A story about Jijo

For those of you who never met him before, let me introduce you to my van Jijo. Jijo is short for "Jump in, jump out", which everyone who has ever driven with me would understand once we have to make more than one stops. He is a two-door Suzuki Escudo that gets me everywhere in Grenada that I have to go. Anyone who has visited Grenada would understand the number of hills you need to climb on a daily basis, and some of them are pretty steep. For those from Trinidad, think about a combination of the drive to Maracas, and the drive to Toco, multiply it by ten, and then you have an idea of what driving is like in Grenada. If you never heard the story about how I got him, you can read about it here How I got Jijo

First road trip with Jijo

Now, anyone who owns a second hand vehicle, especially one that is fifteen years old, knows the importance of maintenance. I make sure that every three months he goes in for servicing. I tell my mechanic to check everything and fix whatever might go wrong before it actually does, because I don't have time for my van to be breaking down on me when I have schools to go to.

His next check up was due at the end of January, so Jijo sat silently waiting while I was not here in Grenada for 2 1/2 weeks in December. Upon my return, I knew that something was wrong. I knew he missed me, but he was just not climbing those hills with the power I knew he had. I figured it was time to call the mechanic when he did not have the power to make it up one of the steepest hills in town, and I had to reverse all the way back down the hill, around corners that had no curbs, in the night, with no streetlights.

Thank God I was able to make it to the mechanic and upon investigation, he found water in my spark plugs. We had no idea how it got there (I had to work hard to convince him that I did not drive through any rivers over the December holidays). Thankfully he was able to blow it out and after a thorough servicing, we were back on the road.

Until the day that my windows refused to go up. Thank God it happened when I got home, and not when I was parked on the main road somewhere. I gave it about ten minutes and then I tried it again and it went up, following which there was an unexpectedly heavy downpour of rain. Even in the midst of my day to day situations, I continue to see God's hand of favor and blessings over my life. Back by the mechanic, he again accused me of underwater driving, as the master switch for the power windows seemed to have water in it. After a quick service, we were good to go again.

Even though he can't carry a lot of load, he fits so well
into parking spaces :)

 I also thank God for my mechanic, whom I can call at any hour of the day or night, and will stop what he is doing to attend to my emergencies. The favour of the Lord! Can I get a witness?