It was on Sunday 17th August 2014, while driving some ladies from Ewaso Residence to celebrate a birthday party in Namanga (along the Kenya/Tanzania border), I had a rare experience.
It was when we were on our way back to Nairobi after successful and smooth driving all over the place, that the van broke down with plenty of fuel in the tank. It was around 3pm.
On failing to locate and rectify the fault, I called in the mechanic who first suspected low fuel as the cause. I knew there was enough fuel but agreed to buy and add some more from the closest fuel station about 15km away.
The fault persisted and the next suspicion was the fuel pump. After several tests, the mechanic concluded that indeed the fuel pump had failed. There was no way of repairing it, so he recommended that we take the faulty one to Nairobi for a serviceable replacement. It was now about 5:30pm when we started dismounting the fuel tank in order to access the fuel pump.
The more than 10 ladies I was transporting sat in the van calmly, spending most of their time praying and singing. Occasionally, they would come out to check on the progress.
On learning that the fuel pump was to be taken to Nairobi for replacement, they all stopped praying and started talking about how much time it would take to get the spare and repair the van, how much it would cost, difficulties in getting a spare on a Sunday late in the evening and so on.
Then one lady said, "We have prayed all the prayer cards but none to Josemaria! Who has one?" They went back to the car to search for one.
Meanwhile, the fuel tank was out of the way and the mechanic had started to unfasten the fuel pump. I went to the driver's seat.No sooner had I sat at the steering than the mechanic shouted to me, "What was that!?"
I ran to him but he asked me to go back and touch or do what I had just done or touched a moment earlier. I had not been very keen but I remembered touching the ignition key which I had tried turning. So I did it again. Twice. And the mechanic told me that the fault may have been resolved.
I helped him mount the tank back and when everything was in place, I started the van and it kicked at once, running smoothly! We were all excited!
We thanked the mechanic and paid before we left. It was when we left that the ladies enquired to know what had actually happened. When I had no answer, they recalled what had transpired in the van. The said they had just finished St. Josemaria's prayer card and asked for his intercession and were just about to say the Our Father when they heard the mechanic call out to me.
They thanked God saying that it was the way St. Josemaria acted.

B.W