Wow, what a week. We took about four days off from ministry events and toured many cities and sites with our nephew who came down to visit on a break from teaching English in Munich.

We rented a privately owned car to get us around and that worked out fantastic. Until we were on our way back to Tapolca.  About an hour out of town the back wheel flew off crashing the back end of the car to the pavement. The car was undrivable and unfixable by the road.  A Good Samaritan stopped immediately to help, but since the Lord did not give him or us the gift of tongues, we could not communicate. 🙂 Through sign language the man indicated he would be back, and then drove off. He came back with a handwritten note in English, saying help would be here in 10 minutes.

Sure enough, a few minutes later three men came walking up. They were from a tractor repair shop not far away. Again, no one spoke English or German. Finally another man came who could speak German with Pete. The story gets very long and complicated about how everything was resolved but the whole point of the story is that God was watching over us, answering your prayers for our safety. You see, less than 30 seconds before the wheel came off we were going about 110 kph (70 mph). We had just slowed down to go through a traffic circle when this happened. On most of the roads there is absolutely NO shoulder to pull off but there was a shoulder right where we needed it, keeping us safe from traffic! God also provided the repair shop close by, when there was nothing else for miles (I mean kilometers).  The sweet Hungarian men stayed with us for about an hour, communicating in Hungarian with the car owner for us. There was nothing they could do to fix the car or tow it, but they didn’t leave us until they knew everything was handled and a ride for us was on the way.

The other part of this trial is that this happened on a Thursday afternoon shortly before English club was to begin. Because Shaun had to drive out to pick us up that left three English classes without a teacher! So Sondi and Stephen combined everyone into one group and improvised games while they waited on our return. When we finally walked in about 45 minutes late, the whole room erupted in smiles and clapping. We felt so loved and cared for throughout the ordeal and especially upon our return “home” to Tapolca. Praise the name of the Lord who sent his angel to hold that wheel on long enough to let us live to give Him glory and know His grace!!

All our love and gratitude,

Pete and Carla