And Then the Wheels Came Off

I’m sure you’ve heard the expression – probably had times that fit the expression. You’re working on a project and all is well, and then, suddenly, the wheels come off. That really happened yesterday. Let me explain.

Peter and Sandi are still up in the States on their furlough. While they are gone, they wanted to get their Nissan Patrol into the body shop to have the rust taken care of and the paint fixed. It’s something we have to do once or twice a year here if we want to keep a vehicle more than a couple years. While the shop had it, they found that one wheel was nearly rusted through. Peter had just had another wheel welded and was running with an inner tube in it, and now he had another. The other three were probably not far behind.

So, after some investigation, Peter decided to go with aluminum wheels similar to what our truck has. They actually cost less per wheel, and will never rust out, but he’d have to buy all four and then use the best steel wheel for a spare. So our friend Mark got the wheels and had them put on in his shop on Wednesday. Yesterday, I went to town and Mark asked if I’d seen the new wheels yet. I had not, so I was looking forward to seeing them when I got home. But when I got here, I had quite a shock as you can guess from the pictures at the end of this entry.

Travis had gone into town and just barely made it back. I called Mark and he sent his sons and a mechanic out with a big jack. We didn’t find any serious damage, and the vehicle will be just fine once we get wheel studs that are long enough. It turns out that whoever put them on didn’t pay any attention to the fact that cast aluminum wheels are a lot thicker than steel ones. The lug nuts only caught three or four turns of the threads and that was obviously not enough. So, they got the wheels put back on and the truck parked. The new, longer studs are on order and should be here in a day or two. But Peter’s Patrol isn’t going anywhere until those studs are installed.

We got the truck put away just in time to head out for supper. Dr. Solomon, president of the Baptist Ministries here, and his wife invited all the missionaries up to their house for supper last night. It was quite a houseful with the six Mittens, Jim and Karen, and Mildred and me, plus Dr. Solomon, his sweet wife, Miss Aminta and 2 girls. I never did get a picture of everyone, but the ladies cooperated for a moment. Actually, if I remember right, the picture was their idea. You can see that the Solomons have quite a view from their house!

And then there was today. I woke up at feeling fine. (I think we have a song here at HRGS with those words!) But partway through breakfast, I started sweating and trembling. Pretty soon, I got rid of what breakfast I’d eaten and the other waffles went into the trash. I felt TERRIBLE!! But I’m the only one who can do our live Sunrise Serenade program. So I took a big bowl with me up to the station and somehow got through the program. Praise the Lord that I didn’t need the bowl, especially when I needed to talk. When the program was over, I checked the overnight downloads of programs we get by satellite. Then I came home and went to bed.

I was hoping I’d feel better by this afternoon, because I had a wedding to go to. Thankfully, I was up to it. Victor, the young man who chops grass and digs for us here, was finally going to make it official and legal. I took him, his bride, their son, his mother, his pastor, and several others to the Municipal Building in Coxen Hole and got to see them sign the papers, make the vows, and even give each other a rather embarrassed looking kiss after the ceremony. There was quite a little crowd there from their church. None of them speak English any better than I speak Spanish, so I’m not quite sure of the circumstances. But I gathered that the pastor had quite a bit to do with them getting married because they seemed especially happy about the whole thing. I was pleased too that they have decided to do the right thing and honored to have been asked to come along. One little linguistic event gave me a big smile. A little girl, about three years old, tried several times to tell me something, but I couldn’t make heads or tails of it. I finally said, “Lo siento. No hablo mucho Espaňol.” (I’m sorry. I don’t speak much Spanish.) Her father said, in halting English, “You don’t speak much Spanish and she doesn’t speak it very well.”

And while all these things go on, the 800 pound gorilla in the corner is Ida, which was at one time a hurricane but is only a tropical depression right now. Ida just left the north coast of Honduras as I write this and is expected to pass to our east, strengthening to a tropical storm again as it goes. So far, we have not had as much rain as I expected and the winds are much more calm than on a normal day. So, I guess we can’t complain – at least not yet.

So, I thought I’d show you the sunrise I saw the other day and contrast that with the look of the skies yesterday. I thought the clouds looked much more dramatic in black and white.

Besides my stomach bug, the Mittens and Avellas have been getting colds, one by one, so I’m sure they’d like for you to pray that that stops soon. Mildred and I have dodged it … so far.