New Car!!!

It is fairly common here in Korea for people, usually military, who are leaving to give away their cars. I would say that a lot of the of the givers and receivers are believers, so it's more along the lines of blessing others.

When we moved to Korea we figured we would wait and see how things went before thinking about getting a car. Coming over everyone we spoke to about getting around in Korea raved about the public transportation. But what NONE of them had experienced was public transportation with toddlers. For the first 6 months Elisha wasn't even walking, so he had to be worn or carried everywhere. Needless to say, public transportation is not that great with little people and a stroller. The train is easy, but that also means making sure to find all the elevators, and not all the stations even HAVE elevators. Halfway through our time here someone gave us a much better double stroller, and that definitely helped, but there were still places that you either had to walk to or ride the bus, and couldn't get to by train.

So we started praying for a car. We prayed that God would either give us a car outright or would give us the funds specifically for a car. A few months ago a family from church felt led to give us their tithe for a car, which ended up being a free car from another army member, and their tithe for insurance. Well, because the car wasn't in the greatest shape, and it was switching from the military system to the Korean system, the Koreans refused to pass it, so we had to junk it. Bummer, dude.

So, we kept praying. We know that if God really wants us to have, or even do, something, He will make it work in His timing.

Another family at school lent us their car while they were in the States for the summer, which was a HUGE blessing. The afternoon of the day that we returned their car to them another family from our church contacted us and said that they wanted to give us their car. (They were getting a slightly newer, slightly bigger car from someone ELSE at church.) And did we want it?? Well, yes, but we were slightly gunshy from the last time, so we asked lots of questions about the car. When those got answered satisfactorily, we agreed that their car would be a huge blessing to us.

So, insurance buying and a morning of paperwork at the vehicle registration place later, we own a car!!

Every time (okay, almost every time) we drive it, we thank God for it. It's not perfect, but it fits our needs. Ryan fits comfortably, the car seats fit, the stroller fits, and it's a good car. It is stick shift, as most personal vehicles here are, so Ryan has been learning to drive that. (He's doing really great!) Now he just has to get his Korean driver's license and he can start driving around, too. Yay!

With gas being more than $7 a gal. we don't just drive it for the heck of it, but so far it has been a huge blessing to us, and we are so thankful!


For those interested, its a 1994 Kia Capital. There are lots more models of both Kias and Hyundais here than in the states. And they're better made. By far.