The Jeep Story

      The story about the Jeep starts with a different story.  A story about a little girl. I can't use her real name, so for this blog I will refer to her as "Silly Billy".

When she first arrived

     Silly Billy came to COTP in December 2015.  She was just over a month old, very small, and very weak.  She was sick.  Her grandmother had brought her in on a program day. We learned that her mother had died and some other family members were very sick as well.  Silly Billy was admitted for some intense rehab care and moved over to our home with our nurse Courtney.  Our kids fell in love with her right away.  

       By the time Christmas came around her health had stabilized and she was making good progress.  Courtney decided she was well enough to move over into one of our rehab spaces and be cared for by our Haitian nannies full time.  She continued to do well for about another week and a half, and then began to decline again.  With a high heart rate, fast breathing and other issues that we could not seem to help with, we brought her to the hospital to be checked out.  Courtney had left for a month to the USA, so Sylvia, a retired nurse from Canada, had come to help out.  I took Sylvia to the hospital numerous times to check on Silly Billy.  They could never tell us what was wrong with her, and her conditions just seemed to get worse.                    

         When Courtney returned to COTP, she determined it would be best to get Silly Billy out of the hospital and back into our care.  Silly Billy had been in the hospital for over 3 weeks and showed no improvement.  Courtney got a hold of her chest x-rays from when she was admitted and discovered Silly Billy had Tuberculosis!  The x-rays had never been read at the hospital!   Courtney was very upset to put it lightly.   We brought her to the TB clinic so she could begin taking meds right away. 

Sleepless nights

         For the next couple weeks, Courtney and my wife Amy did everything they could do to keep this child alive, breathing, and eating.  It was never ending, exhaustive 24hr a day work.  Silly Billy was getting worse, not better. She had to be on oxygen 24/7.  We were very afraid that she would not make it.  

         Through this time, her grandmother would visit multiple times each week. She clearly loved this little girl, but she could not grasp the severity of her illness.  She would sit and hold her and pray over her.  She prayed over Amy numerous times.

         Silly Billy needed more medical help to stay alive.  She needed a ventilator, there were none in Northern Haiti.  Courtney contacted friends of hers at the Hospital Bernard Mevs in Port au Prince, knowing that they had a machine there.  The machine was available, and they said that they would be happy to take her. 

         We contacted Haiti Air Ambulance and started working out a plan for them to come with their helicopter ambulance and fly Silly Billy across the country to Bernard Mevs.  This was our best option by far because the drive is long and horrible, and we did not have sufficient oxygen supply.  Over the next 2 days, they tried to come with the helicopter 3 times, each time having to turn back due to weather issues.  We did not have any more time, so Courtney asked me to put together a “ground” plan quickly.  It was my wife’s birthday, February 19.   This is where the Jeep comes in….

We are on our way

We found a portable oxygen tank and had it filled, this was a process.  We loaded up in the Jeep and left around 10 am.   The Jeep had been working very well, and at the time was the best, fastest, most comfortable ride we could take across the country.

         The first couple of hours everything went very smoothly, then I heard a noise.  After a few minutes, I heard another noise.  I didn’t know what it was, but I didn’t like it at all.  I asked Courtney if she heard it- she did.  We made it about 5 more minutes until the engine started making horrible loud noises and lost ALL power and died.  We were about 100 yards from the very top of the mountain range in the middle of Haiti.  Pretty much in the middle of absolutely nowhere.  And then it started to rain.  I got out of the Jeep and lifted the hood.  It was hot and leaking fluids all over, a complete mess.  I was completely helpless, and honestly a bit scared.  I screamed a little bit.  I started to panic about having a dead Jeep, and a dead baby, stuck in the middle of nowhere on top of a mountain.  I did not immediately go to the Lord in prayer- I freaked out.  Of course, Courtney could not see me freaking out, I was hidden behind the raised hood.  I thought of every contingency plan I could and none of them would work.  All of them ended up the same way- dead baby, dead Jeep.  Not a great situation to say the least.  I prayed a pretty quick prayer, nothing fancy or well thought out at all, I don’t even remember.  I lowered the hood, got back in the Jeep and started it.  It ran rough, no power at all, but it was running. 

         The next four hours of this trip were stressful and fairly traumatic.  The Jeep died a few more times, each time I would restart it after a bit. It was overheating terribly, knocking, shaking etc.  Every little village we would come to I would think it was going to die for good, but we kept inching on slowly.  We had a deal where I would drive, Courtney would pray.  We didn’t really talk to each other.  We didn’t need to.  We were running very low on oxygen because the trip was taking so long.  Courtney tried to turn her oxygen down a little bit, but her little body would not tolerate it.  We had to turn it back up.  I think Courtney called every person she knows in Port au Prince.  We had been in contact with Haiti Air Ambulance, however they had no approved landing zones where we were. 

