I stared at the hopelessly twisted component of the compressed-earth-block machine. It had come loose and moved out of position, causing it to be warped by the machine’s powerful hydraulics. Until it was fixed or replaced, block production was halted for the AFM Pnong School Project in Cambodia.

I automatically went into fix-it mode and drove to town. Where there was a will there was a way, or so I thought. I searched for options and finally worked up a sweat trying to reshape the part myself, but nothing worked.

Suddenly, it was as if I heard God say to me, “I don’t want you to fix it.” Feeling defeated, and wondering what God had in store, I went back to the job site just before lunch and humbly gave the part back to the foreman. He began working on it, but he didn’t seem to be having any more success than I’d had. Figuring we would have to wait for a replacement part to arrive from the States before we could restart production, I took a lunch break.

When I returned from lunch, I was walking up to the broken machine, thinking what I could have the workers do during the downtime, when I stopped in my tracks. The impossibly bent piece I had left in the hands of the foreman was now sitting atop the machine in what appeared to be nearly perfect shape! All I could think was, O ye of little faith.

But would it really work? I gathered the workers together, and we quickly disassembled the machine and installed the refurbished piece. Amazingly, the machine began churning out blocks better than ever! Praise the Lord! Clearly, I needed to get out of the way more often and let the local people take over. I gave the foreman a great big thank-you for his skill and dedication.

Thank you for your prayers for our projects. Please keep praying for the Pnong and Khmer workers who are diligently making blocks and building the school.

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