Mexico Mission Trip {Traveling Home}

¡Adiós, Rio Chico!

With the dawning of Monday morning came the tearful day of departure. We were all sad to say goodbye to Rio Chico and friends there. When we left, we were hoping for a uneventful, straightforward trip back to the U.S. Little did we know that 10 minutes from Rio Chico our red pick-up truck with the trailer would start dripping a trail of oil along the highway.

And so the story goes...




At first, there was A LOT more
smoke than this picture shows



Upon rounding one of the mountain corners, we came upon our trailer engulfed in white smoke. The truck had stalled, so our van, which was following right behind the trailer, quickly pulled ahead of the truck, only to discovered fire under the truck! The two guys were still sitting in the van, oblivious to the smoke and fire! Talitha and her Mexican friends in the back of our van started banging the back window and animatedly trying to tell them to get out. The guys jumped out and ran, yelling to warn them that their truck was on fire. 

Soon all the men ran to help unhitch the truck and trailer and working as fast as possible, pushed the truck off the road, away from our trailer. Since it was on a slope, rocks were put behind the trailer wheels. It was frightening, not knowing if the truck would explode any minute.

  

We all moved far away from the fire, watching the truck go up in flames, smoke billowing from the wreckage, waiting for the dreaded explosion. However, only the tires exploded. Many say it was a miracle that the fuel tank never exploded-- an answer to the many prayers-- someone may have gotten hurt and the woods would likely have caught fire if it had.

And then, the police showed up. Since it is common for the Mafia to burn homes and vehicle in Mexico, the situation must have seemed threatening, and thus, when the police jumped out of their truck with their guns ready they surely weren't messing around! Upon discovering a group of innocent, somewhat worried Americans, they became friendly and were even taking pictures with some of our group! They took a lot of pictures of the truck and asked a lot of questions.



Talitha with her friends Vicky and Sofia 

By the time two of our men had gotten back from Rio Chico with another truck and papers for the truck (which the cops needed), we had probably been waiting an hour. It was a long wait.

After our two-hour delay, we were off again, leaving behind the burn remnants of our poor truck. Thankfully, everyone was safe and our vehicles (except the obvious) were all intact. Unfortunately, Johnny, a young man from El Paso who helps with mission groups, lost his backpack in the fire. Since his passport burned, he had to stay in Juarez until he could get back into the U.S. (Surprising, he seemed unconcerned and apparently didn't mind too much. I guess you get used to the unpredictability of Mexico after enough trips!)

What an experience! We are glad to say that (except getting pulled over shortly one more time) the rest of the trip was mostly uneventful.

Late that evening, with all 42 of us hauling all our luggage through U.S. customs, we crossed the border safely back into the U.S.

After traversing the many miles back to Minnesota, our faithful van pulled into the Lincoln church parking lot, Wednesday afternoon March 14.

 

Across the U.S. into Mexico and back, we (thankfully) live to tell of our memorable adventure in Mexico!


(You can also check out our People, Mexico Scenery, and Videos posts)