Not a Good Day for Family of Five

THE FLAT TIRE The day started off with a bang...actually, a Phillips screw was the culprit. Bro. Marshall went outside to get something in the van, and that's when he saw it. When he returned to his room in the Wyndham, he announced it to the family. "I have some news for you all. The van has a flat tire." Which didn't seem to be a real bad problem, except for the fact that they had to be out of the hotel by noon. If he could get the tire changed quickly, they'd be able to get out in enough time. Bro. Marshall found the dirtiest clothes he had and began working on the tire. His daughter, Jessica, joined him a little later. "I wanted to see how the operation is done," she told us. "You never know when you're going to have to do this yourself." Things were going well until part of the tool Bro. Marshall was using flew off and hit Jessica on the arm. "I guess I was a little too close," she laughed. "It hurt at first, but there were no bruises and it only took some skin off." Needless to say, she moved back a bit so as not to get hit again. Bro. Marshall soon finished the job and took the van out to check the air pressure. THE RUNAWAY LUGGAGE CART Then began the process of loading the endless amount of luggage onto the luggage cart. It seemed to be piled extremely high this morning as Jessica and Monica pushed it out the door. "I waited for Jessica to get her arms unloaded while I stayed by the cart," Monica relates. "She opened the van door and things started flying out. I checked the cart to make sure it wouldn't move and went to put my own stuff down." "Then we heard a bang," Jessica said. "It really wasn't funny, but when we turned around, the cart was lying sideways on the ground. I was telling Mon, 'Hurry up, let's get it off the ground'. I didn't want any of the people in the hotel to see what had happened to their cart. I'd give anything to have a picture of that now!" They managed to get all the luggage off the cart and the cart righted. (Before leaving, Bro. Marshall did tell the management about the cart.) THE JAMMED DOOR During the process of loading, someone left the van door slightly shut. For some reason, it jammed up and would not come open. It took a few moments for Dad to be able to open it. "I felt like we were the 'Beverly Hillbillies" and I just wanted to get out of there," Joanna commented. Eventually they were able to get the van loaded and pull out. NO PLACE TO GO But the family did not even know where they would be spending the night. Monica had made numerous calls to people they knew who might be able to give them a place to stay, but every call was fruitless. Too many people had weddings and other events going on, and no one could put them up for the night. A friend finally told them about some missionary's quarters near his mother. They were ever so thankful to find a spot to stay for two nights. The place was perfect--patterned after a Swiss chalet, there were two bedrooms and a bath, plus breakfast for two mornings. They were able to make some new friends, spend some time practicing, and just resting after a crazy day. "The Lord worked it out so much better than we could have," said Jessica. "I wouldn't want to go through another crazy day like that, but at least the ending was wonderful."