MEMBER ARTICLE
By BARBARA and NORMAN Tyler
RECENTLY,
as we
were driving
home with the motorhome and
Goodie trailer from New England
SOR, we crossed into Connecticut
and suddenly a very loud sound
came from under the motorhome.
“What is that?” I asked Norman. He
said, “I don’t know, but it sounds
like the muffler came off.” I said,
“WHAT?” Yikes! Panic had me
going into action, but I said to
myself, “OK God, what do You
want us to do?” Well, He had the
plan all along. We saw some lights
off the highway, so we took the
exit to go towards them. They were
lights that’s it. So we drove a little
further and saw a Highs store with
a couple of pumps. We crawled in
there and the gentleman said he
couldn’t help us, but there was a
U-HAUL place down the road a little
ways. We drove away with a
tremendous noise going on. The U-
HAUL store was closed.
Unfortunately, we cannot turn
around easily without a BIG parking
lot. We traveled on down the
road and came across an area
where we could turn around. We
were in a residential area. Lovely
homes in a town named Essex. We
noticed another small gas station
and Norman squeezed us into it.
He wanted to have a look under
the rig. He went into the store and
a gentlemen said straight away,
“Oh no problem, let me put the
flood lights on and you jack it up
and I’ll get underneath with you
and we’ll see what we need.”
Oh, my gracious…This young
man said, “Let’s see how we can
help you.” Well, going back to our
packing up all the Goodies in the
containers and loading the trailer
in Rhode Island, there was ONE
wire hanger that was left out of
the containers. I just tucked into
my bag and took it into the RV. I
believe God planned the whole
thing, because guess what they
needed to fix the muffler? Yep...a
wire hanger!
The gentleman, named Mr.
Patel, said “I’m going to call my
friend to go and get some muffler
tape and bring it here.” We overheard
him talking and he said, “I
have some old folks that need
some help.” (Not so funny.)
While we were waiting, and the
two guys were under the RV, a
well-dressed lady drove into the
pumps looking for gas. I told her
the gentleman would be right with
her, he was helping us out. She
asked, “What is the problem?” I
told her the situation. She went on
with pumping her gas, then came
over and started talking to my
puppies, who were a little worried
about all what was going on.
Anyway, after talking for a little
while she gave me a big hug and
wished us well. So very nice.
Meanwhile, the owner of the
station said he’d make coffee while
we waited for his friend to come.
We had great conversations about
his family and of course all that we
do and the ministry of CMA.
Customers came in and out and we
chatted with several of them.
After a while, the gentleman
came in with the muffler tape and
we thanked him and asked how
much it was. He immediately said,
“No way are you to pay me for
doing this for you. That’s what we
are supposed to do; help one
another out when we can. I was
blessed to be able to do this for
you guys.” WOW!! As it turned out,
he owned the little restaurant that
was next door to the gas station.
He had to leave to go pick up his
daughter, but said if we needed
anything else to let him know and
off he went.
So then Mr. Patel took the tape
and jumped out to go under the
RV. He promptly put it on and said,
“That should get you to a place
where you can get it properly
fixed.” We tried to pay him for all
his help, but he would not hear of
it. He kept saying it was his pleasure.
He gave us big hugs and said it
was like being able to take care of
his grandparents. Praise God. We
drove off just shaking our heads
saying how great our God is. We
just have to turn it all over to Him;
He had the whole plan to start
with. CMA
Barbara and Norman Tyler serve as
Goodie Reps for the Northeast Region.
11⎪AUGUST 2020⎪www.cmausa.org