Adventures with "Killi La Kia"

The last few months have been busy and fun and full of all sorts of various adventures!

I finally decided on a name for my car, Killiana.  Killian apparently use to be the name for a female warrior, but has more recently become a boys name.  So, I decided that adding an "a" at the end and making sure that it was a known girl's name, and of course she has to have a nickname which is, "Killi the Kia".

My mom and I spent time in Coban which she was here visiting.

We joined a group from New Mexico and went on a week long medical trip up in the mountains.  It was great, we loved it!!!  I really enjoyed having my mom along on one of my trips and getting to spend the time in ministry together!!!

My car Killiana did great and had no problems.

Mom working hard in the pharmacy!!!

Doing home visits to check on mom and newborn baby!!!

Then my friend Jackie and I went to Belize.  I had to leave the country for my visa, but it was an awesome excuse to enjoy a few days on the beach!!!  We traveled by car, boat, bus, and foot to get to and from our destination!  It was quite the adventure, but it all went surprisingly well!!!  We got to spend my birthday on a private island in the middle of the ocean surrounded by crystal clear water - it was amazing!!!!!

We picked up my car in one of the port cities of Guatemala at the end of our trip and drove the 6 hours back to my apartment.  We had no problems and everything was great!  We pulled into my garage and Jackie noticed that the front passenger tire was mostly flat.  No idea why or how.  So, we jump back in the car and drive just a couple blocks to a Pinchazo - or tire guy.  He had taken a nail out of my tire before so I figured it would be on ok person to go back to.  He checked the tire and couldn't find anything wrong, so just filled the tire up with air and we went back to my house.  When I turned off the car there was still a strange noise, which we realized was air leaking out of my tire!  We promptly began to change the tire to put on the spare, however, we couldn't get all of the lugnuts off.

Jackie working at getting most of the lugnuts off!

I tried to call a friend to see if her husband could come help, but he was out of town.  But she was able to send another guy over to help us.  However, he also had a hard time.  The jack that came with my car bent a little bit and he had to go borrow another one.  It was quite the ordeal.  The next day I took the car to a mechanic that changed the messed up lugnut and took the tire somewhere to get fixed.  When I picked up the car I was just slightly worried about the way the valve was on the tire because it looked like it would be hard to put air in the tire.  I asked a few times and was assured that it was fine.  I drove the car back to the house.  The next day Jackie and I ran a short errand in the morning and then the car was parked back in my garage until evening when we were going to run to the store.  When we walked down to the garage, the same tire was flat again.  I wanted to cry, Jackie couldn't stop laughing.  My friend's husband was in town this time and came to help us - because I no longer had a reliable jack to prop the car up to change the spare.  

And the second tire change, thankful for the help!

The tire was easier to change this time, but he realized that the whole part of the valve had come off, so there was just a hole left in the tire.  My plan was that the next day I would drive to a nearby Pinchazo, except that I didn't really know where to go.  In the morning I stopped by the downstairs neighbor/landlords apartment to ask if he had a recommendation since he has lived in this area for around 50 years.   He told me to just stay here and he walked town the street to a Pinchazo that he knows and he asked the guy to come to the house and look at the tire there.  Ends up that I really just needed to get a new tire because it was too complicated and uncertain to just try to fix it.  Then he was rotating the tires on that side and noticed that there was a nail in the other tire.  So, he took that tire on his moto and went back to his shop, repaired it, and then brought the tire back on his moto.  Excellent service!!!

A few short days later, our team along with a visiting group, went to Panajachel for a few days.  It was a 3 hour drive, but thankfully, no more tire troubles!!!

My car really has been such a blessing from just being able to drive where I need to go, to driving for clinic days, to taking people to church with me.  The other Sunday after church we had a celebration and then I brought home a family and 2 students - there were 7 of us piled into my car!!!  Even thought there have been some minor problems and little adventures, I super thankful for the Lord providing "Killi La Kia" for me to drive!!!