Car Woes and Whoas!

We trekked into the city yesterday for a full schedule of fun. The morning really WAS fun, since I attended a Bible study with some other English-speaking missionary women. We had a time of worship, prayer for our countries, prayer for each other's needs, and a study of Esther 3 (we're working our way through the book). It was good to be among friends and hang out in Brenda's lovely home again.

After running several other busines-type errands, we went to the car lot where we purchased our SUV. It's been having problems since we bought it, and the seller told us to give it a little more time and bring it back, since the motor is under warranty. The little car they loaned us in the meantime is a tiny doorstop called a Fiat.

I got an uneasy feeling when the owner of the car lot asked an employee something about the air conditioning, got a negative response, and then sent the employee in the Fiat down the road. He told us to come back in a half hour. I think the employee went for a cross country tour, because we got the car without a drop of gas in it (thankfully the Esso station was across the road) and with enough air conditioning to last about 10 minutes. The wires for the windows are apparently all crossed up, too, as Ken had to do minor surgery on the driverside door to get the windows to roll back up. Unfortunately, the car lot closed after we pulled off, and we were stuck with this little slice of joy. I just prayed we could make it home safely.

The normal two hour drive was lengthened quite a bit because the Fiat kept randomly shutting off while we were driving, without warning. After the five-thousandth time, Ken learned that turning the car off, taking the key out, and then re-cranking it would work. He became a pro at doing this without losing his spot in traffic, so that cut down on how many times we had to pull over.

Caroline fell asleep and ended up slumped down on her side of the car, so Camille spent much of the ride holding her sister's seat in the upright position. It wouldn't lock and the weight of Caroline leaning back on it was all that was holding it up. We thought about having them trade seats, but it seemed both sides had the same problem.

We had a lot of laughs at the mishaps of the little car and finally determined that the car lot owner's plan was probably this: "I won't fix the SUV, but I'll keep it for a few days and let them drive a really bad car, so that they'll appreciate theirs when they get it back. They won't mind that it uses too much oil or runs hot or doesn't have functioning turn signals when they remember how bad that little Fiat was." Ha, ha! That's our theory, anyway. I hope he proves us wrong and we have our own vehicle back soon. Until then, we are having fun looking like the those 50clowns at the circus all crammed into the tiny car. Every day's an adventure!

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