{"id":4752,"date":"2014-12-09T23:28:29","date_gmt":"2014-12-09T21:28:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/?p=4752"},"modified":"2014-12-11T05:53:36","modified_gmt":"2014-12-11T03:53:36","slug":"part-2-stuck-in-the-woods-of-eastern-ukraine-on-cold-winters-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/part-2-stuck-in-the-woods-of-eastern-ukraine-on-cold-winters-night\/","title":{"rendered":"Part 2 | Stuck in the Woods of Eastern Ukraine on Cold Winter’s Night"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday I shared with you how I found myself stuck in the middle of a forest in Eastern Ukraine last weekend. If you didn’t read that post yet, then you need to stop right now and read it here.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Dangerous<\/a><\/p>\n

After breaking three tire wrenches while trying to remove the flat it was looking like the chances of my getting out of the forest that night were shrinking.<\/p>\n

Dennis and I stopped for a moment and silently stared at the bent rim, in return it silently mocked us, it was winning and it wasn’t about to give up!<\/p>\n

Thankfully my bent rim didn’t know about my secret weapon.<\/p>\n

“Dear God, you know our situation, we can’t get this tire off and we’re stuck, please help us!”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

My secret weapon was prayer, one of those simple, no-nonsense, cut to the point because we really need help, prayers. Later I found out that I wasn’t the only one praying for our trip that day. Yes, this is why we appreciate the many of you who pray for us regularly!<\/p>\n

We opened our eyes after we prayed and stood there a bit longer.<\/p>\n

Suddenly a thought came into my mind. Maybe, just maybe a hammer could fix this situation.<\/p>\n

I know what you’re thinking!<\/p>\n

“A hammer?! You’re not going to get that wheel off with a hammer!”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If that’s what you thought then you haven’t lived in Ukraine. There’s a saying here that goes like this:<\/p>\n

“If you can’t fix it, then get a bigger hammer.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I pulled out my Ukrainian hammer and started swinging. After a dozen or so solid hits to the bent part of the rim I stopped to take a look. It was hard to say but it looked like I had made some progress.<\/p>\n

Once again I began to pound on the rim, this time with new-found energy. I kept my arm swinging until it grew so tired that I was no longer accurate.<\/p>\n

I handed the hammer over to Dennis and he gave it a go for a while. We were definitely making progress now! Once Dennis had run out of strength he stood up. The rim looked amazingly round compared to how it looked just a few minutes earlier!<\/p>\n

“Let’s put some air into it and see what happens.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I told Dennis as I dug out the pump in a hurry to see if our hammering had been a success.<\/p>\n

The tire slowly regained its form and the once leaning van seemed to stand up, straight and tall. The tire was holding air!<\/p>\n

I slid behind the wheel, put the van in gear and gingerly moved it forward while Dennis watched the wheel to see if the hammered out rim would hold.<\/p>\n

It held!<\/p>\n

After an hour or so of struggle we had won or maybe I should say God had won. To us it seem pretty miraculous that we had just fixed a flat tire with nothing more than a hammer!<\/p>\n

We safely made it through the remaining 12 miles of our journey and when we got there we thanked God, ate a big Ukrainian dinner and prepared ourselves for Sunday’s graduation.<\/a><\/p>\n

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