The Sisters of Santa Teresita thanked their life-saving brothers Friday after their minivan full of nuns broke down on Thursday.
"He comes to the window and he says, sisters, do you know how many people behind you are very upset? Like mad? Yeah we know, just get us off, get us off," said Sister Mary James.
Sister Mary James and four more Carmelite nuns from the sisters of Santa Teresita in Duarte, along with a visiting priest from India they had just picked up at LAX airport, found themselves stuck on the 605 Freeway Thursday, with angry eyes passing their stalled out minivan.
"We turned around and they were all looking at us, what could we say," James said.
The California highway patrol officers who assisted posted the photos to Twitter.
"We were in stop and go traffic because it was rush hour," said Sister Michelle Clines, who was behind the wheel. "And I went to go and there was, I lost power, there was no power."
"She's like, I can't get the car started, and I said, in the lane that we're in, we can't move," James said. "It was kinda scary."
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They knew it wasn't a gas issue and tried to explain that to the Metro Freeway Patrol.
"He was putting gas in the tank and I said no gas," James said. "We're not out of gas, I just filled it."
"There was sound, it wasn't like a battery, it wasn't like errrrr, errrr, but it wouldn't start," Clines said.
Unfortunately, it's not the first time they've had these car troubles. The sisters have two donated, specially designed dodge caravans to help transport the elderly nuns to doctor's appointments and such. Now one is totally out of commission.
"24 of us on walkers and scooters, that's why we use the vans," James said.
While they hope divine intervention could perhaps find its way to a dealership to help them afford a new van, they know something from above already helped save them on the crowded streets of LA.
"God Bless them, they were great," James said. "That was the divine intervention that God sent them and that they sent the people that they sent."
The sisters wanted to thank the Metro Freeway Patrol and specifically the two CHP officers, Dean Warren and Jeremy Tolen out of Santa Fe Springs.
The sisters say they took their business cards and added them to their prayer books.
