Cheers for the Weekend Warrior

Some celebrity, whose name escapes me, once made a comment that it would be great if non-celebrities had people cheering for them on occasion. Few people go into mission work for the glamour, prestige, and recognition, but sometimes when Trish and Allen share what’s going on around the home front, I feel the need to pick up a pair of pom-poms and do a little cheer for Russell. I suspect it would go something like this: “Russell, Russell, he’s our man. If he can’t do it, he’ll find someone who can. But, let’s be clear in saying that he can probably do it.” At the risk of embarrassing him with all of this bubbly enthusiasm, you might want to do a little cheer yourself. 

Russell cutting the seal on the Maryland container 

As if there isn’t enough to do with Sowers4Pastors, Russell is the go-to guy when other missionaries need help with things like car problems, home repairs, or finding a new house. Allen used to be that guy, but over time it has become Russell's area. It makes sense that people would seek him out since he is fluent in Spanish and apprenticed under Allen. 

Russell and Micah Jimison 
climbing the tower

On Saturday morning of this past weekend, Russell went out to help a group of local missionaries who operate a Christian radio station. There is a radio tower on the missionaries' property, and due to a short in a wire, one of the power cables was partially destroyed. Russell climbed up the 200+ foot tower with Micah Jimison to repair the problem. Micah had previously assessed the damage, and so the guys knew what parts they needed. They performed this repair 200 feet in the air. My hands sweat when I see Curious George climbing on the outside of a building. And he’s a cartoon monkey. Although Russell has an animated personality, he is not a cartoon and that whole situation sounds pretty skeery. He did a thorough job because it’s not the sort of thing you want to do again anytime soon. 

When Russell returned home, he went right out to the coffee farm to continue working. That was when he got a call telling him that the shipping container from Maryland was on its way. The Florida shipping container arrived several hours later than expected. The Maryland container did not. Russell had already lined up the two box trucks to transport the contents of the container to the property. One of the trucks broke down the day before and it didn’t get fixed in time. The driver of the second truck was counting on the container being delayed. He and his truck were four hours away when the container arrived.

Without missing a beat, Russell started making phone calls to other drivers. Of the four he contacted, three of them ended up driving. This was nice because they didn’t have to pack things as tightly. In addition to the boxes of backpacks, this container also held a 7000 lb skid loader! Driving the machine from the container onto a box truck isn’t a big deal (though you might think so), but you want some wiggle room when it’s time to get it to the ground. They had to back the truck up to a place where the ground is a little higher because it is rarely a good idea to drop a 7000 lb machine 3.5 feet. 

The contents of the container needed to go into storage. Two containers of backpacks, plus a food container, plus coffee put storage space at a premium. Russell made arrangements to sell off some of the coffee harvest to make more room (and because coffee prices have spiked). He had to make sure that everything was dried and bagged properly. Each bag was weighed and tallied. Then Russell and the crew loaded up some trucks and drove them to the purchaser where the bags were inspected and tallied again. It is not a fast and simple process. This was at 7:00 pm. On a Saturday.

So, who’s with me? Pick up your pom-poms and let’s go.

Two bits, four bits, six bits a dollar. Just hearing about Russell’s Saturday makes me want to holler!

- posted by Christi.