Yesterday I discovered our car tire was nearly flat. I got out our air pump and inflated it before going to the supermarket. When I got to town and parked in the bright sun, I again examined my tire and discovered a screw stuck into the tread. So this morning Edie and I took the car to the local repair shop.

When we arrived we found eight young men busily repairing tires. They were melting the rubber of ripped tires and reapplying it. One young man named Simon promptly came over and removed our wheel right there in the sand. He struggled to remove the tire from the rim with his hand tools, but he got it off after applying soap. He had to cut the screw from the inside of the tire with a grinder. Then he roughed up the inside rubber and glued on a patch. After about 30 minutes we had our tire fixed and back on our car at a cost of 500 Meticais (about $7 U.S.).

Edie carries Portuguese evangelistic books in her purse. After paying Simon for repairing our tire, she gave him a book as a tip. It was Esperanca Para a Familia (Hope for the Family). As Simon admired the book, he told us how much he enjoys reading. Within seconds, all the other young men gathered around us to request books of their own. Edie had only five books to place into the seven eager hands. We smiled as we watched the playful wrestling going on between the young friends.

Pray with us that the gospel seed will sprout within the young hearts of these young men.

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