Retro: The Fish Tank (2005)
Hannah and Nathanael admire our fish tank, on this day ten years ago. To hear the whole story, check out Pets and Fish is plural.
Hannah and Nathanael admire our fish tank, on this day ten years ago. To hear the whole story, check out Pets and Fish is plural.
*sigh*
So I’ve been looking at vans over this past week, online, and in person. Well, after some checking and test-driving, I found a van that seemed to be in good shape. It was quite a drive from where we were – but for a reliable van, it was worth it.
One thing, though. The air conditioning didn’t work. That would have to be fixed. But otherwise, things looked great.
But – better to be safe than sorry. It was already at a Dodge dealership, so I had the dealership do a full mechanical inspection.
The air conditioning was recharged and working (so I heard), and the inspection came out fine – just a little brake work needed, which was done.
So we met the owner at the dealership. And I wasn’t quite satisfied yet. After all, we have a long trip ahead of us.
So I asked to talk to the mechanic personally. What would you recommend I do next? What kind of guarantee do I have? And so on and so on.
After grilling the mechanic, I was satisfied.
We got in the van to check things out one more time. And guess what? No air conditioning.
Now what? Well, we finally decided to propose a lower price, for the work still to do on the air conditioning. The seller agreed.
Now to get the patient guy his money. There was no bank close, so after some conversation we decided to drive to the nearest bank, about 25 minutes away.
I thought I could make it on that tank of gas. I really did. But when the gas light came on, there was no more risking – after all, I had no idea how low the dial could go.
So I wasted more time turning around, going back to the gas station, getting in line, putting in gas, and then getting back on the road.
The seller had gone on ahead of us. But as I drove out on the highway I realized – the bank is going to be closed.
Ok, I admit it, I was pretty frustrated by this time.
So I drove a little bit, thinking of alternate plans, and then decided to call the seller – who would now be waiting at the bank wondering who these people were who had absconded with his van.
He called me just then. And he checked the bank – I was wrong – it was open for a while yet. *phew*
On I drove. Well, at least I had had a good chance to drive the vehicle. Everything was working fine. Looked like it would be a good van.
Until the little light on the dash went on.
I was only maybe 6 minutes from the bank. The problem was, I had no idea what that little light meant. It had an exclamation mark in it – looked serious…
Then I smelled something funny.
Then the smoke started rising from under the hood.
Nowhere to pull over, so I stopped in the middle of an exit, with traffic whizzing by on either side.
Apparently the light on the dash meant that a tire wasn’t inflated properly. The smoke under the hood? Not sure about that…
I called the seller (who I should perhaps stop calling “the seller” at this point), and he met me at a nearby gas station.
Some kind of fluid was everywhere under the hood.
Let’s just say I didn’t buy the van.
So, after a few hundred dollars of driving back and forth and a safety inspection…
Wait – a full safety inspection at the dealership… the AC they fixed not fixed, a light on the dash, fluid everywhere…
Well, I thank the Lord for whatever He has in all of this for us – perhaps protecting us from a lemon – and now we start from scratch.
Let’s just say someone was loading a van on a tow truck this afternoon – and it wasn’t us!
Discouraging? Yep. But God is in control – I’m glad He is and not me. So – tomorrow is a new day.
Maybe I should get a horse* instead.
* In the early days of automobiles, frequent breakdowns led to the common cry – “Get a horse!” from those who used the more reliable animal transportation.
I wanted to let you all know that we will be sharing this Sunday (that is the 16th of August 2015) at First Evangelical Free Church in Calgary. The service starts at 10:30am. I will be preaching and also sharing about our ministry in Mexico.
If you miss that, the week after we will be at South Calgary Chinese Evangelical Free Church (23rd of August). We will just be sharing briefly. There will be a joint service at 9:30am, so it will be in both English and Cantonese.
Hope we can see some of you there! 🙂
So we have arrived in Canada and are getting to work on the various tasks we need to accomplish before we drive back to Mexico! As most of you know, one of the key things we’re planning to do is replace our van. For more information on why we need to do this at this time, read The Van Project.
Because of these particular circumstances, we received permission from our mission agency to do a personal project for the van (I believe this is the only personal project we’ve done during our almost 9 years in Mexico). As of the last report, we now have 10% of the total that we’re raising for the van and related expenses.
If you would like to give to this project, it is open until the end of the month. However, because we are planning to buy the van this month, it would be very helpful for us to know what funds we have available.
So if you are planning to give, it would be great if you could let us know, so that we can make our purchase based on what is actually in the project fund.
To give in Canadian dollars, you can donate toward the Cottrill Van Project, project #082708V. The project will be open until the end of August. Visit our Canadian donations page here.
To give in US dollars, please donate to our general fund and not to the project. In other words, you can just make a special gift as you normally would. For information on how to give in $US, click here.
Thanks so much to those who have given to this project! And thanks for those who have asked for an update and shown interest. As you know, our van has been an important tool in our ministry. Please pray with us that we can find a reliable vehicle which can be used in the work in central Mexico. God knows what we need, and He can provide!
We are so thankful for the 11 people who were baptized this past Sunday at Path of Life Bible Church in Jesús MarÃa! This is a big step, and it’s amazing what God has done!
We were unable to be there, but have been rejoicing as we hear the news and see the pictures. God is working – Rejoice with us! 🙂