Ever Feel Like You're Losing It?

Last Monday Ginger drove a lady from our church into Warsaw. She was quite nervous about the drive and if you want to know why you can read an old blog post I wrote titled "Driving in Poland." Of course my lovely wife did fine but when she pulled into the parking lot of our apartment building I noticed that one of the hubcaps were missing. There's a joke in there somewhere, but I'm not brave enough to tell it. Anyways, I can't drive with three hubcaps, it's a weird quirk but the lack of symmetry drives me insane. On Tuesday we went to a little "mom and pop" auto shop which posed a whole new set of language challenges for me. Fortunately, the husband and wife were very friendly and helpful, so much so that he even came out and helped me install the hubcaps. It was at this point that I realized I installed the last set incorrectly which explains why one came off the rim. So as much as I hate to admit it, it wasn't Ginger's driving that lost the hubcap (though her nickname is Thai Mama Speedracer), rather the culprit was my own ineptness. We had some trouble installing the second set because my rims are a strange size, finally we found a set of hubcaps that fit and for only around $20. Later in the day I made the comment to Ginger that the new hubcaps looked more expensive than they actually were and evidently some neighborhood kids agreed. On Friday morning I went out to the car and noticed that all the hubcaps were gone. Someone stole them off our car in the middle of the night--Oh, I was steaming mad at first and mostly at the fact that they were probably up in their apartments getting a kick out of my facial response to the situation. At least I don't have to worry about the lack of symmetry in driving with three hubcaps. Driving with no hubcaps is quite symmetrical too.

The blessing in all of this was being able to talk to the store owner. The conversation was entirely in Polish so it hurt my head at times but it was encouraging to see the progress we've made in the language. While working on the wheels he asked why we were here and what we were doing. I explained that we were learning Polish and were working in a Baptist church in town. He was surprised to find out that Siedlce had a Baptist church, but he asked where it was located and at what time we met. All in all he was quite friendly and quite interested, especially for a Polish Catholic. As we finished I invited he and his wife to our church, so we'll see what happens. Looking back, I praise the Lord because it was the first time I've been able to invite someone to our church entirely in Polish, and now with the hubcap incident I have the opportunity to speak with him again.