Vehicle Update and Help Needed

 

Dear Family and Friends,

Since our last newsletter a supporter has made a $10,500 pledge to help us get a new vehicle.    We were so stunned it took us a couple of days to start car shopping.   Now that we’ve looked for a week, we realize it’s not quite enough to find a reliable vehicle to meet our ministry needs.   This newsletter is being written to see if you or someone you know can get us to a point to push over the edge.  

We have much to be thankful for.   The vulnerability we live with can cause self-doubt.    Yet, each

week we see niches filled that wouldn’t happen without our presence on the northern plains.   We continue to preach in a variety of churches each Sunday.   Often African diaspora visitors are in our home.   Jana meets frequently with African women and nurtures them through healthcare for themselves and their family.   Our social media stays busy and conversations about the Gospel and culture continue across continents.  The beauty of North Dakota, continual adventure, and generosity of the people here lift our spirits and whisper to stay the course.

Our entire 12 years in America have been vulnerable, but cars have been an area where we have had few crises.   We found Christian ministries that provided low cost reliable used cars and trustworthy mechanics.    Also, three times someone has donated a vehicle to us.      Our 2006 Ford Taurus that we plan to replace we purchased for only $3,000 from Jubilee Cars (https://weareoutreach.org/resale-centers/.) It has given us 3 good years with few repair needs until the last few months.   We’ve now recently spent $1,500 on repairs.  We’ve used creative less expensive ways to keep it running such as bypassing the air conditioner.    The under body is thoroughly rusted, and it is likely that holes will completely come through the floorboard this winter.   We’re also now in those dog days of summer with temperatures at times over 100 and smoke filled air.   We can limp a long a few months, but we don’t dare try to get through the winter with this vehicle.  

We drive around 3,000 miles each month.   Of that we usually do between 200 and 500 miles each Sunday.   We will always drive on at least 5 miles of gravel.   We may drive on up to 10 miles of gravel.  Occasionally, we will go 2 miles on a country dirt road.   If we have a normal winter, there will probably be 20 times in which we will be going through a couple inches of snow or with some ice pack.  It seems wise for us to have a Sports Utility Vehicle or Pickup with four wheel drive or all wheel drive.   As we have looked locally, we sometimes see a used SUV in our current price range.   However, they have lots of miles.  They are sold quickly before we can thoroughly research the vehicle.  Once, a dealer candidly told us the problems and he took the vehicle off the market for which we are so thankful.

Our best possibility seems to be to go with the services of MATS – Missionary Auto Truck Services (https://mats.org/.)    We rented a vehicle once from them on a furlough.   Over the years our family (including adult kids) has bought 3 vehicles from them.    As we’ve dialogued with them their counsel is that for $10,000 it would be difficult to find a reliable SUV.   They thought if our budget could increase to $15,000 it is quite likely that they would be able to find us a reliable replacement.     (For a short videos on their thoughts check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNCjGvOHsEs&t=47s.)

This makes so much sense to us.   We’re not experts at sorting through cars and it’s wise to use the

expertise of others.   MATS has a history of helping with many missions and has been a Godsend to us in the past.   They are trustworthy in an industry that can be difficult to navigate.   Our energy and time need to go into getting more set up tasks done with Rural Diaspora Community and providing pastoral care.   Though a possibility may arise different than the MATS option this one seems the most likely in the next few months.   

If you would like to give to us personally you could send a check to 11309 Main St. Killdeer, ND 58640 or you could send us a gift through Venmo (@mzee-Jenkins), PayPal (mzeedavejenkins@gmail.com), Zelle (mzeedavejenkins@gmail.com), or Cash App ($mzeedave).

Thank you to each one who has read this and put us into your thoughts and prayers.

Mungu akubariki (May God bless you),

Dave