Uganda Lessons in Driving

Well this week has been a whirlwind!  Many things have come together and some are still not yet together but Praise God He is in control of all of it and not me!!!

The week started off by spending a great deal of time in town trying to get Aid Sudan registered with the government, getting information on a radio project and looking for a car.  I knew the week was going to be interesting when my taxi driver showed up late in a manual transmission car.  I quickly found out that he doesn’t have a clue how to drive it and how he made it to pick me up I don’t have a clue!  So from that point forward I spend the rest of the beginning of the week training him how to drive a stick.  Thank God that he allowed me to learn this early in life and gave me lots of practice driving an 18 wheeler!!  Well for those of you who don’t know how taxis work here let me give you some instruction.  First of all no matter where you’re going, or how tight your schedule might be, you must stop by the petrol station and put some fuel in the car.  This is usually not negotiated in the price so you have to plan for it.  Well this day started in the same manner but we got about a kilometer from the petrol station and we ran out of gas, and my poor taxi driver who was struggling already with the manual transmission drained the battery trying to restart the car while we coasted down the hill to the petrol station.  I told him that we could praise God that we have a manual transmission today because we could roll it off and started it after we got fuel.  So I began explaining how to push the clutch in and put it into second gear and when we had some good speed to pop the clutch and start it.  He looked at me confused and jumped out of the car and said “you do it”.  So here I went and it fired right up.  The day continued to be interesting as I coached him along in learning to drive a stick.  So when you come to see me be prepared for anything and you will be amazed at how God will use the training you have had from the past to help you here!!

The other adventure we had this week was to attend a yard sale that some of the Baptist missionaries were having.  I always like to go to these things but I am a little tight with my money and my wife really has to encourage me to spend a little and buy a few things.  Well she had a great time rummaging through all the items and was able to find some great stuff that we really needed.  I on the other hand went and perused around the compound coming to a stop and resting against one of the mission cars.  One of the workers there came and asked me if I would like to buy that vehicle, I thought he was kidding because I had already talked with his boss who had told me that they didn’t have any more cars for sale.  So I jokingly said Yes!  He told me that his boss was going to sell some more and if I wanted one that he was sure that I could buy one.  He said for me to wait and he would go and talk with his boss.  Well I eagerly awaited his return and when he came back he told me that it was mine if I wanted to buy it!!  I was shocked and happy!!  I proceeded to go and talk with his boss and sure enough he wanted to sell some more vehicles.  I looked at the one I wanted and was able to take it on a test drive and then we talked about the price.  God was really working because the price was right in line, actually lower than my budget!!  I told him I would take it as soon as I could get the money wired!  So what I learned from this is that God is always in control and even though we may not know when and how He is going to work things out He always does it and right on time!  So at this yard sale I spent a lot more than I was bargaining too but I am glad that God gave my wife this idea to go to this yard sale!

Look out for next week!