included some of our strong prayer warriors, too. And while here, they were put to the test on praying.

Everyone knows our truck, The Dove, is getting OLD and having a lot of problems. Don is spending more time fixing it, than using it for ministry. On Saturday, Don took the team to the Citadel. On the way up the mountain, the truck overheated, really bad. They limped into "parking place", where Don normally waits for the teams while they make the trip the rest of the way up the mountain. With the help of some old friends from Milot, that we have known since living there, Don was able to work on the radiator and get water in it and clean it up again. On the way down from there (with the team on the truck), he lost some of his brakes. This is so dangerous! He kept it in first gear and did a lot of praying. A stop at the tourist market was next on the list. I met him there with a team member who had not gone to the Citadel. The team had just started "shopping" when a hole in the gas tank was discovered. Draining fuel meant "get home quick". So we loaded up and went directly home. Don, with the help of the team, worked on the Dove the rest of Saturday and most of Sunday. They missed a Haitian service, but were able to attend English Bible Fellowship (next door to us). They also didn't get to go to the hotel for swimming and a meal out. I went and got the meal and brought it back. We had even tried to borrow a truck (from the IDADEE group) to take them to the hotel. The truck arrived, and while sitting here, the starter burned up. Guess we were not meant to go to the Mont Joli!! The team was GREAT through this whole episode!! They were much calmer than Don. They did get the truck going again (but it still needs so much work). They flew out on Tuesday and Don started working on the truck again.

To get a license for the truck, ALL lights have to work. So, he was making sure everything was in order. One of our "kids" took the truck for inspection. That's the FIRST step in a LONG line of things to get the license plate. (NOTHING is easy in Haiti!) When he got there, only one set of headlights was working. AND one of the backup lights was not working... and FINALLY, the light on the back license plate was not working. Now this is in a country where tap-taps run without any tail lights, maybe ONE headlight and definitely NO license plate light. This was SO frustrating. But Don and Daniel worked and worked and got everything working. By the time Daniel got the truck back to town, some were not working again. Somehow he got it inspected. The first step in a long line of things was done. Daniel went in again to get the paperwork done and pay the fees. His longest wait, for that part, was waiting for someone at the bank to write him a certified check for payment. He has to go back again on Monday to finish up and prayerfully get the plates. This is 4 full days of work to get license plates.

Okay, back to the Dove and it's problems... A few on the team asked if anyone had considered raising money for a new truck. We said it had been mentioned, but we had no idea if anything had been done. Knowing this was an urgent need, they asked me to contact someone and see if it had been set in motion. When our home church was here in January, they saw the need for a new truck. So, I called our son and asked if the situation had been brought up or forgotten. He said, well, they had wanted to surprise us, but now knew the need was urgent. The board had approved the request for them to raise money for a new truck. I won't go into all the details, but it is now in the works. Don has had Remy (our contact in Port, and the president of IDADEE) go to the dealer and get prices on different models. We will have that in hand tomorrow, so we can start the process of getting the information to our church, so they in turn can share the need with others. So our HUGE rejoicing is that a new vehicle is on the horizon. Please pray with us on this, and that the Lord would provide all the needed funds to get this quickly. What makes this even more exciting is that Don will be able to spend all his time in ministry, not fixing the truck 70% of the time and only 30% doing the work God sent him to do.

We are now regrouping and catching up on things left undone while we had teams. We are trying to work ahead on some things, since in two weeks have will have the start of three weeks of teams, back to back. We are looking forward to the teams, but want to keep our other ministries going too.

For now, pray for us. The Lord is guiding and directing, so pray we are open to what HE wants us to do and when we are to do it. Till next time, keep your eyes focused on the Lord and your ears open to His leading. That is our prayer for you, but for us, also!!!