Cars in Kenya

For all of you who drive, or buy cars, or even just fuel cars you will definitely find this story funny.  Hope this little story brings a smile to your face next time you have car problems or traffic problems.

So obviously coming to a new country and culture I expected to find changes in driving especially the main one which is driving on the opposite side.  I love to laugh at the things I learn that I never would have thought of and especially how I learn them.

The first funny experience I had was when I was going to refuel my friend's car at the gas station.  I pull up   and roll down my window(gas is full service here so not self service, I know nice).  The guy walks up and says no gas.  I saw another car sitting in the station, not realizing they were having a different service and thought to myself, "No gas? What does that mean?"  So I turn to my fellow missionary confused, and asked, "Do you have to belong to a membership for certain gas stations? Or is there something I have to do or sign or say to get gas? What is wrong?" She laughed so hard, because what I thought was something I did wrong was simply not understanding the simple statement. "No Gas."  She just said as sweet as possible to my confused person, "Jamie they mean, no gas, as in there is no gas at this station they ran out."  Yes, in America even with the gas prices and many cars I had never before found a station that ran out of gas.  So remember sometimes it is better to pay for high price gas then find out there is no gas at all.

The second experience I had with cars here that is unusual for me is buying a car.  I personally do not enjoy car shopping, shoe shopping I love, car shopping I just endure.  I was so blessed to have Wes offer to help me shop for cars, my limited knowledge is obvious to dealers and it was so great to have him be able to really look for a good car.  So Wes, Vicky, Natasha, and I went looking for a car that would be suitable for me here in Kenya. I was excited to have their help.  So we go on our first test drive of a car. Most importantly in shopping for cars is to make sure air conditioning works, so we are testing that out as well.  In Kenya due to robberies a lot of dealers leave very little gas in the cars on the lot.  I am sure you know where this is going..... Yes you are correct we  ran out of gas on our test drive.  So Vicky and I and the cars salesman get out of the car and push from the back to get the car out of the road.  I was laughing so hard since here I am in a dress and Vicky in heels pushing this car.  That is definitely hands down the most fun I have ever had shopping for a car.  Please continue to pray as I have not bought a car yet, but it looks as if God has provided a good one, just pray all the details work out and it would be a blessing to the ministry here.

The most important thing in the mission field and in life is to just be able to laugh at yourself and situations.  I am always so happy to just be able to see the humor in things.

Pushing the stalled car.

In Him,
Jamie