We live stuck between two worlds. Sometimes the contrast can be surreal. I caught this scene the other day: a decadent cruise ship steaming down the Amazon with it's wealthy passengers "experiencing" the rain forest and in the foreground a family slowly putting by in a wooden, hand-crafted canoe. And all the while a group of our students frolicking in the water unaware.
The reality of our situation sometimes calls for us to get creative in solving our problems. When something breaks we often have to fix it rather than buy new. And sometimes, like in the case of our aging tractor, we just decide to build a new one.
 |
| The school's current tractor made from jeep parts and a 16 hp Briggs and Stratton will be missed by no one. |
Our current tractor, built by some long retired missionaries, is used primarily to haul our trash to the dump twice a week, pull aluminum boats out of the water (which I do every day I go to the hangar to work), and is the go-to mode of transportation when moving something heavy. As can be expected from a decades old piece of machinery that sees daily use, it requires non-stop maintenance, made worse by the fact that most of the parts must be fabricated.
My friend Kevin, an engineer for a company that manufactures (you guessed it) tractors, agreed to come down for a week and help "cobble" together (his words, not mine) a tractor. Who knew cobbling could be so fun? Jeremy (the school's maintenance guy) and I spent a couple months collecting parts from area junkyards. Between the parts we had found and a scrap metal pile collecting rust in the jungle, we began our cobbling...
 |
| The drivetrain consists of a differential out of a Chevy Impala used as a reduction gearbox and a transaxle out of a VW Beetle. Our design objective was mainly to make something durable and simple, we don't plan on winning any awards for aesthetics. |
 |
| The motor brings a Brazilian flare. Although a Chinese knockoff of a Japanese Yanmar, it's Brazilian connection is that this type of one cylinder diesel is found up and down the Amazon River in boats that provide the main source of transportation. As an aviation mechanic I was perplexed by how something that only produces 24 hp could weigh so much (440 lbs.) |
 |
| By far the highlight of the week was working alongside Kevin, he's part mad scientist, part genius and part hillbilly (by far the most fun part). |
 |
| By the end of the week the project was far from over, despite lacking frivolous details like a clutch, brakes, and seat, we were able to take it out for a test run. |
 |
| For some reason Kevin got a big kick out of my "visioneering" sessions when I was able to calculate the ergonomically pleasing location of the steering wheel and shifter (which oddly enough we ended up moving several times). |
 |
| Kevin's personal pet project was the mower deck, built around the 100+ lbs of parts he brought from an old deck he had laying around. He actually dug it out of snowdrift and torched all the parts off the night before coming to Brazil. |
So after a week of cobbling, we have our tractor, or at least a bare bones version of it. We still have to make lots of adjustments and finish a lot of the details, but it's good to see the dream starting to take shape.
I suppose the tractor is a good example of how it takes a lot of people working together to make our ministry possible. Beyond just Kevin and his family who spent a week with us, many people gave financially to see this tractor come to life. The cynic might say that is a lot of effort to go through just to get a tractor. But I suppose God's economy works a bit different. Suppose that tractor makes our work here at the school just a little bit more doable, and living here allows me to participate in aviation ministry, which in turn allows a tribal missionary to work at translating and communicating the gospel to people who have never heard the message of Hope. Maybe that would make it worth it all.
 |
| Kristy, Kevin's wife, was also very helpful during the week while Kevin and I buried ourselves in grinding dust and welding slag. She stayed busy helping Brin around the house, made sure her boys didn't get lost in the jungle and, as shown in the picture, even helped out in some of the classes. |