         Eventually, Courtney made contact with a woman who owned an ambulance in Port au Prince.  She said she would get on the road right away and start heading towards us.  We would call her every 5 minutes to report where we thought we were.  When we were close to the outskirts of Port au Prince, Silly Billy had basically run out of oxygen.  I felt like I had missed a turn and pulled over.  The Jeep was horrible.  I stepped out of the car and I could hear sirens in the distance.  Within a minute, the ambulance was there, Silly billy was loaded up with fresh oxygen and they were headed for the hospital.  Her life was saved that day for sure.  The Jeep was dead.

         I spent the night at the hospital and then spent the next day getting myself back home to the other side of the country.  This would eventually include a 10-hour bus ride that was eventful enough for it’s own blog post.  There were no flights available.  My brother Luke was flying in the following day, so I was willing to do anything to get home.

         Silly Billy spent around a month at the hospital Bernard Mevs.  Courtney made a number of trips down to check on her.  A good nursing friend of Courtney’s was volunteering at Bernard Mevs  for a couple weeks during this time.  She was in the right spot at the right time one night, and helped to save Silly Billy’s life again! 

         Silly Billy was eventually healthy enough to come back to COTP and continue on her TB meds.  She has been with Courtney and my family ever since.  We have had many ups and downs with her health.  She has not been able to eat/drink much at all through her mouth, so she has been on a feeding pump and an NG tube through her nose.  This month she underwent surgery down near Port au Prince to install a G-tube feeding port so she wouldn’t need the tube taped to her face anymore.  While recovering from surgery she stopped breathing and the doctors could find no pulse.  We were called at 1:30am and asked to pray.  After some work and a lot of prayer- she came back. The Lord must have some big plans for this little girl.  This story is about a Jeep though remember?

         I contacted board member of COTP who lives in Port au Prince and told him what had happened with the Jeep.  He said that he had a nice shop at his facility, and he would be able to go get the Jeep and tow it back to his place.  Fantastic, one large issue taken care of. 

         The Jeep needed a lot of work.  The head gasket was blown, warped etc etc.  Over the next months it would have a lot of work done by a lot of mechanics.  It may as well have been on the other side of the world.  There is just no easy way to get down there, no tools, no parts, etc.  It was dead to me.  We got to a point where we had spent around $700 on repairs, but it still would not work- it would run for a bit and then over heat.  They said it needed a new engine, or pistons/rings etc.  Like I said before, it was dead to me.

         One day in late August I was too sick to stand anymore, so I gave up and went home and collapsed in bed.  I had nothing left.  During that time, I all the sudden had some clear thoughts about the Jeep, and felt like I knew of a specific part that nobody had changed, that matched all the symptoms.  It was a cheap part, and it made very good sense.  I had been so busy running around all summer, it was the first moment of  peace and clarity I had  in a long time.  This is when the Lord works on me.  He generally needs to get me to a pretty rough state for me to listen.  My wife agreed and said “Hey, you know that if you all the sudden have this thought, and this confidence, you just need to buy the part, buy a plane ticket and go do it.“  So I did.

         I bought the part and two weeks later Agape Flights flew it into Cap Haitian.  I packed small tool bag and flew down to Port au Prince.  I didn’t even really know where I was going, but I was confident.  I hadn’t been able to get a hold of anyone to pick me up at the airport and get me out to where the Jeep was, but I had sent some messages, I had some money in my pocket and a general idea of the location.  When I landed, there was nobody at the airport. But within 10 minutes, our board member showed up.  The Jeep was at his place a ways a way in the middle of a desert.

         As soon as I lifted the hood on the Jeep, I could see that the part I brought with me would not do the trick.  The old part had been welded together by a mechanic there.  Honestly, I was super disappointed, little upset, and felt a little foolish.  Quickly I was reminded of stories in the Bible where God had asked people to do things that didn’t make any sense, seemingly for no reason at all.  I pulled myself together and decided I was going to replace the part anyways and drive the Jeep home.

Where God stopped me

         Absolutely nothing is easy in Haiti.  Nothing.  So after installing the part, the battery was dead- that took an hour and a half to find a different battery, install it, start the jeep and then reinstall the old battery.  The Jeep started and ran, pretty good really.  I let it run for close to an hour.  Everything was working good, so I drove it around a little bit.  Pulling up by the office building it ran out of gas!  Another minor issue that took over an hour to take care of..  With some new gas in the tank, I started it and let it run for another 40 minutes.  It was still running good, so I decided I would hit the road and try to make it home.  It was around 1 pm, the drive generally takes 6 hrs. 

         I stopped and bought a new battery on the side of the road, just in case.  I didn’t install it because it was already running, and I had tools with me.  I had driven a little over an hour when I saw the temperature gauge move just a little. One minute later, the temperature gauge went all the way up, then engine started knocking terribly and lost all power.  The Jeep was brought to a stop very, very quickly.  I really had no idea where I was.  There was a storm coming in.  I was in trouble.  I was on a road between the desert/mountains and the ocean.  Pretty much no cell service.  I managed to get a call out to my wife and told her I didn’t think I was going to make it home.  I lifted the hood, but everything was way to hot to do anything at all, so I just stood there. I was really questioning God at this point. I mean, I was pretty confident that I had been doing exactly what I was supposed to do.  I had no idea what I was going to do.

