The Death of our Pajero!

 Yesterday, on our way to an AIM staff retreat in South Africa, our Pajero broke down. We were stuck alongside the road. For those of you from South Africa, we don’t need to tell you that is not a good place to be. To our American friends, just think “sitting duck”. There are even signs posted in various areas by the roads to tell drivers for their own safety not to stop. In a word, it’s dangerous. There are many hijackings and theft and worse.

I looked in my rearview mirror, saw Jodi and Baby Emi, and realized that this could potentially be a very bad situation and that we really needed the Lord. Before I could even say anything, a car pulled up behind us and I looked into the eyes of the kindest man, and had an unexplainable peace and I knew that we were going to be ok. 

This older gentleman, Phillip, wanted to know if we were ok, if we needed help, and if we needed water or food. He said that he drove by and the Lord told him to turn around and help us. So he did. Jodi and I both wondered if he were real or an angel. Seriously, he was so kind, and caring. He phoned his wife and she phoned around for a tow truck, and he waited with us by the side of the road for three hours! Who has time to do that? He never left our side for one moment. He told us some of his incredible testimony while we waited, about the overwhelming love of Jesus that he has experienced. Jodi had tears streaming down her face and I had chill bumps. Jodi truly thought this man was an angel. When the tow truck arrived, he loaded Jodi, baby Emi and myself into his car and followed the tow truck 21 kilometers up a mountain to the next town where the Mitsubishi dealership was.

The mechanic ran some tests and came to tell us with a smile that this car would never run again. We thought he was joking and laughed. He wasn’t joking.  He told us the best we could do was sell it for spare parts – that the engine was irreparable.

The irony is 2 days ago I took my motorcycle to South Africa and put it up for sale, in hopes that we could sell my bike and sell our Pajero and with that money buy a newer, safer car, as our Pajero is/was 14 years old. Those of you who know me well, know that this wasn’t an easy decision to sell the bike, but the thought of getting stranded with Baby Emi and Jodi alongside a South African road was enough motivation for me. Not to mention our fuel costs have practically equaled our rent lately.  Irony number two is the fact that we had a buyer for our Pajero who was supposed to transfer the money to our account TODAY!

So, our friends who are also here for the retreat came to fetch us at the dealership as we were now car-less. As Jodi and I were getting all of our personal belongings out of the car, we looked at one another and there was absolutely no fear, no despair, no anxiety, but just an incredible sense of peace, and that everything was going to be ok. Still now, as we’re writing this blog, we are overwhelmed with God’s peace.

The reality is we have no car. We are in South Africa with our bags at this retreat, and we have no car, but we do have peace. This is one of the most amazing experiences we have ever had. We wanted to share with you so you can be praying with us, because we are sure there is going to be a miracle! We can only experience the awesome provision and care of God when we don’t have the means to fix it ourselves.  We praise God for protecting us, and for sending us an encouraging, helpful messenger to remind us of God’s love for us and increase our faith. We will keep you posted as this journey continues (maybe on foot).

Love,

Marius, Jodi, and Baby Emi