A Story Problem

Do you like story problems? Let me give you one: A missionary, along with several national believers, were traveling to a Bible Conference 50 miles away (a three-hour drive). After 45 miles the missionary’s vehicle suddenly stops running on a lonely dirt road. What does the missionary do? A. Call a tow truck; B. Kick the tire; C. Put on his hazard lights and wait for a police officer to arrive; D. Pray and see how the Lord works. If your answer is “A”, “B”, or “C”, then your missionary would still be sitting, waiting by his vehicle, but enjoying the surrounding view of rice fields and mountains. “D” is the correct answer and the story problem happened yesterday with your very own missionaries . . . us.

Yesterday morning, as the sun was rising, Stephen and our partner Manfred loaded two vehicles with excited believers to go to their very first Bible conference. As mentioned above, within 5 miles of the conference, Stephen’s vehicle “died”. Thankfully, we were close to the conference. We quickly decided that the problem was the fuel filters, again. However, before working on the vehicle, we decided that Manfred should make two trips to get everyone to the conference. With only 5 miles to go, this only took Manfred 1 ½ hours. Don’t forget the “lonely dirt road”.

For the next 4 hours, during the conference, Stephen and Manfred returned home to the village to pick up our village mechanic, purchased new fuel filters at the nearby town and returned to the vehicle. The filters were quickly replaced and the real problem was discovered: blockage in the fuel line from the fuel tank. In other words, no gas was reaching the engine and the fuel line needed to be cleaned with an air compressor. Did we have one of those in our “back pockets”? Of course not. We needed to somehow get the vehicle back to town . . . with no gas tank. Did we mention that was 50 miles away? Did we mention that there are no tow trucks and no police to help?

During the next three hours, we acquired a 7-gallon container, a few gallons of gas, and a small hose. With these items, our village mechanic made a new “gas tank” that was placed inside the car, right behind the driver’s seat. It worked! By now it was after 5pm, the conference was finished, and the sun was setting. Even though the missionaries missed the conference, it sounds like

the believers enjoyed it and were encouraged. Praise the Lord, we made it safely home at 8pm. We would like to say this is the end of the story. Today, Stephen and the mechanic attempted to clean the fuel line and try to get dirt out of the tank. However, the vehicle keeps on stalling as dirt keeps on clogging the line. Please pray as we attempt to get the vehicle to a city 100 miles away. If we can get there, the gas tank can be removed and cleaned. We are not discouraged. God still used a village mechanic, a container, and a hose to answer our prayers yesterday and we know He will answer our prayers in the days to come.

What is He using today to answer your prayers?