Tender Mercies

I love how the Lord takes care of us. As we were driving, Deborah and Rebecca occasionally found it a bit… awesome….terrifying… perhaps of the variety that makes one want to check their wills and insurance policies. There actually is a kind of dance of cars—a give and take—but it is certainly not apparent to the beginner.

On the drive up the escarpment where we had a winding road and were passing slow trucks, Rebecca mentioned that perhaps we were wearing out our guardian angels. We do believe that the Lord will be with us and guardian angels round about us. But she suggested they might be overtaxed.

I wanted to let her know they are still in action. As we drove back from the airport, there was a distinct vibration in the truck. We’d had a problem at higher speeds since December and had asked for the truck to be aligned when it was serviced in January. But the problem was still there. We assumed it hadn't been aligned. Now, however, it was serious vibrations. Still we arrived back at the missionary apartments safe and sound at about 10pm.

The next morning when we went out to pack the truck, the right rear tire was low. As we looked, we saw a patch on the top of the tire that was worn down to the wiring—just that one patch.


We got the tire changed and got a new tire while we were in Nairobi. They said driving over rough roads would do it, or skid braking. But we have anit lock brakes. Rough roads? Ah, those we have. But I wonder if it wasn’t a weak spot in the tire. As we drove home, the vibration we’d had since December was gone.

So the blessings were that the tire didn’t give us a problem until the children were on the airplane and we were in Nairobi. It could have easily have been a blow-out—on the way to the Mara, on the way back, to or from the airport, in the dark. Or wait until we were on the road back to Kisumu. Instead, it was just low enough in the morning that we couldn’t travel. And the problem was sitting there right on the top of the tire, instead of someplace else where we wouldn’t see it. And when we called the “car tzar” he told us where to go to get it fixed and we actually knew the area. And we didn’t have to fork over money for the new tire.

And when we returned home on Sunday we had 115 people at Sacrament Meeting—an increase of about 20 over the attendance of the previous 2 months, and we had about 20 people who are invesigating the church. Primary went well with teachers teaching the classes and children learning and singing the songs. It feels like there is a greater sense of unity and purpose.

Life is good.