2013
It was the best of trips it was the worst of trips. Not really the worst, but when the van blew up just outside of Gila Bend, AZ on the way home, it seemed like it.

We successfully built a church, a house and added a classroom to a home church (#2). We thought we were simply reinforcing a roof, but when we got there, they wanted a classroom built. They didn't have the time to pour a foundation so we put down cinder blocks on dirt. As of 2015, the floor is still dirt. The Lord had blessed us with enough money to be able to buy the materials and get it done.

Now for the worst of times...  Falcon Baptist church let us borrow both of their vans (saving us from renting any vans). At first there was a problem with their newer van not wanting to start. Turns out, a connector was loose on the transmission (for the technical, it was the neutral safety switch). I talked to their mechanic and he told me where that was and, in Yuma, AZ, I crawled under the van and snapped it back in place.

On the way back, just outside of Gila Bend, AZ (17 miles to the exit), the head gasket blew in the other van (#9 and #10). The mechanic at Falcon Baptist helped me a great deal, but we determined the van would not be making it back to Colorado Springs. Lovely.
 
Now what? As we were parked on the shoulder having cars zip by at 75, I tried to figure out how to get everyone home. We nursed the van into Gila Bend. By then I thought of Greg, our former pastor was ministering in Phoenix (technically, Mesa, but close enough). He and Cindy came to our rescue. The girls stayed at their house and the boys stayed at his church. Betty found a rental van and we left Phoenix Sunday morning. It was a long trip, but the Lord provided. 
 
This was good reminder, that the body helps. We had no where to turn, but we reached out to the body of Christ and the Lord allowed them to minister to us.
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