On adVANcing the Gospel

Some of you may have been aware of our van problems for a few months. I had been working on our small van that belongs to my mother and had replaced a number of things I thought were contributing to the problems we were having with it misfiring and lurching up hills. Here is what I did, for you car buffs out there: I replaced the spark plugs and wires. I cleaned out all the air, vacuum and fuel hoses. I replaced the fuel filter twice, once before I added condensation evaporation additive and two types of fuel system cleaners, and once afterwards. I tried adjusting the timing on the distributor cap and air adjustment on the carburetor. After running a diagnostic on the car's computer system with an instrument I borrowed from a friend, which indicated the car was misfiring, as was already obvious :), I changed the Throttle Position Sensor (TPS). I did a number of other things to the van but it never seemed to solve the problem. The problem had developed after taking it to a shop after a belt broke and it never did run right after I took it there. I talked to them about it but they were not willing to say they did anything wrong so I was loath to take it back there and pay them to fix a problem they likely had created. Just last week we received a check in the mail from one of our supporting churches. This prompted us to bring it into the Mazda service center. (Motto: always get a professional to do a professional job!) They got the same diagnostic reading I did but found one of the spark plugs (I put in) was cracked, a vacuum hose was disconnected (likely what the other auto shop forgot to reconnect when they put on my belts) and that it needed a new distributor cap and rotor (two things I did not replace). To make a long story even longer, the van is now running great! Thanks to your prayers and the church who sent us the money, which was enough to cover 2/3 of the repair cost, we now have a running van again just in time for our Bible studies to start up in earnest. Just to let you know, many people have expressed thanks for the Bible studies lately. Juanita has been going through Malachi. We also had a group of friends come out to hear Jacob Prasch who was here in a local church on his way to the Philippines for some pastor's seminars. They were powerfully blessed, and one of the men said that he wished every church on the island could hear what Jacob preached from Heb. 12-13. I have been receiving many thanks through my web site also lately for the information and articles provided there and for my personal responses. I will be starting my study in 1 Cor. when mom finishes. Thanks again for your prayers. The Lord has been very good to us and has continually provided for us, many times using you, our faithful supporters, to do so.

In His hands,
Sandy Simpson