Thursday 3 July 2014

Engine Malfunction



A weird beeping.

A yellow engine light appearing. 

And the words "Engine malfunction".

These are all fun occurrences on any given day but when you're in a country you don't live in and are 3 hours from any one you know? Oh and you don't speak even one word of the language?

Yesterday was a beautiful rest day. In the midst of a crazy schedule I was so thankful that I was able to have a "weekend" on a Wednesday and being so close to Helsinki I was able to hop on a ferry and explore there for the day, including lots of reading and starting a new eight-week devotional on abiding from John 15. And even having my hair wind and sea swept felt so good for this girl who misses living on an island. 

Today I was to pick up Amy, who is interning with JV for the next three months and will be living in my flat, from Tallinn airport in the afternoon. I spent the morning exploring the beautiful Tallinn!

After picking Amy up we were to head to Tartu, a two and a half to three hour drive, just under 200 km.

 I think we had just crossed over out of Tallinn's city limit when there was the previously mentioned beeping and lights appearing. 

You know, when we are three hours from the nearest person we know. 

I pulled into the kind-of hard shoulder and turned the car off and on again. More beeping. The same lights. 

I didn't feel good about where we were stopped and thought there was a petrol station just a little bit further along so we drove there. 

That's when we discovered my car manual doesn't speak English but French. 

I made some phone calls and talked to some wise men. And I was able to text the French explanation to someone who texted me back with what Google translate said. 

With a yellow light that was solid and not flashing it just talked about not accelerating or braking quickly. It did say to have it looked "immediately" but it didn't say anything about stopping the car, everything was about how to drive with it. 

The result was a decision to drive to Tartu. And that's what we did. 

And we got here safely! Praise God! The car was totally fine and normal. 

Tomorrow the plan was to get up and drive the five hours to a camp in Latvia and hopefully that will still happen. But first I hope to find someone who will plug a computer into my car and let me know what is happening. 

A quick google and a few phone calls to NI suggest it really could be nothing but with five hours to camp, three hours to Riga and fifteen hours home it's a lot of driving. And I don't really remember seeing more than two petrol stations in the whole of Lithuania. 

Would you please pray that there is an easy solution in the morning? And praise God for His protection and sovereignty! 

There are such exciting stories coming out of camps already, young people accepting Christ and stepping closer to Him, and I just want to get on the road to hear more of these stories! 



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