Angels in Saint George

This is going to be a long story so let me give the overview to those of you with short attention spans:

Tried to drive to San Diego for Christmas.

Broke down in Saint George.

Slept in the van, brrrrrrr.

Went to the temple, met angels there.

Ended up with new wonderful friends.

Got “rescued” by Ivan’s dad.

Van miraculously started working again.

Ended up back home for Christmas after all.

So a little while before Christmas we pull into the Wal-Mart in St. George around 7 pm Thursday night. After purchasing some snacks and munching on them a bit we got ready to head out again (hoping to make it at least to Mesquite that night.) Well to our surprise the car would not go into any gear, it was very stuck in 3^rd gear. We couldn’t even get it onto neutral. We messed around with it for about half an hour before deciding to hold the clutch while rolling it out of the parking spot, then driving it in third across town towards a mechanics shop.

Well, about 10 blocks from Smiths the battery/alternator gave out and we rolled to a stop in front of a random person’s house, where we spent a chilly night. The next morning we leisurely walked to Smiths, and the library and stopped by the mechanics shop to ask questions. When we got back to the van by the afternoon we saw some guys a few houses down jumping a car so we asked them for a jump. While getting ready to jump the car, Ivan noticed that the belt was missing off the alternator and happened to have a spare in the van. Well a new belt and a jump solved the power problem, but we still had the transmission problem. We somehow managed to make it to several mechanic shops in 3^rd gear, who told us that they couldn’t really look at it till Monday, but it probably needed a new transmission which would cost $1000 for the part plus $900 for the labor. Sheesh!

So we drove to the smiths and parked. After hanging out in the cold we decided to go to a session at the temple where it would be nice and warm. We hadn’t been to the temple in a very long time and we both happened to have our recommends on us. So we went. I actually enjoyed the session and being at the temple more than I ever have, for no particular reason. It was very nice. Then afterward a guy named Steve approached Ivan, he said “you look familiar, do I know you?” Ivan said we’re not from around here, we’re from Provo. And the guy invited us to dinner and asked how long we’d be staying and Ivan awkwardly explained that we were broken down and would be in Saint George until we figured out what to do. This is when we learned that Steve and his wife Carmen were angels in disguise. They insisted that we stay with them when they learned that we had slept in our van, they bought pizzas, borrowed a queen sized bed and put it in the baby’s room for us to sleep on and moved the baby into their room so that we could have the room to ourselves. We were embarrassed to be so fussed over by strangers yet so touched. The next day they made us a big breakfast and offered to take us sight seeing, they invited us to their ward party (it was a blast!) and insisted that we stay as long as we like. I have never met more welcoming people, I felt as though I were visiting family. We also talked and played games and got to know each other. “Help yourselves to any food in the fridge or to a shower if you like.” By the time Ivan’s dad came to rescue us Sunday morning we were sad to leave our lovely new friends.

Then after driving around pricing Uhaul trailers, we found one that was open on Sunday and found a rental for $150. I had remembered that one of the mechanics had managed to get it into reverse, so I insisted that we go try getting it into 4^th (there is only 1-4 on the van) before renting a trailer and making Ivan’s dad’s truck pull it up that big hill. We to my surprise, despite some stickiness, I was able to get it into ever gear except first. Hmmm, that’s weird. So we drove it back to Provo, with Ivan’s dad behind incase we got into more trouble. I’m so grateful for awesome in-laws (and friends and family, we had so many people offer to come get us when they heard

This experience, which seems so inspired, has really got us second thinking about driving down south. I also think I’ve figured out what I came back for (something amazing happened, which I will definitely be writing about later) and it wasn’t Christmas, although Christmas turned out to be not so bad after all, it was pretty awesome being with family and all the Christmas cheer we had to put up with was tolerably ( ;

So as for our trip to Central America, so many things have gone wrong, we were supposed to leave MONTHS ago. We are still thinking about flying, but it's hard to say at this point. I hate to disappoint, but there's a pretty good chance that the trip will be postponed indefinitely.