Roadside Service, Kenya-Style
Have you ever wondered if God hears your prayers? Maybe sometimes, just sometimes, God allows us to reach the end of ourselves -- allows us to feel abandoned -- just long enough to actually find ourselves along the side of a busy highway in Kenya -- 2 days behind schedule -- after all efforts have failed -- to experience what we know can only be a miracle!
Neil and Francis have had a 2-day ordeal with the van. Neil was supposed to begin teaching on Monday at Cosmas Solamba's Riverside Ministries national pastors conference in Nairobi. Now it is Tuesday night, and they were still stranded not far from Mombasa on Kenya's east coast, almost 8 hours from Nairobi.
Cosmas shipped them a replacement alternator for his van on a bus from Nairobi on Monday, but after it was installed the van made it only another 10 miles.
When I posted this morning, Francis had gone in search of an alternative alternator, leaving Neil, along with other members of their party, in the van on a very hot day. Ruth texted Neil at noon asking if Francis had any success. Here is the "rest of the story."
Neil texted Tuesday at 8:00 p.m. Kenya-time (Tuesday noon Minnesota-time):
Francis got back here around 6:00 with an alternator but alas, the mechanic bailed on him so it is 8:00 and here we sit. The windows are down and there is no battery. We have a young lady, a lady with an infant and two pastors in the van.
Ruth responded:
"Lord, send the ravens!"
Immediately, Neil texted,
"A mechanic just arrived! This guy knows what he is doing. Bam, bam! Done! And we are on the road again. I am going to drive the first 2 hours."
Ruth texted:
"Wonderful! Was he an angel?"
Someone asked Neil recently what long-suffering is. Neil said long-suffering is just a little longer than we think we need to suffer to learn patience.
Prayer Requests:
- Thank and praise God for providing the working alternator and awesome mechanic.
- Safe travel to Nairobi.
- Strength for Neil to teach and Francis to interpret at the conference.