The Good News and The Bad News of a Week

April 11, 2008


It has been a week of good news and bad news. The good news is that the Supreme Court judged the law "Hoy no Circulo" (Today I do not circle, or drive) unconstitutional, hence it has been revoked. Sadly the government spent a lot of money on manufacturing the stickers and then staffing the many different booths that distributed them. I did not notice any difference in the number of cars on the road Tuesday or Wednesday when the law was still in effect. My life is made much easier by being able to drive on Mondays again though I do want to be conscientious and not drive when it is not necessary. A big frustation has been that all of the streets in my neighborhood suddenly became One-Way streets overnight, but not all of the intersections are marked so you really do not always know which way you can go. Because of this police have been standing out at the intersections to direct people. In general though people just drive which ever way they want to and I find it tempting to do the same. There seems to be little rhyme or reason as to which streets go which way and so to get my apartment I sometimes have to go 4 blocks out of the way. It does not seem to be designed to help the country save on gas.

The bad news -- my car is proving to be very difficult to repair because the parts are so hard to come by, both here in Honduras and in the US (something I should have investigated better before buying the vehicle -- I obviously had not done too much car shopping before). The air compressor is not working for my A/C so I took it in to get it fixed. The mechanic told me that they have not been able to find the part and he has been looking for over a week. Since I already cannot operate the windows in such a way as to get a cross breeze, driving in the city gets to be very hot. On the highway the A/C seems to partially work. I am ready to get rid of this car and find something with less issues but that is much easier said than done. Whether we can find a part in time for my sister to bring it from the States, I am not sure but I need to figure out some solution to these car problems and so I am praying for some wisdom. In talking with other missionaries though I am realizing that any car repair here in Honduras tends to take a while to resolve. While in the US the mechanic will be the one to find the necessary part, here the car owners often have to go out and shop around for the part. The mechanics do not want to be held responsible if a part does not fit. From what I understand my mechanic is doing the searching but maybe I should be out visiting shops. At any rate, any car I would own would pose similar problems when there was a repair needed. And due to heat, humidity, and quality of roads, repairs are more frequent here. Perhaps I can learn more about cars and at least diagnosing them from my experiences this car.

As for other events of the week, I had some good time at camp before returning to the city where I have been continuing translation of materials to Spanish and writing new lesson plans. In the evenings I had several basketball practices and now tomorrow we have our first game. I went to a Thai Restaurant with a Honduran friend who spent some time in Thailand just after I visited there. Since I love Thai food the restaurant was a fun find. The food had a rather Caribbean flare to it, but I still enjoyed it. This morning before work I had a good chat with Emily (my roommate) and was reminded of what it means to be captivated by the Lord and seeking His face, not just answers from Him. It was a very timely conversation and I am thankful for what the Lord taught me through it.