My Car Found Me!

 I am finally buying a car!!!  The whole story is so incredible.  There is NO DOUBT this is the car God wanted for me.  AND it's a car I love!

Car shopping has been going on for so long I can't even remember all of the details, but basically Jairo has been searching for a car for me since July 2012.  His friends bring cars to the church for me to look at.  We all agree there is one problem or another with each car and decide it is not the car for me.  Samuel Wood was helping me to look over the cars because he knows about that stuff.  Finally he said let's go to an agency (dealership).

On the day he took me shopping he had gone earlier in the morning and scouted out 3 cars he thought I would like.  We went to the first place and he started walking over to the corner where 2 cars that he liked were, but I saw a different car.

The week before I noticed the same car everywhere I went.  It was a coffee colored Honda CRV.  On the Wednesday before I said to Lourdes' sister, Belinda, "I like that car.  It's a nice color."  On Thursday I told Josselyn, "Isn't that a nice car?  Do you like it?"  On Good Friday that same car followed Hermida and me everywhere.  In tiny little El Hatillo we saw it four times!   (Probably not the same exact car, but the same color.)  I told Hermida I think that car is following me!  I never noticed it before and now it has been everywhere I look for three days.  I did wish I could buy that car, but I thought it only came in new models and would be too expensive for me.

So Sammy and I are at the dealership and there is the car!  He had two different cars in mind for me to look at but I told him I have to  go look at this car because everywhere I go I see the same car.  I explained that I've been asking God for a sign when I find the right car, and this could be it.  He said okay.  We looked inside and I loved it, but I didn't test drive it because I didn't want to get attached to it.  He still had more places to take me.

We went to the next place where he showed me a Montero Sport, which I liked and it was cheap, but it uses too much gas and gas here is EXPENSIVE!  I told Sammy if I buy this car Jairo will kill me.  Then we went back to the office and Jairo said his friend had another car for me to look at.  His friend pulled into the church with the same car that was following me!  I couldn't believe it!  Turns out that car was a piece of junk.  It had been in a few bad accidents and the repairs were poorly done.  I could see the ground through the floor and the drivers' door didn't shut right so it made a whistling noise.  The whole car was out of alignment so much that the rear end was no longer square.  That was not my car.

Walter said he would take me back to test drive the first car I saw when I was with Sammy.  We got too busy that day and there wasn't time so he said on Monday we will test drive the car.  That was fine with me.  I thought if they sold the car over the weekend then it wasn't meant for me.

On Monday I decided I wasn't going to mention the car but Walter went straight to the dealership on the way to the church.  As we drove up we could see that the car was gone.  If I had been driving, I would have just kept on going, but Walter pulled into the dealership and parked.  We looked around and I confirmed it was definitely gone.  Then Walter went and asked one of the workers where the car had gone.  I thought to myself what a silly question!  They sold it!  This is a car dealership!  But no, they didn't sell it.  They used it as a loaner for someone because the gas mileage is so economical.  It wasn't sold!!!  So Jorge took my name and phone number and said he would call me in about a week when it came back from being loaned.  He was the same man who showed me the inside of the car the week before.

Then Jairo's friend brought a Kia Sorento for me to see on Friday.  I really liked it.  A lot.  I did research on line and read nothing but good things.  They said it was a gas guzzler, but this one was diesel, so it seemed perfect.  There was a noise that worried me and a couple of little things I would have to fix but nothing big.  I decided I would buy the Kia Sorento.   The agency told me I needed 3 years of residency in Honduras to qualify for a loan, so I couldn't get a car there.  This seemed like my best option.  Jairo's friend said he would talk to the owner and call me back in the afternoon, but he never did.  I figured the owner didn't want to sell it for what I could pay.

That night there was a conference at the church.  A church member asked me how the car shopping was going.  I told him I found a good car today, but it seemed like I wasn't going to be able to make a deal with the owner.  The man from church asked if I had tried any agencies (dealerships).  I told him yes, there is a car I really like at an agency, but it is a little more money than I have.   The man from church said he would co-sign for me to get a car and he would take me car shopping on Tuesday.  I was so happy and honored that someone I don't know very well would step forward and do that for me!

