4th gear, baby!

Ahhhh the adventure continues, as always!   I spent the last 48ish hours with mis jefes extraordinaire, Joe and Shannon (JZ y Shanoo) on the road to Barahona and back.   Not that we were on the road the entire time.

We left Friday morning with 2 patients (and their caregiver) who had had surgery on Wednesday with the plan to return them to their village in the mountains of Barahona.    6 of us squeezed in the blue pickup, with poor Shannon sitting basically ON the gear shift for 2 hours while we drove to Darren and Jennifer's house.   Darren and Jennifer are missionaries outside of Barahona who kindly brought these patients (after 2 flat tires!) to the clinic last week and then unfortunately had car trouble (a battery that caught on fire!) returning.   We are convinced that these problems are not just physical but spiritual also, as some of their neighbors practice voodoo.  We covered our trip in prayer for sure!  We were happy to bring their friends back to them after successful surgery and had a great visit at their home as well.    Our next step was to drive from their home in the mountains to the beach in Barahona.  

As we left their house and began our descent out of the mountains the blue truck began to make strange flapping and rattling noises.    Since we were literally in the middle of nowhere, we continued DOWN the mountain, often coasting in neutral to stop the horrible noises.    Despite the awful sounds and the fear of being stranded in timbukto-nowhere, it was a gorgeous ride.   Darrin and Jennifer live in a very tropical jungle-ish environment and the flowers and coffee plants and mountains were spectacular.   But we were very glad to see the ocean and know we were on main road after nearly an hour of holding our breath to reach civilization.    The blue truck has had a long and storied history of repair and Joe discovered that 4th gear was the only gear that we could use without the scraping, flapping, rattle.  So we motored on.   The road to Barahona is awesome, driving along the sea...light blue clear water, huge cliffs, palm trees...STUNNING, especially in 4th gear!   We stopped to eat along the water, delish!  

We had a few options of what to do.  We could spend the rest of our day searching for mechanics, trying to drive back to San Juan, sweating over the rattling noise, or throwing up our hands and forgetting about the truck.   We opted to give the truck over to Jesus, checked into a sweet little French hotel, and stared at the ocean while sitting by the pool.   Excellent idea Jose!  Playa Azul was rocking!   We spent the night and the next morning in perfect chill mode- reading, laughing, talking, eating and relaxing.  What a great break!  Jesus Calling was perfect on Saturday morning, saying "Make friends with the problems in your life.  Though many things feel random and wrong, remember I am sovereign over everything".    Of course we added "even the blue truck!"

It was a perfect spot- perfect relaxing time.   I am so grateful to have had this time with Joe and Shannon before they leave (THIS week, sob sob sob) for the States to begin their new positions as Exec. Directors.   And I am grateful to have folks like them at Solid Rock praying over this ministry and striving to serve Jesus in all they do.   

 

We set sail for San Juan after lunch on Saturday...following a morning of lounging at the pool (heavenly!).   We prayed over our dear blue truck and off we went, in 4th gear!  And we made it all the way to San Juan (2 hours!) , holding our breath going up the mountains and giggling at the horrific noise when we had to briefly downshift over the multiple speed bumps.     Here's to 4th gear!  And a perfect vacay with dear friends!  And God's protection on us....always....

Here is Joe with his driving game face on!  Fierce!

Dropping it into 4th!  We love 4th gear!

Home again!  Praise Jesus!  We all but coasted into the gate!