23 Crash!

We were up in the Andes Mountains driving from the beautiful city of La Paz, Bolivia.

Yimmy (or Jimmy) was driving. He got his license about 17 months ago. He's living at Ken's house as an ex-street kid, gaining an education.

Though we got our breaks fixed 2 days prior, they gave out as we were going down-hill. There was a semi in front of us going really slow, so Yimmy tried to pass it because with the momentum we gained going down-hill, it would have been really bad to crash into that semi even though it was going in the same direction as us.

"Ken!"

He pumped the breaks.

So he went into the other lane and we hit the corner of our truck with the car coming towards us. Then we flew off a cliff.

This was my thought pattern:

"Why isn't he slowing down?"

"Why is Yimmy trying to pass when- uh oh..."

"Oh, I guess we're going down."

"Wow. Airborn. Bumpiest. Road. Ever."

"Ah! I dropped my souvenir!"

"Alright, I got it."

"God, please help."

"I'm going to be dea-"

"We're all going to be fine!"

"Oh, we're on our side."

"I'm ok."

"Wow, that's a big boulder that just fell right next to us."

"Where are my glasses?"

So we totally destroyed Ken's truck. It's weird to talk about it because it's still hard to believe it happened, especially since we're all ok and there's nothing to show for it... minus the truck 100m down a cliff.

If it happened 1 second earlier, we would have hit the cliff on the side and had a full-on-head-on collision. If it happened 1 second later, we would have bounced off the guard rail and had the head on collision. If the time wasn't different but there was a guard rail, we would have hit the car, and probably flipped sideways off the guard rail and tumbled sideways. Then if we went a little to the left or right as we were going down the hill, we would have rolled multiple times. If we would have gone 5 feet farther, we would have gained more momentum and flown off a sheer drop and would have flipped forward onto our top. And there wasn't really much of a reason that we stopped where we did... other than the fact that we were dragging the whole bottom of the truck.

But seriously, we took the one and only track that ended in life. And all of are things are ok too. So then we figured everything out and got a bus back to Cochabamba where I might visit my Compassion Canada kid! We'll see, but yeah. God is good! I indeed can't help but say that this was a faith booster (thank you for praying for a boost of faith) and a real realization that I'm not fearful of death.

Pain maybe, but I know where I'm going. God told me as we were rolling down the hill and flying through the air that it was all going to be ok, and so I had no fear as I bumped down the side of a mountain...

Without a seatbelt.

(I have to say that things are different in Bolivia. I personally feel like I'm offending the driver if I put a seatbelt on.)

So I can honestly say that we are all ok and Ken and Yimmy are now somewhere in this city, not together, and things are a little up in the air. I have a ticket to Santa Cruz for tomorrow, so hopefully the Compassion Canada visitation thing works out sometime between now and then.

Does anyone else find it funny that my travel life insurance expired exactly 1 week before the accident?

If you want to help Ken get a new truck, just contact me.

So then we went back to our friend's house (who was with us when it happened) and realized that there were multiple people who felt an urge to pray for us before it happened. One prayed about an hour before the accident, and another about 30 seconds before we drove off the cliff. And more.

God is good.

God, thanks for protecting us and sending your angles to guide us away from death. I pray that this experience will help Yimmy to understand that he needs You and that his faith will bloom from this experience that traumatized him. I also pray that the people decide that Ken's truck is inoperable and he gets his money for it instead of them just trying to fix it.

-Amen

Please pray the same.