Revisiting Chiapas

Eddie, Dr. Mary Kay, Bertha, and our good friend Ralph Classen left this morning for Chiapas. I am afraid I forgot to give Eddie the camera, and as he is a great editor, but not a writer, I will send you the blog address for Mary Kay when she reports on the trip. However, some of you were not receiving our newsletter when we went to Chiapas a couple years ago, so I thought I would share some of our adventure, last time...



Misty mountain dwellings in Nueva Ybaho

19 March 2006

Recollections of Chiapas, and Gratitude

Chiapas As you may know Eddie and I spent several days with Dr. Angelica and her husband Dan traveling. We went to the southernmost state of Chiapas, and then also spent a few days in Oaxaca City.

Chiapas is almost always described as one of the most beautiful, richest in natural resources, and the poorest of all the states in Mexico. I had meant to do more research for you, but busyness and weariness prevailed, and all I have for you is what I saw…and what I feel.

Spending time among indigenous groups here and with the simple campesinos where our daughter and her family live, we take poverty in stride. Actually I don’t even think much about poverty, it is just reality that people are undernourished and have little. They sell handicrafts or work fields for pesos. They walk for miles, sometimes days, to gather sticks to haul on their backs or burros for their cooking fires. Their clothes, even their brightly and intricately adorned huipeles are worn for weeks on end, dirty and worn, because they have no others. Their feet are bare, wide and calloused from walking the trails deep with dust, and rough with rocks. If they have sandals they are held together with twine.

There is a difference we see between the Christian Mixtecs and the people who come to us with their illness and pain at our mountain clinics. In the Christians we see smiles and industry and purpose. In the others we see hopelessness; lately we have seen depression…and now, that we have been to Chiapas, we have seen fear.

Las Abejas
In the mountains of Chiapas, among the indigenous Tzotzil we met a different kind of people. Las Abejas, the bees, are a group of Tzotzil that like other indigenous of the region, are fighting for their land and their lives. They are descended from the ancient Mayas and have been in these mountains for many centuries.

Sign at the entrance to the Zapatista village, the las line states, "Here the people command and the government obeys".

Unlike the Zapatistas, the Bees have sought to change the situation with non-violence, education and public awareness. Poor as they are they have internet and a computer and they reach out to the world, as have the Zapatistas, with their cause.

Our guide to Chiapas, Angelica’s husband Dan, has worked for many years with an organization called Jubilee Economic Ministries. He introduced us to this misty green world, decorated with bright red coffee berries and distinctively dressed women with colorful ribbons in their hair and their local style of huipiles.

He gave us a little of their history. Embracing the gospel of peace, taught by a priest who has since been sent from their region, sympathetic with the Zapatista goals, the Bees have suffered greatly. If you search recent history, and the internet you will learn how on December 22, 1997 at the church in Acteal, a group of mostly women and children that had gathered to pray for peace, and presumably their rights, were attacked by a paramilitary group.

Chapel where Acteal massacre occurred

At least 45 were killed that day, others injured. They say that throughout the little villages they could hear the gunfire. As we walked through the mist and mud from house to house to treat the sick, we could imagine how the sound must have shattered the silence.

Eddie preparing for bed

Our weekend in the mountains We slept in little houses made of wood, 1 x 12’s with one inch gaps so you could see out, their were no windows. Kitchens were separate buildings with a cooking fire of sticks on the ground in a corner. There was no other escape for the smoke except for the door which was kept closed against the cold and the rain, and so as you gratefully sat at the long table with your hot, just slightly sweet coffee and tortillas, the smoke permeated your clothes and hair.

Me brushing my teeth, wearing everything I had brought to try to keep warm

Our hosts were the leaders of the villages. Their president, Augustino, along with different town representatives accompanied us through the villages, and into each home translating and demonstrating remarkable compassion for each individual.

Some of the women who fed us

Beautiful dark faces, and smiles, most of the men spoke Spanish. As we ate together over a thin soup with a chicken leg, and perhaps a potato, they spoke of their children and the hardship of obtaining education. If they can afford it they send them to other villages, which are ruled by the PRI party, or to the city San Cristobal de las Casas. Their children suffer discrimination daily from teachers and students alike because they are from The Bees communities.

