Current Prayer Letter

December 2004

December 17, 2004

I tried to send you an e-mail asking for prayer before I set out for another long trip on the boat the other day. For some reason the e-mail didn't work so early in the morning we set out hoping you or someone was praying. We were sailing along at a good clip and looked like we would hit our destination 8 hours away when all of a sudden there was a clang bang, bang, bang.... Hoping the least (a broken fan belt) I opened the engine cover but the belts were all good. The loud clanging was coming from the top of the engine. I shut it down and looked around and found a valve spring had broken and the valve was clanging on the top of the piston.

We quickly hung the little 15 hp standby on the boat and headed for home. I was thankful that I listened to the still small voice at a last minute thought to bring extra gas for the little motor which would enable me, (I thought) to get me 60 miles should I have engine problems. We were sailing along a 3.5mph which was going to take 6 hours to get home being we were 20 miles out so I called Joan and told her to send Jared out to get me thinking he could tow me in faster. I told her to have him just head west for an hour. Well, an hour and a half later as I was beginning to worry about Jared I heard him garbly on the radio calling, " Dad, where are you?" From our conversation I knew he was far away so told him to head home and we would arrive later. Then settled down for what I imagined a long, slow ride.

The winds came up and the seas too so we were now making barely 2mph. I was hoping Jared would run in to me as he headed for home but that dream was shattered when I heard him talking to Joan and saying he stopped to refuel and couldn't get the engine going again. At least he was at shore and not drifting so I knew he was safe but it would be a long while before I could be of any assistance to him.

I had plenty of time to contemplate why Jared didn't find me. It's a big ocean out there and although it was a clear day, it doesn't take much to be miles apart. I also thought of what could have happened to both his engine and mine. I imagined the worst for my engine and anticipated a possible complete overhaul and feared the work and expense of that. I was told the engine was "indestructible" so why did this happen???

As the sun passed from east to west one of the passengers lost her lunch (3 times) while another slept the whole time to avoid loosing hers. A baby cried off and on and my arm was getting red from being exposed to the blazing sun as I zigzaggedly steered the boat for home.

My calculations were off. It took 8 hours to get home instead of 6 due to the head winds and my extra fuel supply was to bring me only 30 miles and not 60 as I had hoped so what a welcome sight it was to see the house as we rounded the corner. Another relief as we got closer was to see Jared's boat already there. He got his motor going and was home a few hours earlier. After a quick bite to eat, we pulled the boat out and washed her down. I didn't sleep well and when I did waken and thought of the task ahead, I only wanted to go back to bed. During the day I did this and that trying to avoid the task at hand but eventually had to take the bull by the horns and tear into the engine.

As I walked into the boat shed, seeing that hunk of a hull before me, I figuered it'd be in the shed a long time as I believed the engine damage to be extensive and it would take months to get parts shipped up from Australia and another year to pay for them. I found the problem and to my delight, I believe I can fix it here without too much aggravation. I still need to get parts though and that may take a while but right now, I'm somewhat optomistic. However, with boats, you can never totally let your gueard down.

Thanks for your prayers and please continue to pray as we repair the boat. It's got work to do!

Mark

P.S. Also, we haven't rain for a while which is nice cause it's sunny but now we're out of water in our storage tank. We do have a well for toilets and washing but we need rain water for drinking so pray for rain.

December 20, 2004

Hey, Thanks for praying for rain! We had a nice shower yesterday. Today is all sunny again so your prayers worked. Neat huh?

Please pray again as we found an underground pipe had a leak so all the water that went into our water tank has run out now. Talk about bummed out!

Although we usually wait till Christmas morning to open presents, we had the opportunity to get Mariko an early Christmas present so gave it to her early. It's a Hornbill and she loves it but it has tried to escape twice already!