This is Rodrigo

This is Rodrigo.
Rodrigo is a 1984 Volkswagon Truck. The odometer, speedometer and shocks are broken. The back cargo space is 4ftx4.5ft.

Rodrigo stranded us in the midst of a sugar cane field last week. Thus, the picture. We were 2 hr away from home in Buena Vista. We finally got onto the paved road, and coughted and sputtered and backfired repeatedly as we limped down the road. We actually had a guy on a bicycle pass us if that tells you anything.

Having Americans in the back of a pickup truck is dangerous because we can be seen, and are therefore easy targets to be robbed or worse...particularly a female. Obviously, having Americans stranded with a broken down vehicle is really not good. That's why when the truck down the 2nd time on our way home, I hid my backpack behind a rock, hid back in some trees, and called my mom to gain additional prayer support. Not only were John & I targets, but we were also endangering our Guatemalan team-mates. Manuel was able to again get Rodrigo limping down the road just in time for us to encounter a rain shower, then Rodrigo died again. This time Manuel couldn't revive Rodrigo and it was near nightfall, thus we did the only other thing we could do...we hopped onto a public bus to get back into the city. This too is way dangerous for anyone, espcially Americans.

God is good and He got us back home safe and sound. We were very appreciative and quite relieved. We're expecting a truck from California soon, maybe today. Steve purchased the truck and his friend Mike is going to be his driving buddy to bring the truck (filled with other things that have been donated) here for us and then fly home this Monday. However, while a dependable truck is great news...it still isn't really what we need. It still has us riding for long periods of time out in the open and rainy season is around the corner. So, what we really need is a good used van. We're praying God shows us the right van for the right price very soon.


This is what we've recently done for protection (from rain, dust from dirt roads, and whatever). This is NO fun whatsoever. Fumes and dust from the road got inside and then were trapped inside with us. I actually got sick to my stomach from the fumes while we were driving in the city. So, they pulled up the sides a little, and it helped, but not much.

I really hope we can find something better to use soon. There are 10 of us and our lunch and supplies that we need to take on the road every Tues, Wed and Thurs. We simply don't fit. I can't wait until I send you a blog that celebrates the perfect vehicle that the Lord brings to us.