Abejas radio, unregistered station to the Abejas standing for the rights of the mountain people.

Dan as a representative of a Christian human rights organization was presented with the latest dream to have their own secondary school. It would be a school where PRI and Zapatista students could be taught along with the Bees, without discrimination.

Dan, Dr. Angelica with Catalina and her family

Before I conclude please let me share just a few more snapshots of our weekend among the Bees. We met Catalina, a young woman who was in the church when the Acteal Massacre occurred. She has had many surgeries to try to restore some function to her right leg, her sciatic nerve severely damaged by a bullet. She carries many other bullet scars on her body.

A woman with a sick baby came running down the road as we started to leave, Sabino met her and translated for us.

We met Sabino, a very young man with a family, who serves his people as a healthcare worker. He accompanies village people to the city and translates for them at their hospital appointments. He had a list of appointments for “massacre victims” on his calendar. He runs a small clinic, receiving no income from the government, only the aid of his neighbors whom he serves. He was with us on a house call, as we returned to our car, he saw a woman carrying a baby running toward us, “the baby has been sick with bad diarrhea!” Angelica examined the baby there in the road, and I dug into the mini-mobile pharmacy I had packed to see what little we had left.

We treated Nicolas who for years has suffered surgeries including a cystostomy to deal with the results of a near fatal accident that shattered his pelvis. He told us in Tzotzil how he had been fasting asking God to let him get rid of the bag that he had with him all the time and urinate normally, or let him die. As Augustino translated for Nicolas, he seemed to be broken hearted over the plight of this man. “Please, please, if you know of any one who can come and help him.”

We made a quick visit to MayaVinic, the headquarters of the fair trade coffee cooperative that the Bees run. We also went further up the mountain to visit the Bees clandestine, or rather, unregistered, radio station and gave our greeting to the listeners.

Another world It was a whirlwind tour of a world I might not even have read about. It was odd how the reality of what had happened there, and what these people are still suffering as a displaced people driven from their ancestral home could not penetrate my heart. My people have never lived in one location for much longer than 15 or 20 years. We have never suffered attack. We have never lived with the constant fear of strangers with guns breaking into our homes. My mind would not grasp it.

As I stretched out on my bed in my room here in Roca Blanca, my body clean from my cold shower, I sighed. How good to be in my own bed. As the air conditioner droned on my mind began a litany of “thank you’s” to God.

I am thankful for the privilege of sleeping on boards in a remote mountain village, for the opportunity to walk in the rain and mud and see things I could not have imagined. I am so grateful for a clean hotel room, a hot shower, clean sheets, and strong antibiotics to combat the consequences of our adventure, and a steaming bowl of comforting herb tea.

”The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked has no such concern.” Proverbs 29:7

I also am thankful for things that should not only be available to us who live in a rich western culture. I am challenged to pray and consider what part believers should play in obtaining justice for the poor. I did a quick search on my computer concordance found many scriptures about justice.

In my mind, obedience to what God has spoken to each of us individually to do is paramount, but when it comes to prayer, I cannot close my eyes and call myself innocent when I have not sought the heart of God about how I will care for the poor, and fulfill Isaiah 61.

The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion--to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair….

March 31, 2008

It is Monday night at Roca Blanca. As we wait for news from Eddie that they have safely met up with Dan, a ministry team from the Bible school here has returned from Chiapas.

They just gave us exciting reports of God's move on the young people ages 12-15 at the church where they brought teaching and ministry. One of the team reported overhearing a child only 8 or 9 year crying out to God, "Lord, teach me how to serve you!"

I look forward to our team's return, and report!

Strength to the weary

Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, …Isaiah 40:28

This has been an interesting couple of weeks. Expressions like “burn-out” and “culture shock” and “hitting the wall” have been used between some of us, and also “just plain exhaustion.” All the same when Troy, Cheryl and the 5 nursing students from ORU arrived, I found myself revived. Troy has led this team for 10 years, and he has become a special friend. Cheryl was the instructor/leader of this particular group, which as always was remarkable in their willingness to serve and dedication to the Lord.

