We immediately started off with a very tough decision. The race began at 9:00am but we had a problem because our new teammate Lloyd was on a bus that was supposed to get into Palenque at 9:45. We couldn´t leave our new teammate. We talked to the road rules committee and found out that our official time would not start until we picked Lloyd up. It turned out that he got in at 8:45, so we where all pumped to hit the road together. We were off.
We decided as a team to take a route that was a little harder terrain but much quicker than we thought the other teams would take. While driving on this unbelievable beautiful road we began to have a problem with our car. “El Salvador”, our car, began to sputter and it felt as though she wasn´t gettting any gas. We came to a very lush and peaceful area when she just decided to die on us. Just at that moment the brown team came flying by honking their horn as we where stranded on the road.
Lloyd, having an engineering background, was very handy with the tools and new a lot about cars. He jumped under the car and we found out that our gas was burning way to hot and was evaporating before it reached the engine. We decided to let the fuel filter cool off while we ministered to the one family that happened to be right where we stopped.
We then looked around us and found that we had broken down right next to the local church and knew that God was behind this. The feeling was just prevalent amongst us all. Lloyd then, having an architectual background and a love for drawing, decided to draw some pictures for the family that we stopped next to. The family was in awe of us and was so happy for the gifts that Lloyd drew for them. We then prayed for the family and gave them the book of John before we left. We thank God for that opportunity.
We were now in a very mountainous area and were all a little scared about the fuel filter acting up. We were all in serious prayer and began to sing praise and worship songs together. We made it past the very trecharous part of the mountains. Thank you Lord.
Just then, our car sputtered again and we where stranded once again. Lloyd and Chad proceeded to get under the car to check out the fuel filter. We all came to a conclusion that we should take the fuel filter off and see if it was clogged with anything from the gas tank or particles from the gas.
That turned out to be a good and bad thing. The good thing was that we got a few particles out of the fuel filter and the car ran much better. The bad thing was that as we took off the fuel filter Lloyd didn´t get his head far enough away and the pressure build up spewed gas and some hit him in the face and ear. Being the warrior that he was he still managed to hold onto the fuel filter while the women attended to his needs. He got a little in his eye and some in his left ear. We all were in individual prayer while we attended to his needs. Praise God that he wasn´t seriously injured.
