10Oct17 – Murphy’s Law
As mentioned in my previous post, I decided to get active on the blog again, starting with my last 2 weeks down here.
You may find a trend in these posts. We’ll go through some great successes, typically followed by a few things that slow us down again.
Just two weeks ago, our friend, Scott Payne, had finally fixed our F150 to get it running again for the first time in 18 months or so.
Unfortunately, one of Murphy’s laws here in Haiti is that when you do fix something, something else will inevitable break, especially with vehicles.
So, just as we finished the installation at the Barbrey’s house, the big truck (Chevy) decided that it didn’t want to come home and we left it there for the night.
On the 11th, we went over diagnosed it with 2 issues.
First, a bad connection between wires and the battery was causing the truck to either turn off, or just not start at all.
Second, a bearing went bad on one of the tensioning pulleys near (not on) the alternator.
Thankfully, both things were easy to remedy here in Jacmel, and by the afternoon the truck was running and on it’s way home to our house. A special thanks goes to Chase and Anderson for fixing the pulley because I had already promised Jamie that I would spend this day helping her prepare the house for upcoming guests.
However, while the truck was coming home, the front brakes started squealing, so we decided to change them. Unforunately, these pads are not locally available. Thankfully, the Kontsas family was able to bring them in for us on the 19th. For down here, a week and a half is a wonderful turn around time for a car repair, so we were quite happy.
In the mean time, we were able to use the little truck for the work that needed done for the rest of the week.
All that said, we have to give God some praise for the vehicles we have. This big truck, despite these latest difficulties, has been an absolute workhorse for 7 years. That is actually incredible given the terrain we have crossed and the work we have done. I’ve learned how to change most of the brake system, the water pump, and most of the steering system on that car, and it still runs. It looks like it’s from Mad Max these days, but we may even get some new doors soon (with functional windows). All of this from a truck that I bought back when I really had no idea what the mission was that God was calling me to. He knew, and He provided a fantastic vehicle for us.
I know this post may seem random, but I figured that I should let you actually see a bit into our lives down heres to understand what God has called us to, and how it plays out. Thank you for your support. Please keep praying for us and supporting however God leads.
God Bless.