Disappointments turned to praise

We were excited as we headed for El Mosco. The plan was to hold our first clinics in San Lucas and La Cuchara. People from these towns had traveled long miles to reach us during previous clinics, but we had never been to their villages.

It turned out that the authorities of the each town decided that they did not want us coming. We were rather disappointed, but were able to change our plans to include Xineyuba and Ixtayutla. Both of these towns have in recent years rejected and even repelled the presence of evangelical teams.

In Xineyuba we rarely get permission to photograph people, so I usually take pictures from behind

Carmela (missionary), Troy and Laura interviewing patient

For myself, I did not feel the excitement going to these towns, as I had anticipated breaking new ground in San Lucas and La Cuchara. But the work was good. The students were wonderful, and we saw many patients. The doctors some some interesting cases, and students Brittany, Noma, and Thomas worked hard with Sarah in the pharmacy while I handed out the meds and gave instruction through my translator Saul.

Dr. Dave interviewing a patient in an unfinished house in Xineyube

After the children helped pick up all the garbage around the clinic, Bertha had them all wash their hands, then handed out cookie. We were so blessed that they pitched in to help without the promise of reward.

He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Isaiah 40:29

At the end of the last day, we returned back to our base. We were planning to leave the next morning before dawn so Bertha and Mary Kay enlisted all the children to help clean up the grounds. Meanwhile I helped Dr. Dave remove a cyst from the toe of a lady from Llano Verde. I bandaged her foot and provided her with her medications and bandage supplies while Dave went to find some dinner.

Soon we were all enjoying a wonderful meal prepared by Dalia our cook. I plopped myself down by the kitchen door, trying to inconspicuously feed my favorite dog “Lobo”.

Suddenly it seemed to me, all the local church people had joined us. Mary Kay, Dave, and Troy were at the far side of the patio with the adults. Mixteco translators went back and forth helping the Spanish translators Elisabeth and Bertha. Laura ran to and fro doing it all. At the same time, the near side of the patio had filled with children.

Noma, a nursing Senior originally from Swaziland painting fingernails

To my left Ashley was singing a Spanish Bible song to the twins (Alicia and Victoria) and Camila. I watched their faces, for what seemed like a long time, and marveled at their beauty. To my right Noma was painting little fingernails; the tiny hands were spread out before her as the girls crowded in. Thomas and Martina were playing Frisbee with the boys. The whole place was filled with laughter and love.

As I walked through the crowd, I still felt the numbness of exhaustion…

Then I realized that someone was asking me about medications. I found my headlamp, secured it around my ponytail, and started mixing Amoxicillin suspension in the dark.

Finally all the people started to leave, Miguel and Andrea, Primo and Francisca, Inez and Maria, Rufina and Pablo, and all those children. “Nos vemos en la boda!” (I’ll see you at the wedding!”) I called to each as they disappeared up the hill, into the dark.

Then it was time for a quick meeting. If we were to beat the road construction crew and avoid a 3 to 6 hour delay, we would have to get up at 4 A.M. and leave at 5 A.M. So we spent the next hour in feverish packing and cleaning. We finally got to bed at around 10 P.M.

Comfort, comfort my people

Saturday morning after we returned to the base we had a “debriefing”. We admitted to our exhaustion, and to disappointments. But as we reviewed all that we had seen God do, we recognized how gracious and how faithful He had been. We saw that He arranged circumstances in such a way that our hearts’ desire to see people’s live touched was realized time and time again.

Maria and Raul. Many years ago I met Raul when he threw rocks at me. Later that day he and his mother received Christ. They came out to help with the outreach to Xineyuba and Ixtayutla.

Not only did 18 individuals choose to follow Christ during this outreach, we also saw one person healed through prayer. We saw evidence of changed lives when some who had received the Lord in years’ past outreaches came and joined in the work.

Can you see the twins, Alicia and Victoria, their little sister Marisol is the little one in the front.

Suffer the little children to come

But the most wonderful part of our debriefing for me was when we talked about the children and how open they were, and how responsive. Those of us who have been coming back year after year have seen these little ones grow up and change. Some of the growth is physical, but we see so much more than that.

Sometimes people say that short-term work is not a good use of your time and money. But I have heard the testimony of Mexican Christians whose lives were changed by Americans who came to their town, and played with them as children.

