Thursday morning at 5 am, Charlie (missionary
in Porvenir) takes haille and I to board a 7.5 hour bus to Tegucigalpa. We were
headed to a women's missionary retreat. The week was full of refreshment,
meeting other missionaries and just spending time with the Lord.
By noon on Sunday, Amber (missionary in Tegus)
offered to drop us off at the bus terminal so we could head back to Ceiba. As
we were pulling in the parking lot, the bus was pulling out. Great. The next
bus, 5 minutes later, was going to San Pedro Sula, so we bought a ticket there
with the intentions of hoping on another bus to ceiba. Well, we were on the bus
and I realize that by the time we get to San Pedro, we will have missed or cut
it too close to catching the last bus to Ceiba. So, we grab our stuff, beg the
driver to let us off, and let us change our tickets. With much "pretty
please" we grab our things, head back to the ticket booth, along with
several nasty stares, and change our ticket. Well, that was for the next bus 3
hours later. So....what else to do when waiting 3 hours, buy lots of junk food
and watch some terror movie playing in the terminal in Spanish. We settle in,
run into a police officer stationed in Porvenir who was in Tegus visiting his
family, then the oldest little man sits down next to me. He pulls out a folded
up piece of paper, stored in a folded up old potato chip bag and asks me to
call his daughter to let her know he has arrived. The call is made and the
conversation starts. Come to find out he was in the military stationed outside
Porvenir. He knew all about the town and asked if the Pineapple fields were
still producing pineapples. He was floored. So sweet. Out of his red bag of
folded up chip bags, he pulled out a picture of himself back in his military
days. All of his beloved memories were held in that red bag of bags. The
conversation ended and we patiently waited with his for his daughter. She
arrived. We were relieved.
We
arrived in Porvenir 8 hours later at 11 at night. After a quick shower, quick
repacking of clothes for the next day and then to bed. By 6 am we were up again
and by 7 out the door. This time, in the car, headed to San Pedro Sula with
Isabella and her mom. The oil and water were checked in the car and on our way
we were.
About an
hour and half down the road, we came to a stand still for road construction. A
few minutes passed and then....the car shuttered off. Just shut off. Great. So
I call Charlie as someone saw what was happening and came to help. He
"diagnosed" it was a fuse problem. So he pushed the car to the side
of the road to "help" (charge). An hour, hour and half goes by and he
says we are good to go. I pay him and we continue. Realizing we have JUST
ENOUGH time to make it to Isabellas appointment. BUT I have to book it. No
problem, in a country where speed limits and road rules are non existent, no
problem. About 30 minutes down the road the air conditioning goes out. Ok,
well, we will just have to deal with it. Windows rolled down. It starts to rain
a bit. Windows back up. Rain stops. Windows down again. Another 30 minutes goes
by and we are almost into the city. There is a police block in the road, so I
slow down to get into the other lane. Well....my steering wheel gets hard and I
cant turn. Great. I force it to the side of the road and shut it off. It
overheated. Everything went bad from there on out. We waited 30 minutes for it
to cool down. We added water. Not a lick of water was in the motor. Added all
the water we had (6 bottles). Tried to start again, nothing. Call Charlie
again. Nothing.
The Lord
is so good. At our missionary conference just the day before, we roomed with 2
ladies from San Pedro Sula. What lovely people and really a blessing from the
Lord. So I called Ashley. Asked if her husband knew anything about cars and/or
if they had a mechanic that could help. So I call her mechanic. He comes out,
brings and pours in a gallon of water. Tries to start it. Nothing. So, we are
towed to his shop. (We are now 3 hours the second time on the side of the road)
This is the situation:
At this
point we have missed Isabellas appointment but changed it to the afternoon. So
once we get to the shop, its now 2 and her appointment is at 3:30. By 3, when
we still had no answers from the mechanic on what went wrong, we grab a cab,
rush to get fast food (no one had eaten all day), take it to the doctors
office, devour the meal just as the last patient leaves the Doctors office. We
walk in (with all our belongings, clothes, backpacks, etc) and switch our minds
from the car to Isabella. We had a successful appointment, explaining the
situation to the Doctor, and hearing what he has to say about it. He prescribes
her medicine (yes, more medicine) and says if we strictly follow his orders, we
will see him again in a month and she should be parasite free. All her
intestinal problems will be solved once the parasites are gone. Basically, the
parasites are eating her from the inside and causing damage of everything else.
So we
leave his office and now its time to switch back to the car issues. The mechanic
sends us a report of what needs to be replaced. $2,000 USD. My mouth drops.
