Turning Corners

We had quite the week. All of a sudden, I have a calling, and we have a car. Say what? You heard correctly. Austin and I bought a car. It was the most impulsive, accidentally on purpose thing we could have done, but it will be a good thing. We really bought the car without meaning to. The whole situation is funny because I am SO stubborn and was pretty adamant against buying a car. It seemed like such a hassle between getting a license, paying the associated fees, figuring out how to drive and where to go here, and the mess of having to get rid of it when we leave, and fixing it's problems while we are here. Problems? Oh yes! Buy a car, buy its problems. "Island cars," as they are known, are old, junky, and do little more than drive. Plus, they have a history of owners. So, how did we get into this mess? Well...We have been toying with the thought of moving, mostly for location sake. Then, Austin came back from an Elder's Quorum meeting last week that lasted 4 hours. FOUR HOURS!! As if that weren't enough, he came home with the assignment to home teach 4 families. Him nor his companion has transportation so the thought of doing so was overwhelming. Can you blame him? Between that and not wanting to deal with the thought of moving and because I am feeling guilty that we depend on others for transportation and can't give much service in return- the thought of getting a car became more serious. 

Our neighbor happens to fix cars and sell them. I called him to see if he couldn't help us look for cars. All of a sudden, he called an hour later and said we had a car for us. Uh.... 

We drove it around the block and before I knew it, we wrote him a check and didn't know what we had done. 

Already, I feel liberated having a car. Knowing that we have the freedom to go to the pool and the store is quite awesome. It was nice not to walk to church this morning and nice to come home. There are plenty of problems with are car. I'm not kidding when I say it only drives (and the radio works, but I wish it didn't); but I feel good about buying from our neighbor because I have the promise that he will fix things and take care of us. Pray for us!

I decided to name our car Michelangelo after the Ninja Turtle because that's what the inside reminds me of. (One of the other moms told me we had to name our car.) I can now say that I have driven on the wrong side of the street rightly. It's a mental game at first, but really isn't so bad. The tricky part is learning how to maneuver the roads as they are so narrow and often so steep. I'd bet a lot of the hills here are 60-70% grade. You think I'm kidding! Really! I don't think we will be driving anywhere at night either. That's tempting death. No lines and horrible glares makes it difficult to see anything. It doesn't help that the people camouflage in the night too.

The other big news is that I am now the second counselor in the Primary presidency.  After being in the Primary for the last 4 years, I guess it wasn't enough. This will be a good place for me: I can stand up more often and avoid getting "bum sore;" the kids are easy to talk to; and I don't worry about Eden being completely silent the whole time.They have it set up so that I can go to RS at least once a month, but being a counselor also means I am a teacher. There are only 15 kids: 2 classes and nursery. 

The Senior Missionary Sister told me that a while back they were praying for good families to come into the branch. A month later, the Kims- who is now our new Branch President- moved to St. Kitts. A month later, a family from Utah arrived. Another week later, we came with the other Utah family. She said, "I guess we just needed good families from Utah (and our Korean president)." So, I know why we are here. It's not because we want to be, but maybe because we need to be. 

We are getting into a more normal routine here. I think we are accustomed to life. At the pool this week, the craziest thing happened. I was sitting on the edge with my feet in the water when I kept feeling little pokeys on my bum. I looked down once thinking I had sat on something, but couldn't see anything. I looked down again, nothing. Finally, I stood up and the other moms started yelling at me to get in the pool. There were- what they said to be- 100-200 ants around my swim bottoms- all different sorts: sugar ants, military ants, fire ants. They were biting me, the little buggers! They didn't have to tell me twice. I quickly handed Eden off and jumped in the pool, stripping my pants as I went. ewww! Ha.... paradise. .