Always Listen To Tyler

"Shrewd is the one that has seen the calamity and proceeds to conceal himself, but the inexperienced have passed along and must suffer the penalty." - Proverbs 22:3

The Guasave River

   Rainy season is upon us and it is taking it's toll on the roads here in Guasave. Almost every day it is raining heavily. The roads are flooding and when they dry out massive craters are left behind, only to fill up with water during the next rainfall. Check out the view from our front door after a recent rainfall. I thought I saw the Harvard Rowing Team taking practice out there! 
   This week during service I have been trying to find a woman we called on earlier in the year during the Memorial campaign. After a nice conversation she accepted an invitation. Unfortunately we have not seen her since but lately she has been on my mind and I've been unsuccessfully trying to find her at home. So today while doing RVS I mentioned I have a call to try and we should go. Her home is located in a far corner of our territory but no problem; I know a shortcut! "This road looks like Tyler getting out and pushing" said Tyler, one of our pioneers. "Don't worry, I've been down here before" I replied just before I felt the rear tires spinning and the back of the car sliding away. I was in deep, a good 4 or 5 inches of mud and sinking. Exiting the car Tyler and I began looking for branches, rocks, anything that we could put under the tires for some traction. We pushed from the front as Suzanne manned the wheel but it was no use the car barely budged; we were dead in the water. 
   Salvation came in the form of a couple of guys who were working on a house down the road. They were watching us for a little while trying to make our way out and I guess they took pity on the Americanos. A most beautiful sight is was, a navy blue Ford F-150 4X4, backing down the road. After hitching up, they began to pull our car out slowly. Tyler and I pushed from the front and walked through the muck that had entrapped the car. Finally we were free! We thanked our heroes and as we futilely tried to clean off our shoes and pants we explained to them what were doing and where we were headed. "There is another road that is better than this on the other side of the canal" one of them said. " Yeah, I know but this is my shortcut to Colonia St. Maria" I replied. "Oh, no you won't make it. The road gets worse as you go farther in that direction" he told me. Great! Some shortcut!
   So after finally getting ourselves de-mudded, we climbed back in, gingerly made a u-turn and took the long way around to the RV in Colonia St. Maria. Of course she wasn't home. Oh well, I finally did get to have a "yearbook experience" in the ministry. And I learned a lesson: always listen to Tyler.