Those of you who have over the years come to El Mosco and played with the children, I want to encourage you. The loving, the smiles, the time you have given to these little ones are preparing the soil of their hearts to receive the seed and produce good fruit.

Elodia helping prepare for weaving

Work hard, play hard, trust harder

Well, I had better get a blog done as we are currently waiting for the next group to arrive, and we leave for El Mosco on Monday.

Surgical Campaign

When I last wrote we were finishing up our surgical campaign. We saw 4 patients, only one of which was a cleft palate patient.

I was hoping to have a good before and after picture of little Gisela, 14 months old. But when she came back to the clinic a week after the surgery the wound on the left had opened after the stitches dissolved. I didn’t feel that I should take a picture of her scabbed lip. Hopefully I will be able to show you a picture of her healed face one day.

Mary Kay assisting Chili while Dr. Dave looks on. This was my first opportunity to serve as circulating nurse in a cleft lip surgery, it was fascinating!

Everyone is rejoicing
Beside the surgeries, we rejoiced at one particular event that took place when our surgeon, Dr. Chili was with us. He and I got to visit between surgeries on Sunday and he told me a little about his spiritual search.

The next morning when he came to see his patients here at the clinic, we were informed that he and his friends were going out to the beach. They were going to baptize Chili! The previous night, just after the last surgery, Chili had an important conversation with Dr. Terri and his friend Mark. Chili made the decision to follow Christ, or as we say in Spanish “entregarse a Cristo” (which expresses better the act of surrendering one’s life).

It was exciting to us all who have worked with Chili to be able to witness his baptism. After Mark and Terri dunked him under, they grabbed their surfboards and tried to catch a few waves before they flew back to the States.

Right here Chili is telling Pastor Florentino (who had minor surgery on Saturday), "I really feel new!" as Eddie and Dr. Mary Kay look on.

Playa Sol Beach Club

Eddie and I have tried very hard to relax and recover from 8 weeks of teams and outreaches. We spent two days at the Playa Sol beach club, just swimming, reading and playing backgammon (surprise, I won most of the time!)

Do you notice how tan we are? We arrive back in Washington in May, it will probably be faded before we can wear shorts again.

Despedida de Soltera (farewell to singleness)

Wednesday I hosted a Bridal Shower for Laura. It was very well attended. But I forgot that Mexican’s tend to arrive late for events, and I didn’t help by not letting everyone know about a change of location.

So when only a few women had arrived, I saw that Dr. Mary Kay was accompanying Laura to the place where we were to surprise her. Eddie helped us out by faking an injury. When Mary Kay and Laura examined Eddie’s "sprained ankle", Mary Kay said he needed some ice. When Laura went to the clinic to get ice, she met a “real” patient who was suffering from asthma.

In the 45 minutes that Laura took to care for the patient all the rest of the guests arrived, and we were able to pull off the surprise!

Eddie miraculously recovered from his injury shares in the "surprise!"

Rachel dressed up in a wedding dress made of toilet paper!

Lord let me be like Abraham
Today has been interesting. The last few days I have been carrying a weight of concern about my family in California, among other worries. I was feeling burned out and tired in spite of our times of rest. On top of that my computer suddenly started going bad.

This morning, Bob, one of our wonderful computer geeks gave me the bad news that my hard-drive was dying. (I remember commenting, " if only that were my only problem.") So Bob and I walked over and talked to Berna, and Berna pulled a brand-new hard drive out of his desk, a hard drive with twice as much space as my bad one!

Then I walked into another office and told my friends Rachel (see above) and Dambi that God had solved my computer problems quickly, “I wish that the other concerns could be solved too!” Rachel said, “Can we pray for you?” And pray they did.

This ended out to be a great day. Bob had my computer up and running before lunch and the Lord moved greatly on my heart and lifted the burden. He spoke a word from Romans 4:17-21 into my heart while the ladies were praying.

"He (Abraham) is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed--the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.

"Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, 'So shall your offspring be.' Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead--since he was about a hundred years old--and that Sarah's womb was also dead.

"Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised."

