A Long Day
We had no idea how long this day was going to be but truly, it was a typical day in Haiti. Everything had been running a little too smoothly for Haiti. We left after breakfast and picked up Pastor Harry and Pastor Wisney to go with us to Z’Orangé. Things were going well and some of the bad places in the road had dried up a little. Then when we started to go through the banana and potato field again there was a dump truck in the middle of the path that we had made, and he was stuck. We talked with them for a while and I finally decided to try to pull his truck out of the creek. He told me also that his batteries were dead and that when I got him out I needed to pull him till he got it started. I tried to pull him out but this is a big dump truck and I couldn’t. Then the Haitian men standing around decided to try to push. Between a prayer, which I think is what did it, and the pushing and me pulling we got him out and we went on our way.
It was so wonderful to see the Pastors of Z’Orangé and Jerusalem II and the church members working side by side with voodoo priests and the people living in the voodoo villages on the roads so that we could pass by. Only the Lord could make this happen.
We arrived in Z’Orangé and there were a lot of people waiting on us because they knew that we would be distributing food. After unloading the food and a meeting with Pastor Dorleon they set up a distribution in the church. He had over 150 on a list to give food to and we also were sending food to all three voodoo villages that we work in.
Before we left Madam Dorleon insisted that we stay for lunch because she had made it for us. It was a true Haitian meal and I think Bill really enjoyed it; I know Pastor Harry, Pastor Wisney and myself did. She prepared rice with a red sauce and a bean sauce with fried goat, stuffed shell pasta, French fries and some other things. It is hard to believe but they had walked all the way down the mountain for ice so that we could have a cold coke.
We are treated with such kindness; I’m sure as the disciples were treated in some areas on their travels.
We got ready to leave and everyone thanked us for coming and helping them. As always we tell them to thank God; He is the one who sent us after they prayed.
I thought that we would get back by around 3 p.m. at the latest when we left but I must have forgotten where I was, Haiti. Four or five miles out we run into our dump truck friend except this time he had broken down sideways on the side of the mountain with no way to pass him. Again he said his battery was dead, so after some reservation I decided to let him use one of our batteries to start his truck. Well it started and would run for about 20 seconds and die. After three tries I told him that was enough so that he would not run my battery down. He then checked his fuel filters and both were dry as a bone which meant his fuel pump wasn’t working but he decided to fill them with diesel and give it one more try. Needless to say it did not work. Then we tried pushing the truck to the side but we could not budge it. I tried pulling it with Gabriel but it was too heavy. I told Bill this is the fun part when it looks absolutely impossible to see how God would move this truck because I know He will. Finally we decided to go back to Z’Orangé and talk to Pastor Dorleon and see if we could get more men to help us push the dump truck. We must have had over 30 men get on the truck. We took off and after about 30 minutes or more we arrived at the truck and as usual God was so, so good. Within minutes the truck was moved out of the way. I told Pastor Dorleon I would give everyone a ride back which was a long way up and down the mountain and give them a little money. He met with the men and they decided that they were happy just to help us and wished us a safe journey.
By this time it is after 4:30 and we started heading back to Port. I had several stops to make and I needed to get the truck out to Love A Child so that we would not have to do it on Sunday. On the way it started raining very hard so we had to go really slow since I have no windshield wipers. By the time we got the truck to Love A Child and Delesonne picked us up and got us back to Dottie’s Guest House it was close to nine o’clock. I can say it was a long day but it was a prosperous one. Praise the Lord.
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