Of Cars and "Tramites" (Processes)

Well, we've asked you to pray with us for a car for a while and we've finally bought one. It was a little more than we had first thought of paying, but can get a little loan to finance the rest. (If you feel like contributing to this part of the car, please let us know.) It has been a long process, but we feel that God has provided the right car for us.
We had at first thought of buying a car from one of two missionary families that are leaving Ecuador and returning to North America, but felt a little funny paying almost $12,000 for a twelve year old Trooper with about 90,000 miles on it. When we were deciding on whether to buy one of these, one of Pauli's sisters mentioned that she had a friend that worked for GM (General Motors) in Ecuador and could help get a car relatively cheaply as they offer the cars used by the executives after one year of use to the employees and others. We thought this sounded good as we could get a "Chevrolet" Grand Vitara XL-7 (sold under the Suzuki brand in North America) with seven seats below market value with only one year of use. So we waited for the cars to come out in this process. Well, we waited... and waited... and waited some more. Finally some came out in this offer and we were able to put in our offer for the vehicle. Our offer was higher than we had hoped to pay, but we thought it would be a better buy as we could get it below market value. We heard a week later that our offer and another slightly higher offer weren't accepted because they thought the offers were too low.
They said they would offer the cars again in a week or two. About this time we saw a couple of the same cars a couple of years older in a couple of car lots here. We went to look at them and one had already been sold. The other had been sent out for the day and would be back the next. This one we see as the one that God has provided for us (It even has a little stick-on in back that says "Cristo Vive"--or Christ Lives).
We started the process and what a process it was.

• We called back the next day at 10am when the salesman said it would be there. He said it would be there at midday. It arrived back at the lot about 5pm.
  
• I went there and said I'd like to take it by a mechanic to have him look at it first, but that I was interested.
  
• Pauli saw it the next morning and we took it to the mechanic.
  
• The next step was to take it by the Police Station to make sure that it hadn't been reported stolen.
  
• Then we haggled a little bit more and settled on a price.
• I then went to get a check and get it certified to take back to him.
• I also stopped by the office of the auto insurance to set things up there, but they were out that afternoon and I just left the paperwork.
  
• I went back with the check and we signed a contract and other paperwork that he would get legalized that evening or the next morning.
• When I got to work in the morning, the insurance office called and I got things set up with them.
  
• I went back to the used car lot and he gave me the legalized contract and transfer of ownership.
• I then went to the tax office to register the transfer of ownership and get the amount to pay (1.5+ hours waiting in line).
• After lunch I went to the vehicle inspection that is needed before registering the car (1+ hours waiting in line).
• I then went to the payment office to pay the transfer of ownership tax (50+ minutes waiting in line).
• I still have to go to the police station to actually register the car (1+ hours? waiting in line).

Anyway, that is how things work here. We do thank God for the vehicle he has provided for us. We pray that we can use it to further his kingdom and that it can be an instrument to spread his light in the land. Please join us in this prayer and praise him for his provision.