I so often heard this from my Dad when things seemed to be going off track. While it was probably not an original thought, sometimes it encouraged me to take a breath and get creative.
Boy, do I think he's smiling down after the last 48 hours!
Let me say up front the team. . .12 strong. . .is together in Jeremie as of noon today. We we spread out over three 5-passenger planes, one yesterday and two today, and only because our charter company had their big plane off-line for routine maintenance.
One big project is a solar power installation tomorrow in our adopted village of Chiraque. It's been a logistics handful to get the equipment down here and to corral expert installation help from goodsamaritan.org. He and his two sons were suppose to fly into PaP yesterday morning from another Haitian city, only to discover that their carrier sold their seats to other folks! They were to jump on yesterday's 5-passenger charter with Nancy, and we only have the solar expert for Saturday.
With the help of our all-knowing driver, Nadar, and in just a few minutes, we managed to find a driver in the other Haitian city to drive the solar expert and his two sons 5 hours to PaP. Next, three more of our team already in PaP needed to join Nancy on the first plane. . .departing in 90 minutes. Next, room reservations in both Jeremie and PaP needed to change. . .for tonight. . .and if that didn't work out, there was some serious double-bunking in the offing.
"God is testing you."
Once together in Jeremie today, we got real busy. . .Dr. Scott and Jill went to th Gebeau Clinic and saw 25+ patients. . .in 2 1/2 hours. Nancy, Jackie, Sarah and Jill's daughter Elle unpacked the 10 duffels filled with meds and vitamins and began preparing quantities for distribution for the 5 planned mobile medical events. They had great help as the Haitian friends FUMC has made over the past several years pitched in. . .photos to follow! The rest of us made our way to Chiraque to ensure we were ready for the solar installation tomorrow.
Ordinarily, solar panels are mounted on brackets provided by the manufacturer. . .which we ordered and had shipped to Jeremie in December on a secure 43-foot container. Our Haitian friends, concerned about potential panel theft, built special brackets. . .which we all thought were more or less cages that would lay over the solar panels. Instead, these brackets were also meant to hold the panels. . .even our solar expert was impressed as it was customized for the needs of Chiraque. . .something you wouldn't find in a catalogue! Still, the solar fellow thought we should also look at the factory brackets. .c.and in turns out they were nowhere to be found. Our Haitian friends had concocted a Plan B we didn't know we needed. . .absent which the "show" could NOT have gone on.
Not sure if this also qualifies as a "test" as Dad might have suggested, but you can't help but wonder if we' re getting a little help from his Host.
The villagers of Chiraque are genuinely excited about the new energy about to flow into their lives, and they have all of your love and support to thank for it. . .and a little help from the Almighty thrown in!
Pictures tomorrow!!
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