Meetings, but a Fender-Bender

We had two back to back lunch meetings today. The first was visiting our Thai friends, the language tutors, who were returning our nine-cookie "easy bake oven". Boy Lori was excited to see that again! She even tried to seduce me with freshly baked goods, but I sadly had to resist, given the 26 American pounds I'm glad to be losing! We also visited the Linguistics Dept. and Bible translation teams who are currently working to reach the unreached.

So, as if our life wasn't exciting enough already, we figured a little fender-bender would be entertaining. No, this wasn't planned, no it wasn't our fault and nobody was injured, thank the Lord!
Negotiations.

It was a <5mph collision into the bumper of our friend's truck. In Thailand, when there are accidents and foreigners are involved, the general rule of thumb is to settle the damages immediately and leave quickly before others arrive and expect a bribe themselves. Because, when foreigners are at the scene of an accident, whether or not they were involved, they are usually considered at fault, by default... because they are thought to have more money.

The Damage.

The driver spoke some English, admitted fault and offered to go have it fixed that day. After speaking with our Thai friends at the church, we thought best to accept the driver's $13 bribe, and fix it ourselves to avoid further complications with police, etc. Talk about a different culture!!

Settled!

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. ~Matt 6:33-34 (NIV)