|
Written by Jodi
...........
To the average American, most things in Bolivia require a great deal of patience. Despite the fact that we’ve been here more than a handful of years, we still seem to struggle to have enough of this indispensable virtue.
For example, DJ goes to get the annual vehicle inspection done and sits in line for nearly three hours in a line moving like molasses. When it is finally his turn, he hands over all the correct paperwork to the policeman who, quickly recognizing that it’s all there, begins to look critically at the required fire extinguisher in the vehicle… It is surely expired (nope), has the needle off of the green (nope), aha… it’s the wrong kind. This year you need a new one (excuses for a bribe)… Half an hour later, DJ, holding to principle but patience thinning, walks out with his stamped paperwork and leaves behind several Great Controversy books with the police and office staff. …Now for the next vehicle…
It’s morning and DJ is heading out to get some touch-and-go practice landings in the plane after not flying for a bit. He calls the tower for permission to taxi and take off. Negative. Negative? He calls again requesting taxi. Negative. Puzzled, he waits a few minutes and calls again. Negative. There are two small planes in the pattern and you need to wait 20 minutes. Engine running and completely baffled, he simply has to wait. When the two planes finally land, he is given permission to take off. …Must be some new controllers at this huge four-runway International Airport…
The plane engine overhaul was promised to be finished by this time last year. After many emails, phone calls and less-than-patient waiting, the engine arrived in Bolivia in March. The annual inspection from the Bolivian Civil Aviation was due and applied for while the engine was being installed. It took many phone calls, visits to their office, and prayer during three weeks while the plane sat ready to fly, waiting for them to “get to it” at their convenience. On April 26, the plane flew and DJ and Brian, a visiting volunteer, did a test flight around the airport and then flew down to Santa Cruz where they could properly break in the engine at a lower elevation. At long last the plane was flying again after more than six months!
Sometimes we get frustrated with how long things take and yet God is using those very things to refine and polish our characters. This year we have prayed a lot for God’s long-term vision for this project and have spent a lot of time waiting and watching for answers. Some things are clearing, others are still cloudy. We are learning that the most important thing, through each of these patience trials, is to hold tight to our Creator and Redeemer who will complete the work He began in us, inside and out.
Though the fig tree may not blossom,
Nor fruit be on the vines;
Though the labor of the olive may fail,
And the fields yield no food;
Though the flock may be cut off from the fold,
And there be no herd in the stalls–
Yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
I will joy in the God of my salvation.
Habakkuk 3:17,18
|
