Pastor Lloyd

Haiti Relief Update 1/25 4:19 pm

Another “God story” from our Haiti team:

Four team members were in Jacmel, and connected with a pilot who had flown in from Miami.
 He was taking them back and forth to the DR for urgently needed medical supplies (morphine and bone saws).
On the last night before they had to return, the pilot was going to take one of our team back to the group in the DR (by air) and the rest of the men were to go home by boat.   After much discussion, they
thought the team leader should go, but he was taller and weighed more

(requiring more fuel).  The pilot said the calculations didn’t

work, and suggested taking a lighter team member instead.  Then at the last minute they switched to a THIRD team member, in case they ran into problems at the airport and needed someone who could speak Spanish.

 On the way back, the single-engine plane started to run out of fuel.
 The men started praying and contacted an airport that was within range, but discovered the airport was military-occupied.  The officials refused to clear them to land and would not turn on the runway lights (it was very dark and they couldn’t see below them).  They continued praying and insisted that the airport turn on the lights for an emergency landing, as their fuel by then was VERY low.  Finally after much back & forth and red tape, they were finally cleared to land — at which point they were greeted not just with runway lights but with all kind of emergency vehicles — both fire fighting equipment and military trucks with armed soldiers. 

The military brought our team members in for questioning, and during the interrogation (and yes, that’s the right word!) the fire chief heard them say they were Christian missionaries.  The fire chief said that he was a Christian as well, and after the military mechanics confirmed they were almost out of fuel the fire chief arranged for them to get all the fuel they needed!  They also confirmed that the plane had only three minutes of fuel left when it landed!
 
Looking back at how God leads His servants:

If our team leader had gone, they would have crashed sooner, as the greater weight would have used up fuel faster.  If the second team member had gone, he would not have been able to speak enough Spanish to convince the officials that the emergency was real. 

God is awesome and is faithful