We drove to Houston on Sunday night, the night before we are scheduled to be at the warehouse. In addition to going to the ware house we have to go to DHL shipping to pick up solar equipment previously ordered from African Energy. The order was a rush job and paid for on Friday at 3 pm and so the order was not confirmed or released until Monday morning.
Day 1: Houston
We were expected at the shipping warehouse by 9 am.
We awoke first thing and actually made it to DHL international shipping by 7:40 and had to wait for them to open. When we did get inside the men at the dock had no idea what we were talking about. We had to explain a little and so they called the rep in charge of African Energy who told them she had no idea what I was talking about. So we called AE and explained the issue to them and they then called DHL and “released the order”. We had to wait 70 minutes for the order to be brought out of the warehouse.
We finally arrived the first morning around 930 am and immediately began to work through the poorly packed boxes that left our house. We tried to repack boxes and consolidate stuff we wanted and take out things that we didn’t mean to send down. Besides the heat you could tell that the supervisor was not thrilled with us opening boxes and messing up his system.
The company guy that we had been communicating with came to the warehouse later in the morning and after looking around told us that there was no way everything would fit. He told us that they have never fit that much total volume by weight on a 40 foot container and that the central office told them it couldn’t be done.
Well that kind of discouraged us but Pat, the team supervisor looked at us and said that he would get it on.
The next greatly discouraging thing was the inventory method. The movers who came to Tyler used yellow stickers with preprinted numbers and a few white stickers. They would not yet us put our inventory numbers on the boxes they packed. The guys at the warehouse used orange stickers and put them on some of the boxes with the other stickers. Now we had 4 different numbering systems. Rwandan’s don’t like complicated things. In addition, the supervisor was wrapping our large bins/tubs in the same paper they used to wrap furniture but did not put our inventory numbers on the outside of the wrapping. I tried to cut through one but it was about 12 layers of wrapping paper with at least two layers of that mesh paper that was impermeable. He put one of his stickers on the outside of the wrapping and labeled them “plastic bins” or “trunks”. We had no idea what was in each trunk. The issue is, we have to place value on each numbered item for tax and insurance reasons. Some trunks had ziplocks or used kids clothing worth 10 bucks and some had transformers and electronics worth hundreds and we have no idea which is which. If you guess and get caught putting a value of 10 dollars on a box of transformers worth $200 you can get fined or in trouble and then they can make you open every box in customs and delay the release of your container by weeks.
Day 2:
The shipping co. saved the actual loading for today and we were up by 5:30 to arrive at the warehouse by 7. I am totally at peace about what fits or doesn't fit. (We had a lot of people praying about many aspects of this day, and I could really feel it.)
The first part of the day went pretty well, even though to our inexperienced eyes it did NOT look like it would all fit. The Loading Guys were very good at their job and very kind to us. They also played Christian music on their radio. I can't tell you what a blessing that was to us. They didn't cuss, either. Crazy. They also were oddly open about sharing their lives with us. It's funny that we are ministering more than ever here in the states now that we're moving overseas.
By noon they had the flat bed trailer loaded on ( Yay, we have a trailer! Dave, you must have prayed for that! :-), AND the kayak AND the canoe. No way did we ever think all that was going on there, but God just kept right on stuffing it in. The appliances went on early, so just "house" boxes were left. I need to say that we drove down to Houston in separate cars so we could take as much stuff as possible "just in case it fit." Brian had the truck and trailer loaded like Jed Clampett. All he needed was a rocking chair on top. I had the mini-van with the seats laid down and loaded with boxes. (My sister had the kids in Shreveport)
Brian had a speaking engagement at 7PM so he left me in charge at 1. :-( (That's ok, my team was praying for me...) At 1:45 they turned to me and said "Ok, what do you want taken off?" OFF? They said it wasn't going to fit, and they started ripping open boxes of dishes and pots and pans. No problem. We were throwing away as fast as we could, and bundling what we wanted into bundles and jamming it into cracks and crevices. No numbers. No inventory. It was probably better Brian WASN'T there! Our next prayers will have to be about what gets stolen. (That's ok, it's God's stuff. If He wants to give it to a thief I'm ok with that) We UNpacked 13 boxes, but everything but 5 items went on! Praise God! Absolutely stunning! I took lots of pictures. The stuff left was unneeded, and God blessed us by making it those specific things. I was so happy I couldn't wait to call Brian.
I said good bye, filled up the gas tank, got a snack and a drink and got on the Beltway 8 in Houston. I'm stinking filthy, by the way. I actually took wet wipes and scrubbed the warehouse grime off my knees. There's something completely humbling about kneeling on a warehouse floor with your personal possessions strewn about on the floor. I remember thinking "I feel exposed because I'm kneeling here with my pots and pans all over the floor." The minute I could I called Brian to tell him what happened, but we weren't on the phone 5 minutes when I said "That's funny, the air conditioner just went out." (It's 101 degrees, ugh) Then "Brian, the car won't go over 55!" The exit was 1 and 1/2 miles away, and I'm down to 40mph. When all the lights started flashing I got over as fast as I could. This is a toll road, with an entrance 100ft behind me, and an exit 100ft ahead of me. And a husband 2 hours ahead of me! Smoke started coming out of the engine, so I got out while I called for a tow truck. (So many praises here, by the way. Foremost, I didn't have the kids with me on that scary road! And I had a snack and a drink! No problem) In my experience tow truck drivers take about an hour, so I got back in the car since I'm a closet albino. Glory if the tow truck arrived in 10 minutes! Off we went to the Mazda dealership (a 45 min drive in Houston rush hour traffic). They had to push it into the service bay, and the driver said he only takes cash. How am I to get that much cash? The nice dealership lady said "Our shuttle driver's not busy--he'll take you to an ATM." No problem. 30 minutes later I got to sit in the AC for the first time that day and the lady tells me the engine is blown. Oh well. We were going to give the van away, but God had different ideas. Again, more praises. About where it happened, when, and to whom. Brian was on his way back to tow me home. While I waited 3 hours in the AC with a book, a snack, a drink (the same ones-I still haven't had a chance to eat them) and no kids (:-) a man wanders through from the showroom. He introduces himself as Mac and he asks me about what I'm doing at the dealership so late. After recalling the story about our morning and our car he wanted to know all about what happened and where we're going, etc, etc. I gave him our card at this point, and we sat there for quite a while talking about missions, my family and his family. When Brian got there Mac got some other guys to help us load the van onto the tow trailer, but it wouldn't go. He handed Brian the keys to his car and said "Take my car to Wal-Mart to get a hand winch." So we drove his MERCEDES to the store, came back, got the van loaded. Brian said, half-jokingly, "Anybody want a free car?" Mac said "Yes!" So we drove with him to his house where he treated us like honored guests. I mean, he offered us food and drinks and honored us with stories about his wife and wonderful daughter. We then followed Mac to a used car lot and dropped off the car and headed home. We limped home at 2am, and by 8:30am the next day we had a vehicle offered to us for the rest of the summer. No joke.
I feel like I haven't done this story justice, but you get the idea of the way God took care of us. I praise Him for all the blessings, and I thank you guys all for praying over us. We felt it!
Love,
Kristin