Abraham has long been my hero in faith. And I am reminded that when I can see no answer or solution, I can admit it, but recognize that God is in control and He will bring a solution that I cannot yet imagine. I will continue to give glory to God!

New Staff
No, this isn't the flying nun, it's Elisabeth. Elisabeth and her husband Joseph have just arrived to work with the clinic and other Roca Blanca ministries through August. The fancy hat is what we had to wear in surgery.

Also with Elisabeth, Sarah here will be taking my job with the pharmacy through July. Here she is working late, sitting next to me as we work on our medication order for the next outreach.

Oral Roberts University Nursing Missions Class
Another group from ORU just arrived. We will be heading out to El Mosco for 3 days of clinics. With them is Troy, who we look forward to seeing every year.

Well, good-night. This letter may suggest that prayer is very appreciated. Thank you to all of you who pray so faithfully.

Worth writing about, February 28, 2008

It is Thursday, we just got back, we start a surgical campaign on Saturday and I don’t want to forget what we just did, so here goes. We said good bye to high school students and the next day greeted 12 people from Sioux Falls, South Dakota. All but a few were our age or older. Quite a difference!

Back to the Itayutla region again. The cars made it all the way, but one didn’t make it back. We held clinics and children's programs for 3 days: Pueblo Viejo, Itayutla and a new village, Caña Muerta, while half of the group helped with the building project of the new Bible school in Pueblo Viejo.

Caña Muerta
This was our first visit to Caña Muerta. Before we started work, I walked away from the adobe where we set up the clinic to take this picture. One Mixteco mother shielded her little girl from me, afraid that I would take her picture. My Mixteco does not include, “Don’t worry, I am not going to take your picture.” I was distressed that I caused the mother to fear. Hence, this is the only picture I took.

The people were wary of us, and slow to come. Brother Florentino has been visiting here, and the town’s president made the invitation for us to hold clinic. Bit by bit people arrived. When the toys and gifts came out, they became bolder. By the end of the day Bertha had the children gathered around her singing, “Jesus yo te amo” (Jesus I love you) in Mixteco.

The spiritual care team spoke with many people and seven people prayed to receive Christ, including the village president. Before we left we all held hands and sang and prayed in Mixteco, Spanish, and finally English. As we left rejoicing, Bertha called out, “This is no longer Caña Muerta (dead cane), but Caña Viva!”

Delivered from out fears!

That night we arrived back in our El Mosco base early and every one got a shower. We ate and began to wonder where the construction team was. Just before 9:00 P.M .Laura made a phone call and was informed that the team had left in Stewart’s SUV around 6:00 P.M. They should have returned before 7:00!

Anyone of you who have driven around the Ixtayutla area, or out to Pueblo Viejo, know how winding and narrow the roads are, and also how steep the cliffs are. Two of the women there with us had husbands on that team, and one a son. The prayer was fervent and loud, and somewhat desperate.

Immediately, as we conjectured all that could have happened, the rest of us collected tools and a chain for towing, meds, sheets and equipment for trauma care, and sent for a Mixteco translator. Laura and all the able body men, including two doctors headed out in the dark. Eddie stood in the back of Bob’s pick-up with a high-powered flashlight scanning the steep drop-offs.

Mary Kay held on to one of the walkie-talkies and we received reports as the search team, collected information from the various individuals they passed on the road. They found out that the car was abandoned by the entrance to Pueblo Viejo, but no one had seen the men. Then, probably no more than 5 to 10 minutes later, Laura’s voice said, “They are all here, they’re all safe!”

Then we listened as the men spoke back and forth to each other towing Stewart's crippled car back to our base; no easy feat in the dark on those boulder riddled, narrow roads. And soon they arrived back at our El Mosco Clinic/base.

They had broken down and were waiting by the road for us to pass on our way home from the clinic, but as we had left early, we never came. Finally, they had started walking. We felt like they had been delivered, but I guess what really happened is that WE were delivered from our fears. It was an interesting night, with a real sense that the darkness was trembling, again.

The Lord renewed our strength
This outreach, following so closely after the Lima Christian School trip, proved to be a tremendous victory for me. I was tempted to fear that I would not have the strength. But on the contrary, I had more energy than I have had in a long time. And because I was there I saw God do many wonderful things, and answer many of my prayers.