Tuesday morning my phone rang.  It was a number I don't know.  I NEVER answer numbers I don't know, but this time I had a feeling, so I did.  It was Jorge - the guy who took my name and number at the agency with the car that I loved.  He said the car was back and available for sale.  I explained I was going shopping with a friend and we may stop at that dealership today.

Jairo dropped me off to shop with the friend from church.  He said he has a friend who owns a dealership and he has been doing business with that man for a long time.  He really trusts the guy and knows the guy will give us a good deal.  He talked to the guy that morning and was told they even have a Honda CRV (which was the car I had loved this whole time).  He said we should go look at his friend's place first and if we don't find anything there are other places nearby.  I told him that Jorge had called me from the dealership and said that the car I loved was back on the lot.  We agreed that would be another option.

Do I need to finish the story?  The person from church and I were talking about the same dealership!  His buddy was Jorge's boss.  Jorge came and shook my hand, then later his boss came and shook my friend's hand.  We were all old buddies!  I test drove the car finally.  It was the ONLY car I drove that didn't have any funny noises.  My friend thought it was a great car too.  So we put money down on the car and got paperwork for a loan.

In Honduras - you know everything is different - the average interest rate is 18%.  That was a punch in the gut.  But everyone told me that it is just how things are here and I wasn't getting ripped off.  We took the paperwork home because other things have to be done here first - so we didn't actually sign the loan.

I called my Mom all excited because I knew God had chosen this car for me.  She was not as thrilled.  She told me I was crazy and almost hung up on me after she heard the interest rate.  Jairo kept asking why I let my Mom make me sad when I had been so happy.  Then I decided to apply for a loan in the US.  I thought I wouldn't qualify because I make so little money.  I don't qualify for a car loan because I'm not buying a car in the US, but I QUALIFIED FOR A PERSONAL LOAN!!!!!  So the money is already in my account.  My Mom isn't mad anymore.  In fact she actually went to the bank and helped with the paperwork!  Now we are just waiting for the IRS people to do some paperwork and then we can write a check for the rest of the money and drive away with my car!!!

Do you know that many loans in Honduras have 40% interest?????  Gosh!

I will get the car Monday or Tuesday.  I was a little concerned because car insurance here is expensive, but I knew I needed it and I knew I was following what God wanted for me.  Today a friend from Iglesia en Transformación told me that he and his wife discussed it and they want to support me.  They want to pay for my car insurance.  They chose really good covereage which also has the equivalent of AAA included - in case I get a flat tire, or lock my keys in the car, etc.  Can you believe that????

It was a long story, but I wanted you to know all of the details!  When you see a picture of me with my new car you will know all of God's work that went into it.  Walter stopping and asking where the car was and Jairo's friend not calling me back on Friday about the Kia Sorento.  (He called Saturday, Sunday Monday and Tuesday, trying to sell me the car but we never came up with a payment plan that would have worked for me. )  If Jairo's friend had called me back Friday, then when the man at the conference asked about my car situation I would have told him I already found one.  I think about the fact that I got the call from Jorge and my friend got a call from the owner of the dealership and we went straight back to the same car that God had been showing me all of those days.  It was all God's hand at work for sure!  And I really can't believe I got approved for a loan in the US.  But I did!  Thank you God!

I am still feeling more and more at home at the church here in Honduras.  Besides having a member agree to sign a loan for me (but he didn't have to in the end) and buy insurance for me, the whole church prayed for my friend who was hit by a drunk driver on Saturday.  She died on Monday.  I received a lot of support from the church members.  They sent emails and texts saying they would continue to pray for her family.  In the past two weeks many of them have asked me to be their friends on Facebook, which is silly, I know, but it feels nice.  I finally feel like I fit in and am really a part of things here.  I've been doing more translation for Lourdes and Jairo.  Lourdes says she doesn't know what she would do without me.  I know Jairo is appreciative too.

Monday, when my friend was killed by a drunk driver and the bombs went off in Boston I saw this.  I thought it was cool.

I want to make light in darkness.