December 14, 2012
A MONTH AGO our car was towed from our place in Jataity to
Asuncion (5 hours away).
WEDNESDAY Jeff and Ryan took a 4:30AM bus to Asuncion to get
the car.
THURSDAY at 2:00 they arrived back in Jataity.
FRIDAY we all packed up and headed into Asuncion for medical/dental
appointments, to Christmas shop and run various errands and to attend our
annual mission training. It was raining
and muddy from the night before and we slipped and slid for 1 ½ hours till we
hit pavement. It was then that we
realized that the transmission was not working!
We limped our way to the next “big” town and called a tow truck. Once it arrived, we all piled in the car
which sat on the tow truck. Sound
safe? Well, the driver assured us that
most of his clients ride that way. We
figured it might actually be safer (and cooler) than a bus (which Jeff wasn’t
too keen on taking since he had just ridden on a bus a couple days ago and
nearly tossed his cookies). It was a
scary feeling being so high up on the platform, weaving through traffic and
going around corners and being so not in control. But we survived. We made it into Asuncion 8 hours after
starting.
Now we
are in the city - carless and with a pared down to-do list. Mission training begins Monday.
Doesn't our car scream "wash me!"?
This is while waiting for the tow truck.
UPDATE: a few days later we got our car back, praise God. I went out to shop with a friend and after
our 2nd stop the gear shift wouldn’t allow me to put it in
park. Praise God, another missionary
family was just around the block and came to the rescue. He called the mechanic
for me and within 30 minutes the mechanic arrived. After looking under the hood, under the dash
and under the car, he finally figured out the problem. It was a simple fix.
A few days later we headed out of Asuncion and we cruising
along until we hit the muddy road. Immediately
we started to loose traction. Jeff went
to put the car in 4x4 but it wouldn’t work!
We slid and slid and finally ended up in a ditch waiting for a tractor
to come along and pull us out. As we
waited, we saw about 5 other people also being sucked into the bank, needed to
be pulled out as well. We made it home
without a hitch after that.
Jeff checking out the owner's mannuel while stuck in the mud.
I'm so glad that our kids are good travellers because we travel a lot.