Pueblo Viejo clinics have often worn me to tears of exhaustion. It has been an area with much opposition and oppression. However, as we packed the cars, the local people surrounded us, they seemed to be reaching out to us, almost in friendship.

A couple years ago Modesto, quite drunk, had physically tried to prevent us from passing on his property to the church. But this evening, he chatted amiably with Eddie, and then translated from Mixteco to Spanish as a neighbor brought her sick baby to us. He shared with Eddie that he no longer gets drunk. He proudly introduced his little boys to us. He allowed us to pray for him before we left. I asked God to give him a “good name” among his people, I also prayed that he would be known as a man of God.

Before and after other outreaches, always there is El Mosco
Nothing inspires my writing like good pictures, a good story and a good flesh wound! I got great picture of the morning that half of the medical team stayed back at the clinic while the other half went out to set up in Ixtayutla. Sometime we have so many patients at El Mosco that we have a hard time making our schedule with other locations. Sometimes the people who come are locals and can come back later, other times they have traveled several kilometers on foot.

This mother came from Llano Escondido, with her very sick baby and a 15 year old son with a seriously injured foot. Here Bertha is translating from Spanish to English, the Mixteco translator is out of the picture.

As is often the case, we spent most of our time undoing the damage that the local mountain remedy had caused. Here the boy had cut his foot. The family couldn't get the bleeding to stop (we don't know if they applied direct pressure) and so they took a rag, set it on fire and applied the burning rag to the wound to stop the bleeding. It worked, but also caused a painful burn. Dr. Mary Kay had to anesthetize the wound and debried it before we could dress the cut.

It turned out that the young man had heard the gospel before and was ready to pray to receive Christ.

Irina filling prescriptions off of our truck before we left for Ixtayutla

From behind the Iron Curtain
The next great blessing was working with Irina. She is a nurse who came with her husband Valary, Ukrainian immigrants to the U.S. Getting to know Irina was thrilling to me. Her father had been imprisoned in the USSR for his faith before she was born.

I loved working with her, she was so competent, and had such a desire to understand and speak with the people. By the end of our clinics she was pulling a little paper with Spanish expressions out of her pocket, and speaking to our Mixteco translator Apolonia.

Apolonia, Irina, me and Jori in Ixtayutla

Stephanie and Jori using puppets to teach about dehydration

Dr. Brian setting a broken arm for Bonifacio in Ixtayutla, Pastor Carmela assisting

The team was lead by Dr. Brian and Stephanie Kidman., Their missions and life experiences reflected our own in many ways, and that was so comforting to me. Dr. Brian saw patients, along with Drs. Dave and Mary Kay, and between them we gave away a lot of medicine, as we saw about 150 patients.

First Assemby of God, Souix Falls, South Dakota
Some of the team member were in their 70’s. They were on the prayer team working with brother Florentino. They kept very busy. After the outreach we spent some time recreating with them, including a bird-watching trip on the Manialtepec Lagoon.

They were a very encouraging group. I am sorry that I don't have any pictures of the team that went out to Pueblo Viejo and worked on the construction team Larry, Steve, Valari, Stewart, nor of the prayer team, Bill, Adrian June and Susan, nor of Jaina who so faithful took vitals for patients she couldn't talk to because of the language barrier.

Their church puts a very high priority on missions, foreign and home missions. A church of about 800 people with a missions budget averaging $325,000, pretty impressive! We were invited to visit them whenever we can, and I hope that we will this fall.

God bless you with hearts for the Lost

As I close, I am reminded that there could be some of our readers who long for the opportunity to come and see the ripe fields of the Mixteco or Chatino people. You are reaching the unreached in your town and neighborhood, but feel drawn to the "uttermost parts". Truly it is a life changing experience to be out of your comfort zone, and to listen to God speak of His love to the unreached.

One last image....we wanted to get out early on Thursday morning to make a house call, and what did we find blocking the driveway and gate....a red pick-up. I was told that the driver had come at 3 A.M in the morning to bring his sick child to the witchdoctor up the road and had left the car there. So....many hands make light work...well not quite, but they were able to lift the truck and push it out of the way!