Just when we think we are speaking the same language as other people, something happens which reminds us that communication is not a foolproof science. Cross-cultural communication is even less certain.

Upon our arrival in this country, we were staggered by the exorbitant selling prices of vehicles, new, used and barely working! We were looking for a reliable used vehicle and a national friend told us about a Christian businessman who had one for sale. My husband telephoned him and after discussing the matter, hung up the phone somewhat perplexed. The man did sell cars, but only new ones and his cheapest model was worth several times more than the amount we had to offer.

Several weeks went by and we were still searching for a car. We had faithfully purchased the newspaper, read the ads, checked the store bulletin boards and phoned every car dealership in town and still could not find anything we could afford! During this time we had been walking everywhere or riding buses; the simplest of errands had become very time-consuming and tiring!

In desperation one day, my husband went back to talk to a man at one of the car dealerships. He had the four wheel drive used vehicle we liked but the selling price was $10,000 above the amount we had to spend. During their conversation he told my husband, “You need to call my brother-in-law, he has this same car for sale at your price.” Now that was great news except he gave us the same name and phone number that we had contacted the month before without success.

We called again and this time the questions were more precise and the answers positive. Yes, he personally had a used car for sale. Yes, he had been trying to sell it for awhile and yes, that was his asking price. He promised to bring it by after work so we could see it. We were delighted and bought it.

I still do not know what we could have said last month which would have saved us from another month of walking, but some key word was definitely missing in the initial conversation!