Today was a big day for Kory. He was up early and off to Filadelfia Church by 8:30 setting up hoses and filling buckets with water and soap. He was a bit eager, as the car wash didn’t start until ten, but he was like a kid on Christmas morning. He’s been so proud of himself that he came up with this idea and today he got to make it happen.The photo is of the four guys that attend our Monday night Bible study. Kory invited others to come help with the car wash, but only these guys showed up – they are all great guys with a heart for serving God – but as we found out – they don’t really know how to wash a car. None of them have ever owned a car before and Kory wasn’t thinking about that part of his plan when he put this idea into action. They tried though and with much instruction they were getting pretty good at it by day’s end. In all they washed 20 cars, but one of them needed washing three times as it came in black and left a nice peachy color that came more and more into view with each washing. As it turned out, 20 was a good number of cars as no one was left waiting too long for a wash. The guys were steadily busy for a good five hours and we were all plenty tired by the end. The “customers” were all incredibly impressed with the idea. One elderly woman was just blown away to see these guys doing something “good.” As she said, “We only hear about the bad things the asylum seekers do here in Norway,” so she was motivated, she said, to write a letter to the newspaper to tell them what a great thing this was.
Car washes are not part of the culture here in Norway like in America. Kory had to tell people over and over again that in America if some group of kids want to raise money for something, they hold a car wash. That just doesn’t happen here so people were very puzzled by the idea until Kory explained it. Then he would tell each person, as they waited for their car to be washed, that all these guys attend Filadelfia Church, that we have them in our homes on Monday’s for Bible study, that they are thankful to be here in Norway, that they are bored and have nothing to do, and this is just a chance to for them to pay back the citizens for letting them live here (he’s really good at schmoozing). The woman with the incredibly dirty car went around putting 50 kroner bills in all their pockets (about $7), and they all gave it right back to her. She kept insisting she pay for her car to be cleaned because it was so dirty. I told her she WAS paying for it – with her taxes – because everyone knows the asylum seekers get all their expenses paid for the first two years they are here. She understood then, but still wanted to pay, but the whole idea was to be a blessing and even though others offered to make donations, not one kroner was accepted. Every customer left feeling incredibly blessed, so that was the best part.
Whenever there was a lull in cars, Kaleb and I went out to the corner and waved a sign and within minutes, a few more cars would take the bait, so even Kaleb and I helped out today. I actually helped wipe down the cars after they were washed as a sort of “quality control” measure, but Kory, he just stood around talking Norwegian to everyone. One guy that lived in the neighborhood came over to ask if these guys were available to do some yard work, and that’s EXACTLY what Kory had in mind also when he set this up – that they might make contact with people to get some work. Phone numbers were exchanged and Kory was beaming with pride that his idea worked out so well. Even a doctor came by to get his car washed and then gave his name and number to all the guys and said to be sure to come see him if they ever get sick – he was likewise impressed. So it all went even better than Kory had hoped for and we were extremely thankful it was such a gorgeous day today. I think we’ll do it again.
Tonight we went out on the town with Odd and Turid and company. Three and a half years ago we went on a Caribbean cruise with them because Turid’s uncle was the captain of the ship. Turid’s cousin and her husband and best friend and her man all came along so we spent a week together on that ship getting “family of the captain” treatment, and we all had a great time. Tonight was a reunion dinner for all of us, including the now retired captain, so it was quite fun and very special to meet up again. I haven’t laughed that much in a long time. (Kaleb spent the night with Tobias so we could be out late.) We ate at a restaurant that served rehydrated fish (klippfisk) eight different ways. They also had reindeer, lamb and fortunately for me, one fresh fish option on the menu, otherwise I’m sure I would have gone hungry. Most traditional Norwegian food makes me want to puke.
