While I was
in college I used to help my parents out with teams during the summer. One
summer we had a team come from my mom’s home church. They had purchased a motor
for a church on the Galapagos Islands. That church was planting churches on the
island of Isabella and needed a better motor for their boat. A small team
decided they wanted to visit them and help out with a kid’s camp and preach
too. I was the sole translator. After we were done with kid’s camp and Sunday
services the next day we were going to take a “3 hour tour” (from Gilligan’s
island). The daughter of the pastor who had come to help (Olivia Dalton, now
Devizia) and I had already had an eventful week of rats running around our room
at night and hand size spiders sleeping with us. We both thought this trip was
a restful boat ride. Little did we know we almost drowned in the middle of the
Pacific Ocean. I had to translate and did a horrible time because I did not
know boat and engine words to help them out. Thankfully my uncle, a skilled
fisherman, saved the day and prevented us from taking on more water. It rained
for the first 4 hours of the trip. We used up all the gas for the return trip
just to make it to the island. As we arrived to the shore of Puerto Villamil, I
was pretty scared. They were supposed to be on a flight back to the mainland
the next day so that they could catch their flight to the States the following
day and as of right then we were stuck.
As we went
to lunch in Puerto Villamil, I couldn’t eat. I stared at the most beautiful
blue ocean and white sand beaches which I should of enjoyed but couldn’t
because I was fully responsible for this team. There were a few options left:
first make several trips to and from the boat to the nearest gas station (a
couple miles from dock) to refill the gas containers, second take a plane taxi
back to the airport island called Baltra, third stay for a few nights and
return on the small boat ferry. The first option meant that we would be still
traveling back in the dark or the next day which after that last 5 hours I
really didn’t want to get back on that boat. The second option was gone because
the last plane taxi had just left. And the third option would mean they would
miss all their flights back. I had no idea what to do. I kept praying and
praying. We finally decided to ask the plane company how much would it cost to
take us back. To our surprise I think it cost about $50 a person for them to
fly us. Thankfully the pastor of the trip had enough money and soon we were on
a plane taxi heading to Baltra Island.
That
doesn’t end our story. Since Galapagos is an archipelago, it is a protected
place and no bridges are built. Also the only major airport is on a separate
island called Baltra. When we landed on Baltra we were still stuck at the
airport. Normally, when flights come in they have buses that take passengers to
the edge of the island where they get a boat taxi (ferry) to cross a very small
waterway to get to the island of Santa Cruz which had the biggest city, Puerto
Isidro Ayora, on it. It looked to be a LONG walk to that dock, but thankfully a
garbage truck showed up. We hopped in the back and got to the dock so we could
jump on a random boat taxi from a local hotel. Then we finally got on our last
taxi ride, a truck taxi, where we sat in the back of the truck and traveled 2
hours through some more rain to the other side of the island to Puerto Isidro
Ayora.
I laugh
even now after such a scary experience mostly because I have had never been in
so many different types of taxis. We got to travel in a boat taxi, to a plane
taxi, and finally a truck taxi, plus a garbage truck to complete the adventure.
What I got out of the story and hoping you do to, is that God can use anything
to get the job done. Most of us don’t think we are qualified for what God has
called us to do or even the next step in life. As many preachers have said, but
it is very still true, “God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the
Called.” Sometimes you need a garbage truck to get to your destination or a
truck taxi maybe literally or figuratively. Do not underestimate what God can
use your skill set for. Let God surprise you as you obey His direction.
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