WHAT. So then he sends another (because we explain, listen, we just need to get
back to La Ceiba), the second report he sends is $1,000 USD. OK half as bad but
where the heck and how the heck am I going to pay this. (Any one really would
understand the pickle we were in but as a missionary, this is 17 times harder).
I laugh. Great.
We call
Ashleys husband, Justin, who came to pick us up from the Doctors office. We
explain whats going on and he calls his ministry partner (Honduran) who deals
with the car situation for us. The mechanic who was working on our car, also
works on all the ministry cars with Ashley and Justin, so we were assured he
was doing what he was supposed to do and no funny business. Plus, now the
Honduran is involved and he made sure to get us a discount :) At that point,
any help counts.
We hear
back from the mechanic that the car would be done possibly Wednesday, but for
sure by Thursday.
Tuesday,
we had a second appointment with Isabella in Lago de Yojoa (about 1.5 hours
from San Pedro) to see a heart specialist. Ashley graciously offered to take us
to the appointment so we didnt miss that. By 6 am Tuesday morning we were out
the door; myself, Haille, Isabella, her mom (Keidi), Ashley and her two adopted
Honduran children (2 years old, Graciela and Aaron) We followed our directions
(Thank you Wendy!), got there by 8 and patiently waited our turn.
What we
thought would be a quick appointment turned into an all day event. We left by 3
PM. At this point, everyone is cranky, tired, the kids missed their nap, and we
just want to get home.
The
appointment was successful. We got Isabella registered for the program (The
foundation is called Amigos de Barnabe and they help with heart patients). We
found out our next steps and what to expect through the program.
So we
head back to San Pedro. First drop off Isabella and mom at the bus terminal to
catch the last bus back to Ceiba. (there was no need for them to stay and wait
for the car with us) We drop them off at 4:30 to catch the 5 o'clock bus.
....By 7 I receive a call that they had still not left the terminal. "Oh
gosh...." with a big sigh. There was a big soccer game (Honduras vs.
Mexico) and the highway was blocked from everyone leaving the game. 2 hours
later they finally left the station, but the entire time, Keidis phone was off
and I couldnt reach her so I had no idea where she was. By 10:30 she called to
say she was home. Thank goodness.
Wednesday we call the mechanic and he says it
will be done Thursday.
Thursday
we arrive at the shop, pay $1,000 and head on our way. A friend of ours, Alex,
a teacher in a bilingual school, was arriving to the airport Thursday so things
worked out well and we picked her up. As we were leaving the airport, waiting
to pay the exit fee, the car shuts down. Again. OH NO. WE WERE ON OUR WAY
HOME!!! So I call the mechanic, he comes out, we are towed again. He says ok
this is a quick fix (and $250 later), youll be out of here tonight! Two hours
later, he says he is sorry but we wont be able to leave until the next day,
Friday. So Friday morning we arrive back at the shop, wait once again, only to
be told he fixed the problem from the day before but now there is another
problem. By this time I just want to cry. Im loosing my sanity now.
Haille
headed back to Ceiba for a graduation and Alex and I stayed in San Pedro, yet
another night. We planned to take advantage of the situation, go see a movie,
go to the mall, eat goodies, but things took a turn for the worse, Alex got
sick and we spent the afternoon at the clinic, doing tests and getting medicine.
Saturday
morning I call at 9 to see about the car. He says call again at 11. I call at
11 and he says call again at 2. FINALLY he says its done! They pick us up in my
car, I give it a test run, only to find out I hear a ticking noise. We drive it
back to the shop, they check the noise and send us on our way. I go around the
block, hear the noise again and drive it back to the shop. (YES, even through
all this I still have the sanity to GO BACK to the shop, hahaha) After $1,250
they better fix it!!! Things are all good and by 4 we were on our way.
WE MADE
IT TO CEIBA! Praise the Lord. I drop Alex off and then head home. On my way
home, I run into our local firefighters who are broken down on the side of the
road, GO FIGURE. Of course I stop to help, even though my bladder is about to
burst and a 2 day trip turned into 6 and I just want my bed.
Finally
I make it home. Go visit the Marios because being away for that long is just
too much. I arrive at their gate and my little munchkin, Alyson, sees me and
runs towards me yelling LINAAAAAA. We embrace eachother, I cry, and things are
good again.
Even
though this week was terrible, awful, expensive and just bad news after bad
news, He is still Good. He is always Good. And through situations we dont understand,
He does. He had us there for a reason. We stayed with Ashley and Justin and
learned so much from them. We learned about their ministry, how things are run
and we have great ideas now! They were a huge blessing through this all and
really showed us and taught us a few things we needed to learn. So all in all,
I give Him thanks. A million times over again, I give Him thanks.
