Chapter 43 - Enough Is Enough!

…When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the

Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against
him.”

—Isaiah 59:19

The Lord had blessed us with a 1990 International

short bus, which we desperately needed for the
church in Belize. Now we needed to get it to Belize.
We loaded the bus in anticipation of our journey but
took it for a test drive before leaving. As I looked
underneath the bus after the test drive, my heart sank
when I spotted an oil leak. I immediately called the
seller, and he instructed me to take the vehicle to a
bus shop; he would take care of the bill. At the shop
they discovered the back main seal was leaking and
had it repaired by five that afternoon, However, it
was too late to set out for Mexico.
     We spent the night in the mission apartment of
a local church and headed out the next morning.
However, when we stopped to eat, we discovered
that the back main seal was leaking again. It was
back to the garage and again was repaired by five
o’clock. But just like the day before, it was too late
to leave. Back we went to the mission apartment for
another night.
    That evening we received a call from Barbie
Montgomery of Kentucky. She was driving her car
to Belize while her husband, Ken, was flying down.
She asked if she could follow us. That was fine with
me, because if we had trouble on the road, at least
we would not be stranded. We met Barbie at the
appointed place and again checked for an oil leak.
Much to our dismay, it was leaking from the same
place.
    Now enough is enough! It was Saturday the
day before Easter. The mechanic was at the garage
when I called and agreed to check it again on
Easter Monday morning. Our money was now running
short from having to stay in Houston longer
than expected and from having discovered that the
duty to get the bus into Belize would be higher
than expected. That night Linda and I counted our
money and calculated that we were short by $1,250.
We decided to pray about this need for funds while
enjoying the holiday to celebrate the resurrection of
our Lord.
    The following morning we arrived for Sunday
School a little early, and I enjoyed fellowshipping
with some of the men of the class. When they learned
we were missionaries to Belize, they suggested I
ask Brother Rick, the teacher, if I could share that
morning about our work. Rick agreed, and we had
a great time in Sunday School. During the course
of my presentation, I happened to mention that we
needed $1,250 to get to Belize and to pay the duty on
the bus. I noticed Brother Rick and his wife smiling
at each other, and I suspected something was up.
    After the morning service, we had lunch at the
church. The pastor invited us to come back that
afternoon at two o’clock for songs and testimonies.
As we walked into the church, Brother Rick handed
me a check for $1,250, the exact amount that his
wife had recently inherited. Rick said that when
I mentioned our need, both he and his wife knew
they were to give us the money rather than invest
it. What a blessing! What a great God we serve! We
then had a great time of making melody to the Lord
and sharing testimonies with one another.
    Monday morning came and we were back at
the repair shop. This time the mechanic replaced
the seal and everything around it, which he had not
done previously, and promised we would not have to
return. I responded with, “Praise the Lord! It’s getting
to be costly hanging around Houston.” By one
o’clock, the bus was ready. We were not charged for
the repairs, even though the cost was five hundred
dollars for just the initial work.
    At long last we were off for Brownsville, Texas,
at the Mexican border. Thankfully, we experienced
no further oil leaks. We arrived at Brother Jack
Henderson’s place about midnight and rested until
eight o’clock the next morning. Then we had breakfast
and headed for the border. Getting our necessary
papers, insurance, and visas to travel through
Mexico took until eight thirty that evening. We were
tired and decided to spend the night in Matamoras,
Mexico. We slept well; it had been a long, hard day.
    The next morning we had breakfast and drove
into the interior of Mexico. At a gas and rest stop, I
discovered one of the dual tires on the rear of the bus
was flat. I had it repaired, and we were on our way
again. What else can happen? I thought. We spent
that night in Poza Rico at a Best Western motel.
     The next morning about four hours into our trip
the bus started vibrating. Stopping at a Pemex gas
station, I discovered that the bolts had come out of
the center drive-shaft support. I was able to make
the repair, and we were on our way again. We
arrived at Villahermosa, rented room, went out to
eat, and had a good night’s rest after another long,
hard day’s drive.
    The next morning we headed off for the last leg
of our journey to Belize. About two hours later, we
heard a loud boom. A rear tire had blown. We drove
into town and had a man remove the tire from the
rim before putting just the rim back on. Now we
were driving with only one tire on that side.
We were physically and mentally worn-out
from all the problems, but we had just four hours
remaining. I was praying that nothing else would
happen, but soon we suffered another blowout
in one of the rear tires. This time it was the new
Goodyear tire that the dealer had put on.
    Borrowing Barbie’s car, I drove to the next
town to get a repairman. He took off the tire and
replaced the rim, as had been done prior. Now we
had only two tires remaining of the original four in
the rear. We dropped off the repairman at his town,
and praise the Lord, we made it to the Belize border
about three o’clock p.m. We hired a broker to fill out
the necessary paperwork, paid the duty on the bus,
and headed for Orange Walk Town. We thanked the
Lord that we had arrived home safely. Our God is
faithful!

(Copyright by Jay B Ayers)