Our mission adventure began Saturday, March 4th, in the late afternoon as we left the church parking lot in Lincoln MN, pulling our trailer filled with luggage and donations that we were taking to Mexico. The plan was to make a 27-hour dead-head trip to El Paso, TX.
And thus, the real adventure began!
Just across the border, Mexico was quite different from the U.S.
The first thing we noticed was the crazy driving habits. Stop signs are really only yields signs. We watched a car back some 200 feet down the highway because it missed a turn. While we were waiting to enter the highway, some ladies pulled up in a car behind us and got out and opened their trunk in the middle of the road! People crossed the highway all over the place. Sudden braking became common place. It was all slightly nerve-racking.
Palm trees in the city
All the buildings were also very colorful! And of course, most everything was in Spanish.
We also witnessed the poverty of the city in the rows of run-down shelters.
And the trash-lined highways.
Mexico just seemed like a totally different world, it was quite a new experience!
As you can well imagine, it was a long drive, traveling across the U.S. through Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma panhandle, Texas, New Mexico, and back into Texas. The 10 of us played games, ate meals in the van and at gas-stations, tried to sleep on the seats and van floor (nope, we didn't get much sleep, but it was quite an exciting experience), talked a lot, and enjoyed getting to know each other better. We loved leaving the snow behind and feeling the weather grow warmer we headed south.
Ahh, the wonderful sight of our destination!
Around 7pm Sunday, we arrived in El Paso, TX and spent the night at a hotel. On Monday morning, we gathered with the 42 missionaries in our group and Pastor Jim, who was heading up the trip, spoke to us. People also shared past experiences and we prayed together before leaving.
Around noon (later than schedule), a crew from the Mexico mission arrived to pick us up. After loading up the trailer and the vans, our caravan of 2 trucks, one SUV, and three vans headed off to Mexico.
Entering Mexico at the Juarez border. 
And thus, the real adventure began!
Just across the border, Mexico was quite different from the U.S.
All the buildings were also very colorful! And of course, most everything was in Spanish.
We also witnessed the poverty of the city in the rows of run-down shelters.
Mexico just seemed like a totally different world, it was quite a new experience!
On the way from Juarez, Mexico to Rio Chico, we were pulled over three times-- once for our pick-up filled with cooler chests, once for our trailer without lights, and finally for our suspicious looking train of 6 vehicles traveling through a Mexico town in the dark. There was a lot of speculation whether we were pulled over by the cops or the Mafia the second time. (Later we found out that it was the cops.) Due to the many run-ins with the drug cartel, the cops always jumped out of their vehicle with their machine guns ready and pointed. At least once they knew who we were, they we instantly friendly. It was quite the experience!
With over an hour stop at the immigration center, truck troubles, and a total of 15 stops, our planned 7 hour trip turned into a 15 hour adventure and we arrived in Rio Chico at 1am. God protected us and got us there safely-- we were all thankful for that!
No comments:
Post a Comment