We have been busy building relationships with neighbors, assimilating into the community, playing ball (okay, mostly the boys play ball; we adults just watch), enjoying attending and preaching at Adonai Gospel Church in Tinot, and traveling to nearby villages to show the JESUSFilm.
One such journey to a Savanne Rouge was a wonderful time of fellowship and encouragement for the local body of Christ (with 4 new additions of people who wanted to follow Jesus — praise the Lord!) Afterwards, getting home was quite the adventure, too! It rained (pretty hard) all through the film (but we were inside, so we enjoyed the cool breezes from the rain), and it worked out perfectly because by the time the film finished, the rain was also finished. We decided there the heavy rain had eliminated the option back across the river on the short-cut route, so we set out — in the dark — traversing a longer, albeit more traveled route which would eventually take us through town (and over the bridge.) This longer route was replete with hills and ruts in the road which, since they covered with wet sloppy mud, continually slid the vehicle in new directions, threatening to strand us in the mud, or, worse, to overturn the vehicle. Each new intimidating hill seemed the last, but God moved us where we needed to go each time.
Finally, about 1/2 of a mile from more “solid” ground, with the Lord’s help, we had navigated all the hills — but drove straight into a bog, right in the middle of the road. Our 4-wheel-drive, mud-tired Toyota 4 Runner was stuck. Even with all the guys pushing (Darrell, the boys, our Haitian friend), we made no progress. Fortunately, though, help was just a phone call away — even late at night — and soon our dear friend brought his friend with a “tow truck” to give us a lift out of the mud.