The items loaded on the container in Lancaster have arrived on the Plateau!
Our grateful thanks to all of you who donated items and who helped to pack and load.
What a journey those items had!
Here’s the story in brief:
After the already arduous process of getting the container's contents through customs, Wenson and Djephson had negotiated with a transport company to tow the 40-ft container to Gonaïves. There, our trucks would pick up the items for the last leg of the journey to the Plateau. Through fog and a heavy downpour, they went on ahead to Gonaïves to await the arrival of the container early the next morning.
Around 3:00AM, they received a call: “The container has fallen into a hole!”
What had happened was this: The road from Cap-Haïtien to Gonaïves is already pretty bad, and it was still raining heavily. While going around a sharp curve with a mountain wall on one side and a steep drop on the other, the rear end of the trailer got “caught” by mud and drawn into the drop-off.
PRAISE OUR GREAT GOD THE ENTIRE THING-TRUCK AND ALL-DID NOT PLUNGE INTO THAT HOLE!
Wenson and Djephson immediately returned to the site.
They were under tremendous pressure:
The container was precariously perched on a cliff.
The sky threatened more rain, which would likely cause the rest of the container and truck to slide down into the ravine.
Local men had gathered around and were audibly discussing their plans to steal everything inside.
Attempts to draw the loaded container out of the hole were in vain.
“Open it up,” Wenson said. “We’re unloading it right here.”
Our trucks waiting in Gonaïves came to the site. They chained the container to a nearby mango tree, and—with vigilant watchfulness—the contents were transferred from the container to the trucks.
As they unloaded the last boxes, rain began to fall lightly. As soon as the container was towed out of the hole and the driver of the truck headed back to Cap-Haïtien, the rain began to fall heavily again! If they had waited even a couple hours, the truck and container would have been in big trouble.
Between that night and the next day, everyone and everything arrived safely on the Plateau.
It may seem like just one more frustrating, exhausting, and pointless difficulty in a long string. It was indeed frustrating and exhausting, but not pointless. We see God’s hand in it all—not only in protecting our staff and preserving the items, but also in the beautiful lessons that we and our staff learned. Here is an excerpt from Ginger Muchmore's perspective:
In my mind, I see God's hand holding up the container so that it didn't roll down the mountain. I see His hand holding that container as men climbed in and out, unloading the contents... But, what I want to share with all of you are the treasures that I carry in my heart.
Early in the morning, I called Wenson. He greeted me with a smile. "Don't worry", he said, "God has this". Standing on the road with half our container dangling over the cliff, he was giving me another perspective. There was no sense of panic, no sense of despair.
A few hours later, I called Djephson. I asked him how he was holding up. He said, "Mom, it dawned on me this morning that everything in that container was provided by God in one way or another. So, if He chooses to take it all back, that is ok with us. We have given it all to Him. if He chooses to allow us to get the contents out, then we will know that each piece has a purpose for His use and His glory."
My heart was bursting with joy as I watched the loaded trucks head for home, saw that no one was hurt, and saw our guys wait to help the driver get the container on the road again. But the real joy was seeing the fruit of years of investment in these young men coming to fruition. They have learned the secret of true peace. In chapter 26:3 of Isaiah, God tells Judah, "The imagination that leans on Me for rest and support, will know peace because I am his security." ...That is what was so evident in our guys as they stood by the container.
As Djephson said, everything on that container was a gift provided by God, and we had committed them to Him. Some of the items suffered damage as a result of being thrown forcefully together when the container tipped. But we received them with joy, thankful to be receiving them at all, and gratefully accepting even the damage as a part of God's gift to us.
Thank you to all of you who prayed and gave to make the latest "Fill the Box" project possible! We hope to have pictures to share soon of the items being used.