Mexico Mission - Day 2...Crossing the Border

Sunday, June 22

I had my alarm set for 7:20. One of my girls' alarms went off at 6. I'd forgotten how long it takes teenaged girls to get ready. After a quick breakfast at the hotel, we headed for the border. At Immigration, we were met with a few set-backs. Even though we would be in Mexico less than seven days, and were DONATING our time, the Mexican authorities demanded that we purchase work visas. These are good for 180 days, so I guess if we were inclined to go back in the next few weeks we'd be good to go. We also exchanged our dollars for pesos, then began the waiting process for them to give us the green light. Since Ft. Gibson had jumped through these hoops many times before, they had warned us to make sure and have a title for the trailer that we were using to transport our luggage. Dewey was also pulling a trailer and the authorities were not happy that they had a COPY of their title, not the original. Then they found that we had a carbon copy of our van rental agreement, not the original.....bad news. Waiting....waiting....waiting...then all of us were chased out of the cool, air-conditioned Immigration building accused of "loitering." Oh boy, we get to wait this out in the hot van! More waiting...it was approaching two hours...hey, why don't we pray about this? Great idea. About 10 minutes after the "Amen" Ted came strolling toward the van. He said, "I don't know what happened, but all of a sudden they changed their minds and said we could enter." Hmmm. We know what happened. Sadly, Dewey was not allowed to bring their trailer so we unloaded their trailer and crammed their belongings into ours. Paco, the preacher at Nuevo Laredo, Mexico had left services and come to meet us at the border. He assured the authorities that he would take care of the trailer until our return. Finally, we're on our way again. We arrived at church in Nuevo Laredo in time to hear the last 10 minutes of Paco's sermon (which we couldn't understand, anyway), then sang "I Will Call Upon the Lord" and "God is So Good" in Spanish and English. Afterwards we were greeted by the congregation and tried our best to communicate. We pulled out a bag of Beanie Babies to give to the children who were enthralled--no interpretation needed. Back into the van and more driving--about an hour to a rest stop where we all ate--our group from SS made sandwiches (we're cheap) while the others tried to order food at the restaurants. By the time we arrived at the beautiful Gran Hotel Ancira in Monterrey, we were too tired to go eat and ordered pizza. Right...Dominoes in Mexico. Bueno.

The Bible study text for our devos was Efesios 3:20-4:1. The thought for today is..."Todos" --"everything" or "all-encompassing." In the first three chapters of Ephesians, Paul talks about the spiritual blessings that are found in Christ. He gives thanks for a God who gives us everything we need (1:23). He acknowledges the fact that we are made alive through Christ, and that without Jesus we are all dead in sin (2:5). He tells us that we are "God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do (2:10). Ephesians 3:20 says, "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine..." TODOS