I'm Dreaming of a New Toyota (Well, not so new, maybe)

I know you are tired by now of hearing about car troubles and such. But that has been my life as of late. Now we are in the process of buying a new used vehicle. I have looked at more vehicles than I care to think of. One of the first was a Suzuki Gran Vitara - but decided it was too small in the luggage department, although a very nice car. Below are just a small sample of what I have looked at.

This nice 99 Toyota Land Cruiser also runs on bottled gas - but the bottle takes up at least half of the cargo area and you have to crawl over it to get in and out of the back. Price - $22,500. Decision - too much gas!

Now this next little beauty was eye catching.

A 2004 4Runner for only $19,000. A real nice car, blue color. nice interior. Problem - one head on too many and the right corner of the engine wired together. Oh well, I was really hoping on this one.

Next was the Ivan Cruiser (my name for it). a 1999 nice Land Cruiser, nice body and so on. But, Car Fax discouraged me.

Then there was this 4Runner, half 1998 and half I don't know what. I like half and half on my cereal but not in my cars.

This leads me, then, to this sweet little car.

A 2004 Toyota Highlander, $18,000. So far everything checks out good. Car fax is encouraging, ny coworkers are ok with it. Just need approval from the office and my mechanic. (He nixed my last find.) I have an appointment to drive it a bit more today and run it by the mechanic. So, unless some unforeseen thing happens, it may end up in the Elliott garage.

I share this to illustrate that things which are often fairly easily accomplished in the US just take a lot more time in a developing country like Bolivia. And basically there is no protection for the buyer. So you have to make sure that paper work is ok, taxes are paid, the car is in the country legally and so on because you have no one to blame but yourself. I guess that is part of why your missionary friends need so much prayer. So thanks for praying.

On The Care And Feeding Of Missionaries

How do you care for a missionary? That is a good question. Missionaries, like anybody in professional ministry, give most of the time and often have little opportunity to receive and replenish. Our mission board (Evangelical Church Missions) is aware of that and tries to take good care of us. So, this last week, our board arranged for a pastoral counseling couple to come to Bolivia to spend some time with our field crew.

Charlie and Margie Wilson, who serve with Barnabas International, spent not quite a week with us giving us encouragement and getting to know our team. The first evening they were in Santa Cruz they gave a seminar on marital communication. There was a nice group out for it and the presentation was quite on target.

The next day was run around with Gordon and see the churches in Santa Cruz then off to Cochabamba that evening to meet with the entire staff.

Despite sick kids and a sick Mom, we enjoyed the fellowship with the others and Charlie and Margie had the opportunity to become acquainted with everyone. We also had time for a trip up to the Cristo (a statue of Christ a little bit taller than the famed one in Rio de Janero).

The choices for getting up the mountain to the Cristo (Charlie thouoght we said we were going to a pre-school) are driving in a car, climbing the 1400 stairs or going up in the gondola. We chose the gondola. Evidently a good choice according to the warning posted at the gondola station.

There was time for Uncle Gordon to take the kids for ice cream while the Wilsons met with some of the other missionaries.

Sunday morning some of us went to hear JJ preach at a small struggling church in Cochabamba. He will be helping out for a number of weeks.

After some more time together with the Wilsons and a birthday celebration for James it was back home to Santa Cruz.

In between all the partying we had good visits with Charlie and Margie who patiently listened to our joys, concerns and just general chatter. Thank you for being there to listen. Sometimes that is all it takes to care for a missionary -  someone outside the loop with whom to share. We look forward to having you return next year!