Words can’t describe how liberating it was to get behind the wheel of a car and drive. It had been just over a month of depending upon rides from friends, the metro, buses and of course our legs to get anywhere. The walking did us good and also forced us to become familiar with the public transit, but folks, there’s nothing like loading your groceries in your car! We had become leery of buying anything of weight like liquids because of the journey home (we had been using our strollers for buggies). I’m sure as a single person, or even small family with 1-2 children, you can make do without a car here, but a family of 8 simply can’t move fast enough or carry enough on foot to maintain to expect to get anything done except survive.
Anyway, I rented a car for the month. I found a decent deal on a small Daewood (Honda Civic but smaller i think) through a rental company that spoke English. They threw in insurance for the month and for about $25/day, we are in business while we continue to wait for our container/truck which is still (at last check) in the US.
Here’s a couple pictures of our first day of travel. Broderic, Brent and I drove the 90 minutes south to RZ to review the progress on our house. We spent Friday and Saturday there, the boys spent the day with the Gollans at a lake and I painted with the guys at the house. Upon arriving we stopped at the bus stop because I found out earlier that they sold a sort of ‘hot dog’ there and we hadn’t eaten lunch yet. So before heading up to the house we quickly stopped to eat. I had earlier warned the boys to lock the doors when exiting the car (not used to the manual locks), but hadn’t thought to say anything about not worrying about that when you are within 5 ft of the car and the keys are still inside!! Next thing you know we are right back to where we started, on foot in RZ, but this time we don’t even have a phone, everything is locked inside the car with the keys dangling from the ignition. I wasn’t hungry anymore but the boys didn’t seem to mind, they ate the hot dogs while I stared into the sky and wondered why God had it in for me. The only option was to leave the car, which also had my laptop, passports, and about $15k I had owed Daniel for materials/labor, and walk the 2km to Dan’s for help. I tried to explain to some guys at the bus stop about my dilemma, they laughed and said there was no such thing as AAA or a local key maker (job opening in Rz!).
Well, I wanted to share this silly story because God is so kind to us. I had decided that we better get walking, and told the boys to follow me when I spotted a white van parked just 100 meters away… could that be Daniel’s van? Sure enough, Daniel waved and started walking toward me. It’s the first time he’s really looked like Jesus! ha. He was obviously curious why we were hanging out at the bus stop, and soon rallied to the cause his father who was in town visiting, and together with some sticks, wires, and duct tape we had broken into our rental car and were back in business. It was a lesson in patience again, in trusting God and I’m thankful that the Lord monitors our whereabouts.
The house is coming along slowly but surely. Upstairs rooms have been painted and look great. The bathrooms and kitchen should be completed (roughed in) this week. Kolya, Sasha and Alyosha have been doing a good job and we’re hoping that by the middle of July we can come down as a family and stay on the weekends. We haven’t purchased appliances yet, hoping to do that in the next week or so. The yard outside is absolutely out of control with weeds and over growth. I’m told I need to get a Scythe, but I’m afraid I may chop off my own feet, those things look scary.
Deb and the kids are great. It’s been a time of testing for the family, and we’re definitely being stretched in many ways, but we’re exactly where we need to be and we praise God for His grace every day to handle what comes our way. I’ll catch you up on some other outreach/ministry info later, this has been long enough for now. Thank you for checking in and I pray you are being stretched and tested too 🙂 I pray that if you are need of anything, you will call out to God in prayer. From forgiveness of sins, to wisdom for the right decisions you are faced with, He is our source, and His well is deep!
“I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; From where shall my help come? My help comes from the LORD, Who made heaven and earth.” Psalm 121:1-2
Thanks Bruce,
How well I know the feeling of a locked car,with the keys inside.Thats stress!
Is that a pea green colour on the walls?
Looks like a Deb colour?
Dad
i can’t imagine 8 of you in that car along with groceries but i guess it beats walking! the house looks good. glad to hear all is well with the family. the comments about the Lord “His well is deep” and the scripture is just what i needed to hear tonite, it was like water on dry bones. love you guys, your on my heart all the time.
Don’t worry, stretching and testing continue on this side of the world too 🙂
The paint really helps…and I love the windows!! The arched ones are just beautiful!
You are right, God is so kind.
Ha! That’s quite the story. Good thing Noah wasn’t left locked inside the car! I hate when that happens! You will be so much stronger after these episodes, and able to handle things with God’s grace when others would freak out at the stress:) Your house looks great, I like the paint colour and windows too! Love ya!
Hey, my Polish friend told me that he uses a scythe for his yard, too! Just don’t start wearing one of those black shrouds while doing your yardwork…ok, bad joke.