I made the decision before leaving the race to purchase the international
drivers permit. Did I think I would ever need it? No. And to be truthful,
most countries wouldn't care or ever check. But if the occasion came about
where I would need to drive, I felt it necessary to be as compliant as
possible with international law. Yes, Jason Schmidt just said he wanted to
be compliant with the law. It is crazy how God can change you!? Most I went
through the thought process of in an emergency I would be legal to drive a
vehicle. And in an emergency, you are most likely to be breaking the rules
of the road, giving me more of a reason to be legal to drive. For those of
you who don't know me, vehicles are my career, which includes all things
vehicle; driving, repairing, modifying, building and breaking.
I find myself in month four, Malaysia, where we had a crazy first couple
days. Our first location was Port Klang, about an hour west of the capitol
city. Our contact there was an older gentleman and wonderful man of God. He
blessed us graciously by providing housing, transportation and the
occasional meal. We had a little bump in the road though when our mode of
transportation started giving him trouble because of its old age and quite
high mileage. At the point the vehicle had become difficult to get moving,
I offered my technician career as a helping hand. We soon had the vehicle
moving again with me driving and all of our team in the back seat. While we
were at the port, our contact continued to use my driving ability to serve
him and the rest of our team by having me drive the van for the whole week.
It was pretty exciting driving on the left side of the road from the right
side of the vehicle and shifting with my left hand.
When we moved on to our second contact, it had been brought up how I was
the teams driver for the whole previous week and how our contact found it
hilarious to introduce me as his driver. But our new contact took this as
useful information. So when we went out to the jungle, there were several
reason the truck needed to be moved throughout the day. Somehow, I happened
to be around the man with the keys every time those situations came up. 🙂
Not sure how that happened. But there was a bit of a lesson learned in
doing all of this. Some of you might be thinking I am about to make a tie
from the title "driven" to life as an missionary. However, my lesson is
much more simple. When it rains all night, don't back a truck down a
mountain. Yes, we/I happened to get the truck stuck at the bottom of the
mountain. Good news is, I spent several more hours behind the wheel of the
truck whilst trying to get the truck unstuck. OOPS! We were only stranded
in the jungle for about 36 hours. When we returned to the jungle an day and
a half later, the truck came out much easier.
Once we had the truck out we needed to bring our contacts wife's vehicle back to her
since she was at home with the children and no car. We promptly left the
jungle, just our contact and I, and we each drove a vehicle the 1 1/2 hours
back to the city. Let me just say, it feels great to drive when on the race
because if nothing else, it reminds you of the fact you are an adult and
are capable of normal everyday things. The only other time I drove the
truck while not on the farm property was when we ran out of water and our
contact trusted me to find my way out of the jungle by myself and go to the
nearest town to buy water. Luckily the drive out of the jungle is straight
forward and the signs to the town are clear. Unfortunately the drive back
in to the jungle sucks because everything looks the same and there are no
signs to a secret farm. I seriously wonder about some of the decisions our
contact made. But as world race life will teach you, if you do things with
confidence and faith in the Lord, things generally work out just fine. The
last driving experience I had was in the church parking lot helping a
brother diagnose the noise he is hearing in his car. But I am still
counting it because then I can say I drove 4 cars in Malaysia!!
So no, I am not going to make some awful correlation between having driven
this month and being driven this month. I simply wanted to let you know
about the little things and how big they can feel on the mission field.
As He leads me,
Jason
Post Script – I would like to ask you all to be praying for my Grandfather
Robert. He is not well and is having some major heart problems. He is a
great man of God and loves the Lord very much. If you could pray for his
comfort and peace and healing it would be greatly appreciated. Also please
pray for the rest of our family as we seek peace and comfort with Gods will
in this situation. Thank you all!
