Kolonia, Pohnpei
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
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When It Rains It Pours
We've experienced some amazing downpours of tropical rain here in Pohnpei this last week. Of course, this is quite normal as we live in the second wettest place on earth. We've also experienced a week of trials that seem to have hit us one after another.
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A week ago, I was taking my son to school when all of the sudden it sounded our car started making a terrible noise of grinding metal in the back. I only made it half way to the school, dropped off my son, and drove straight to the mechanic. The whole way there our car felt as though it was going to explode and flip over. Come to find out that the rear axle housing had rusted out. Because parts are unavailable here on the island, the mechanic had to fabricate a new part. The whole thing ended up costing us $350, which doesn't seem too bad compared to vehicle repair costs elsewhere. Yet it was money that we really didn't have.
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So after five days of our car being in the shop, we drove it back home to find that our iTrip had been stolen from the car. An iTrip is a small device that allows us to play worship music from our iPod using a radio signal from the car's sound system. My son and I were bummed as it takes an hour or so to drive to Pohnlangas and we like to listen to worship music.
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The next day we were hanging out with some friends who had borrowed my 120GB iPod to use for ministry. They informed me that my iPod was missing and even after searching for it extensively, it hadn't turned up. I had purchased that iPod in England back in 2009 and have used it for my own personal times of worship, as well as let others use it for outreaches where they perform action choruses.
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Yesterday, a friend of mine and I wanted to go to a funeral in Kitti, where a man who we had been praying for with mouth cancer had just recently passed away. When I headed back to the house to get a Pohnpeian Bible, the starter in our car gave out. We barely made it to another local mechanic who informed us that he could replace the starter with a refurbished one for $140. I scraped together all of the food money that I had budgeted for the next few weeks, plus some money that my friend chipped in and came up with $137 total. The mechanic was gracious enough to give us a discount of $3 and replace the starter for us.
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This morning I returned our car to the mechanic who fixed the rear axle housing as the exhaust system sounded much louder than it had when I had brought the car in last week. I figured that the mechanics had accidentally knocked something loose underneath the car. Come to find out, our muffler has a big hole in it, which must have just happened since we got our car back. they informed me that it would cost $50, which we don't have.
When it rains it pours is an expression that I find fitting to use for this past weeks trying events. It's not that these trials are new to us, as being full-time missionaries in a foreign land presents plenty of challenges every week. With all of these unexpected challenges, we are left with $0 in our bank accounts and a few gadgets less. I couldn't help but think about Job's reaction to the challenges that he faced as "he fell to the ground and worshipped" [Job 1:20] and said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." [Job 1:21]
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My son and I have done likewise and worshipped YHWH in the midst of everything. We believe that these trials are stepping stones that will enable us to have even greater faith that our Papa God will provide for our every need. James 1:2-4 says, "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing." So we embrace these challenges and look forward to the patience that they will cultivate in our lives. Thank You Jesus for your faithfulness to us.
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Christian Young
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