Easter Sunday's trial creates soul-winning opportunities

This week I was able to put a close to most of the problems from the accident that occurred on Good Friday. The driver and I agreed that neither party was at fault. I paid him $300 to fix his motorcycle and help with time missed from work. If we had taken the case to court we would have spent a lot of time making visits to the courthouse just waiting to be heard. I have been told that unless you have some “pull” (read bribes) your case will continually remain on the bottom of the stack. You will continually be called to appear in court week after week but you will never make any progress on the case. Also, had we taken the case to court the guilty party would have been fined $150 for reckless driving but the other party would not receive any award of any sort. That made our decision to settle out of court very easy to make. Thank you for your prayers on this matter.

On Easter Sunday I ran into another small trial. After the service concluded I fellowshipped with the people for a few minutes and then made my way to my battered truck. As I turned the key nothing happened. The battery was completely dead. I had the foresight to bring a set of jumper cables so all I needed was another vehicle to help me jump-start the truck. I started to walk to the main road and about 1 mile later I passed a mini van taxi that was jammed full of people who were on their way to church. I just couldn’t ask them to take their time to help me so I continued on. Another ½ mile or so and I met 2 young men one of which offered to help me. I waited with his friend as he went to get his vehicle. During the 30 minutes he was gone I talked with the friend about salvation. He told me that he is a Muslim. We talked about his faith and what he is trusting in for salvation. It was a very good sincere conversation. I left him with some “meat” to chew on and invited him to come to church sometime as his friend pulled up in his vehicle. I hopped in and we drove back to the church. As we waited for the battery to take a charge I talked to the driver about salvation. He told me that he needed to be saved and learn more about the Bible. He wasn’t available to take the time to talk about it at that moment but invited me to come to his house on Saturday. Please pray for his salvation as I visit him this Saturday May, 7. 

My not so good Friday

What a weekend this has been! Our Friday service was scheduled for 3:00pm at our village church in Kingereka. I left our home an hour early. About 15 minutes into the drive I had an accident involving a motorcycle. I saw the motorcycle a few hundred yards ahead of me and noticed that he was having a really difficult time driving. He had a passenger and a 100 lb bag of flour tied to the back of his small motorcycle. Since he was riding very close to the shoulder and driving very slowly I decided to pass him. I honked my horn to let him know I was coming. When I reached his location he suddenly merged from the shoulder into my truck. Instantly I heard a bang and was showered with broken glass from the passenger door window.
While talking to the traffic officer about the incident I looked at my truck that was parked about 300 feet down the road and I saw a man leaning in through the broken window stealing things from the glove box. The police did absolutely nothing and by time I got there he had run away. I’m not sure what he was able to steal since my glove box tends to be a catchall.

After taking care of the roadside investigation we drove back to town to write up the official reports and have my vehicle inspected for the insurance forms. We then drove to the hospital to take the driver’s information and to discus a settlement. Apparently, even though the driver had been drinking, did not signal that he was entering the road and was severely overloaded, it is most people’s opinion that I was at fault. There is very little doubt that the court would also consider me to be at fault. (The driver was not wearing a helmet but thankfully did not have any head injuries. He did break his leg and had a gash on the back of his hand.)
This sort of thing happens often. Normally, people will pay for the injured party’s medical bills, repairs to the vehicle and some cash for the hardship endured while he recovers. The alternative is to settle this in court. There is just not enough time to tell you how much pain and suffering we would both endure in that process.

I did not make it to Kingereka for the Friday service. I was told on Saturday that those who were there took a good portion of time to pray on my behalf. I was extremely surprised at how much compassion they expressed. One lady spent about 5 hours traveling to our house in order to visit us. Much of that time was spent walking.

Easter Sunday was not with out its trials either but I will tell you about it in my next letter.

Please pray:
For the recovery of the motorcycle driver
A quick and bearable settlement
Funds to pay for the damages and deductibles to the vehicles and driver
Safety while traveling. This is probably every 3rd world missionary’s #1 prayer request.