Jumping in with Both Feet

(Dan Typing)

I have been busy in the last two weeks, after spending a few days setting up our house I began spending some time shadowing the maintenance director Paul, getting a feel of how that aspect of the hospital runs. Then about a week and a half ago weekend Paul left for a two-week vacation and left me the “keys to the castle.” So far it has been fun and challenging supervising Paul’s staff and keeping things running in his absence. Paul has a crew of about eight Gaboneese workers that really do a good job, and give me a great opportunity to practice my French! 

Some of the guys and I in the Mini-truck

 Last week, I had a neat experience that made me remember how valuable teamwork can be. I woke up one morning and went to brush my teeth only to find that when I turned on the faucet, no water came out.  Paul, the maintenance director and guardian of the station’s infrastructure is on vacation so I am helping fill in while he is gone.  I quickly got dressed and went to go see if I could find out what the problem was.  Dr. Thelander had awoken to the same dilemma and was already at the water filtration system when I arrived. We looked it over and could not understand why the machine was not working, Dr. Thelander had to go on rounds so he left while I called Paul hoping he could shed some light on the situation. After thoroughly checking the system and re-setting it a few times he instructed me in how to by-pass the filter entirely in order to restore water (although un-filtered) to Bongolo until either we could fix it, or Paul got back from vacation in two weeks.

Later that morning Dr. Thelander and I met at the water shed armed with a box of spare parts and a voltage tester…and we took another look at the system. After a good hour of tracing the problem through a complex system of wires and switches we discovered that one of the control panel’s transformers had been taken out by a power surge during the storm the night before, and Paul happened to have a new one in his box of spare parts! After a few more hiccups we were able to get the filter up and running by lunch. The whole experience really taught me a lesson in the importance of teamwork, there is no way I would have been able to fix the problem alone and neither could Dr. Thelander. And we both would have been sunk had we not been able to get a hold of Paul while he was on vacation. On our own we would have been out of luck, but together we were able to get the job done.

It reminds me also of how life can seem overwhelming and confusing, like when I was staring at a mess of complex wiring all on my own, but when we are teamed up with Christ we can accomplish anything, and he can (in His timing) offer us clarity in the most confusing of situations when we stop working in our own strength and look to Him for guidance.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all of your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6

New Water Filtration System

Uuhhhh..... (scratching head)
Diagnosis?  The shiny metal box center top... power goes in, but doesn't come out.
Fix: Replace it!