WOW...We're buying a car!

Through the incredible thoughtfulness of our friends back in Athens, Texas we are about to buy a car (or van). It is amazing the way that our friends (and even people we don't know very well) have supported us. Loti, liel paldies to all of you!!

We have been here a year and two months without our own car so we know we can survive depending on our own feet. But, it will be so much better if we can help supply rides for others instead of us having to rely on someone else to transport us. Very few of our church members drive to church. With the availability of our car, we can now help transport those that need a lift.

We usually go to one of the three nearby small grocery stores almost every other day. If Laura is cooking for the youth or ladies' Bible meetings, it might be an everyday trip. We can only buy what we can carry, so having a car that we can go to the larger grocery store and buy a week's worth of food will be a time-saver. Also, going to the grocery store every day just offers a temptation to pig-out on the Latvian junk food. With a car, maybe we won't succumb to the tasty (but non-nutritious) food items. Of course, we might just buy MORE since we now can carry it home in one trip!

Next comes the car-buying process. We can't go by ourselves or we will run into the 'rich American' problem very quickly. A couple of the church men have offered to go with us and we have been looking online for a good buy.

Buying used cars anywhere is always a complicated process because everything is negotiable and nothing is guaranteed. For us, it is even more of a challenge this time as we have to try to translate the language, calculate the price not only in lats but also US dollars and convert kilometers to miles. The prices of cars in Latvia are quite high and a large number have been brought in from other countries of the European Union. I'm confident we will find the right vehicle, we just can't get in a hurry or we could be stuck with a lemon.

Here is a typical ad from an online car selling service. This is similar to what we are looking for:

 

Marka : Chrysler Grand Voyager  Izlaiduma gads: 1998 septembris  Motors: 2.4 benzīns  Ātrumkārba: Mehāniska 5 ātrumi

Nobraukums, km: 133 588 Krāsa: Zila  Virsbūves tips: Mikroautobuss  Tehniskā apskate: 07.2009

Aprīkojums: Stūres pastiprinātājs, El. logu pacēlāji, Kondicionieris, Salona gaisa filtrs, Kruīza kontrole

Jumta reliņi, Vieglmetāla diski  Gaismas: Miglas lukturi, Papild. bremžu signāls, Regulējams lampu augstums

Spoguļi: El. regulējami, Apsildāmi, El. nolokāmi  Salons: Roku balsti, Tonēti aizmugurējie logi

Stūre: Regulējama, Daudzfunkcionāla

Drošība: ABS, Centrālā atslēga, Imobilaizers, Air-bag Hi-Fi: FM/AM

Cena: 
4 323 Ls [$9588 US dollars if my calculations are correct]