Andy and I left our home in Pennsylvania on Thursday, Dec 30th. Bob and Cindy Lehman drove us to Ellicott City, MD. There we spent the night with our good friends Charlie and Nancy Suter. At 10 pm we received an alert on my phone from Delta saying our flight to Belize City was canceled! I opened it up and was relieved to read that they had automatically moved us to another flight later in the day from Atlanta. We were up at 3 am and the Suters drove us to BWI airport at 3:30 am. Every part of our travel to Belize went smoothly. There was very little stress and I was very much at peace. Thank you for all the prayers for our safe travel.
The sun was bright and there was a nice breeze. The heat was not near as intense as it will be in a few months, which makes the climate adjustment easier for me. The neighbor ladies had opened up the house and cleaned it. The dirt roads here create a lot of dust. It was a blessing to walk into a clean and welcoming house. The next two days were sunny. We got unpacked and settled into the house. Andy took inventory of the vehicles. The shops were closed for New Years Day and they are not open on Sundays. We made our meals from the canned food that was stored in the pantry. Estella gave us fresh eggs, tomatoes, & cabbage from her house, plus made us fry jacks for Sunday breakfast!
On Saturday, Jan 1st, Pablo Jr., Steven, & Joe Saravia came to help us. They worked on getting the vehicles running. Joe and Andy hooked up the water pump & pressure holding tank to the cistern that was built last year. It had filled up with rainwater while we were gone. By late afternoon we had cold water with great pressure in the house. Everyone was very excited, especially me! What a blessing it is to have running water.
On Monday, the rain came and it was pouring hard. I went food shopping in Spanish Lookout. After lunch, we decided to go back into Spanish Lookout and try to get a Belizean cell phone. We were advised to go to a certain business and while searching for it we accidentally went down the wrong road for several miles. Then we turned on to a crossover road that we were not familiar with. There we encountered a creek with a low bridge. The water was running over the bridge. Andy thought he could go through, but the water turned out to be very deep in the middle. Our car reached the dry ground but the engine seized up and we could not get it to restart. Now we are stranded in the middle of farm fields with no one around. A lady driving a large 4×4 pickup truck came along. She stopped to talk with us. She called her husband who said he was in the middle of something and he could come out later and try to help. She drove on through the water to go pick her kids up. Then another pickup came. The driver ferried two motorcycles across the water and then came back to us. He said Hi Andy, how can I help you? Andy was amazed and he asked do I know you? He replied my name is Abe and I know you from Amazing Grace Church. I have been out to your place. Abe had some tools in his truck so the men took some things off of the engine to see if they could get it started again, but it was no good. So then Abe pulled out a strap and said that he would pull us all the way home. After we arrived safely back home, Andy offered some money to Abe for his fuel and time to help us. He told Andy that he had no reason to be on that road today. He said the Lord must have sent me to help you, therefore I will not take any money for something the Lord gave me to do!
I am very sad that the Toyota Rav 4 engine is now gone. We have another engine in PA that we hope can be shipped down. It was the most comfortable car for me to drive and very efficient on fuel. We are hoping that the driving team will be able to leave PA at the end of the month. Please pray that everything we need gets packed on this load. I believe a few more drivers are needed and funding for travel expenses. We are trusting the Lord to supply all our needs, as He is always our good Father.
-Nancy