Drowning the Car

If anyone ever disparages volunteers to me, I will remember this one thing: Kasi brought me Little Debbie Swiss Cake Rolls. Thank you, Kasi!

We had a great week with our volunteers from Willowbrook Baptist. Every group from there has been exceptional and this one was no different. But it didn't start off so easy.

David was in Nairobi to get the volunteers. He'd been sick the weekend before and was still dealing with some stomach problems but was managing. He went to a store about a mile from our guesthouse to pick up a box of water for them. It was raining. Not just a little rain, but a torrential downpour complete with hail and lightning. The water was over the road. You couldn't see potholes or even the ditches on the side.

Returning to the guesthouse, David passed someone who was stuck. He stopped to help and as he pulled over the car slipped into the deep side ditch. It was now at a 45' angle and water filled the passenger side almost to the dashboard. He attached a chain from his winch to a tree across the street but was unable to pull himself out. David is now standing in the rain and hail beside his drowned car, watching as bicycles disappear into these "puddles" and then are fished out by their drenched riders, and he has an hour before he is supposed to go to the airport to pick up the volunteers.

If there's a monkey wrench, Satan will throw it....

With some help from other good Samaritans and missionaries, the truck was pulled out of the drink. The car was not an easy fix, though. The engine had sucked in liters of water and bent a couple of pistons. David was able to help the volunteers get to the guesthouse with their rental minivan and taxis.The volunteers came on to Tarime in the minivan, and David, Chloe and one volunteer stayed an extra day in Nairobi and then came down on the bus with most of the luggage.

God is good to work everything out, and the drama at the beginning was not a continuing theme for the week. We spent the first day with the group making introductions at immigration - it is something that takes a whole morning and seems pointless, but is very important - and at the church in Remagwe. The next day, with David here and the group intact, they got to work.

I will write more about their time with us in the next post, but, for now, this is the story of how David drowned the car.