         After 15 minutes or so, a 4 door Chevy truck with two older American men inside comes down this trail from the mountainside.  They can obviously see that I am in trouble, so they stop to talk.  I tell them I have no idea what I’m going to do.  Then man driving tells me that he can get the Jeep towed up to his place where its safe, has walls etc.  He offers to give me food, a place to stay, and even a ride to the airport the next day should I need it.  Craziness.  He said a guy would be coming up the road on a tractor in the next 30 minutes that would be able to help me if I needed it.  I thanked him, and they left.

Best shop in Haiti

         After about 30 minutes a man showed  up driving an old John Deere tractor pulling a well drilling rig.  His name was Nicky, from North Carolina.  He had lived here with his family for 6 years.  We couldn’t find a chain, so he said “See if you can get it to run.”  The jeep started up and ran.  I then followed him up the hill and through the gate onto their property.  From this point, God blew my mind completely.  My Jeep had died within feet of a driveway heading, up the mountain, to the Campus of Global Outreach. The mission was started 30 years ago by the older man who was driving the Chevy truck.  They have a beautiful 60+ acre campus which happens to have an amazing auto repair shop.  A shop with actual tools!  And diagnostic equipment!!  They had a very nice cement pit that allows you to walk underneath the vehicle while working on it.  I could not believe my eyes.

         Nicky was great. He said “Well, you want to get a look at it and see what’s wrong?”     So, that’s what we did.  We spent a couple hours taking things apart and testing different things.  We made a list of parts that we knew we needed, and a couple that would just be good to replace.   I enjoyed a great meal with his family and then spent the night in their volunteer quarters.  I didn’t sleep great.  I could not believe what had taken place.  The odds of me breaking down at this place….  Crazy!!!!

         The following morning I met Nicky and his workers early for a quick time of bible reading and discussion.  The older man David had come too.  We prayed with all the workers and sent them on their way.  After this we would drive around the local villages praying and looking for places to try and drill wells to find water.  Water is very scarce in this area, people have to travel quite a ways to find it.  Later in the morning I rode back to David’s house and met his wife.  They drove me all the way back into Port au Prince to the airport. I bet I heard him pray 20 times that morning.  It was great to talk to them.  God had put these men in my path for a reason.  They are both great examples of Godly men.

Joel and Joel

         I ordered the parts for the Jeep, and once again Agape Flights flew them into Cap about 2 weeks later.  I had the best 5-hour bus ride I’ve ever had in Haiti going back.  I had a 50 box all taped together with all my parts and everything.  I asked a co-worker to go along with me this time for safety and company.  When I arrived I was met by Nicky’s best employee “Joel”.  He also had four daughters.  We got along just fine.   We got all the parts installed on the Jeep with very little difficulty at all.  Nicky came in when I had tried to install my new battery.  It was the wrong battery- It never would have worked.  He went to look on the shelf in his shop and guess what- for no reason other than God, he had the exact battery I needed, brand new on the shelf! 

         The Jeep started and ran great once again.  That night we stayed in the volunteer quarters with a group of 8 from Colorado.  It was “Testimony Night” for Nicky and his family, so they joined us for dinner as well.  After dinner, we sat and listened to Nicky give his testimony.  The timing of this was no accident at all.  I was very convicted that I have not been doing a good job of sharing my testimony with others.  God reminded me about the power of our testimony not only in the lives of those we share it with, but in our own lives as well.

         I had the opportunity to talk briefly with another man that had lived there for over ad decade.  He told me that ever since Dave had put the shop there, God had been sending missionaries just like me- countless stories.  Crazy,right?

         The next morning the volunteer group made us breakfast and we left. The Jeep ran perfect.  It was honestly almost to good to be true.  I was having tons of flashbacks driving through all the villages.  It was really good for me to go through there and get some closure.  When I finally made it back to the point at the top of the mountain where this whole mess started, I stopped and had a moment.  I took some pictures and thanked God. 

         I made it home in nearly record time.  No issues at all.  God has done a pretty good job taking care of me.  Where there was fear, He brought courage. When I was alone, He was with me.  Where there was death, He brought life. God wants to speak to us and be part of our daily battles, sometimes we just need to get out of the way and let him work.

Top of the mountain

         The Jeep has been driven all over Northern Haiti in the last few weeks since the repair, but honestly I wouldn’t be too upset if it never ran again. It’s just a rusty old Jeep.  I’m pretty sure the Jeep never had anything to do with the lessons I needed to learn anyways.

         That’s it.   That’s the Jeep story, and maybe a little bit of the Silly Billy's story too.  Something tells me her story is not anywhere near completion though.