Practical matters

31 May 2010

Of Jim and the Doctor (and the occasional explosion)

Jim Practical matters, Prayer and Praise 5

I haven’t been writing a lot, so I want to catch you up on a few things, a little at a time. 😉

The first topic is my visit to the doctor on Friday. This will be a boring one unless you’re interested in my health.

I’ve been receiving treatment for migraine, and have a good doctor in Puebla (a neurologist) who I’ve been working with.

My appointment actually lasted about 2 hours this time – I didn’t realize it until I left and checked my watch. He gave me a regular checkup, and we talked more about my medical history and so on, he copied a lot of my medical file while we were there, and talked about things that have worked and haven’t worked in the past.

(Incidentally, there’s nothing that has really "worked" if you’re talking about an end to all symptoms – however there are a handful of things that have possibly helped a little.)

I think he’s getting serious since it’s been a year and I’ve been worse instead of better – worse not due to migraine but due to the medication. That’s not his fault, of course, just the normal procedure of trying various treatments.

Anyway, I came out of there with a whole bunch of tests and scans he wants me to have, and another specialist he wants me to see, and more things to try, and so on.

I won’t bore you with any more medical details. But while I was in his office, there was a huge explosion – a flash of light – I thought maybe a car had dropped from the sky and blown up right outside, or perhaps a terrorist act. I’m not sure I’ve ever heard an explosion so loud and so close. The room shook and we both stared at each other for a moment.

Then he said,"Lightning strike".

Really??

"Yes, it’s happened before. You know how they say lightning tends to strike in the same places."

Who knew? I went outside, still expecting to see scorched earth and a destroyed building (or perhaps my van in flames), but nothing was apparent. I didn’t take the time to drive around to see if I could find where it had struck.

If it strikes there often, maybe I should be looking for a new doctor…

17 April 2010

Daze 3 at the Border

Jim Family, Mexico, Practical matters, Prayer and Praise 5

This is the fourth and final part of the story about our recent time at the US/Mexico border. You can read part 1 here, part 2 here, and part 3 here.

So here we are in the morning, still waiting for that important document from Mexico City, and thinking that maybe our van was fixed.

We were a tad bit tired, not sure why.

To get back into Mexico…

We were uncomfortable – not in either of our home countries, anxious to get home. We had seen very little of each other in the past two days. We got up, had breakfast, and packed up. Our document from Mexico City had arrived. But would it be what they wanted?

We decided to make a few stops before leaving Laredo, to give the van a chance to break down again if it wanted to (as you recall, we hadn’t driven it much since it was repaired).

It was working fine. We got gas, picked up a few things, and headed for the border.

We had gone through the toll booth and were heading to the bridge. Too late to turn around.

Before leaving, I had carefully prepared all our paperwork for the border. I grabbed it now, ready to show the officials. Four visas, three passports.

Three???!

No, really, there were four a few minutes ago!! We both searched and searched. Finally we had to pull over. Out popped one of those efficient official people.

"Anything wrong?" he asked.

Of course we had to explain we were looking for a passport.

I was sure it had been there with the others minutes before. But it had vanished. Had it fallen in the parking lot back in Laredo? If so, how would we be able to turn around? Would we have to cross over and then back?

Finally, we found it. I have no idea how it got where it was, but I’m just glad it appeared!

The first time through we had "declared", so this time we went through the "nothing-to-declare" line. But of course, with a trailer, they waved us over to stop.

Three soldiers with guns took it upon themselves to check us out (do we really look that suspicious??). The one soldier asked Shari (I was already out getting ready to unlock the trailer) about our business. When he found out we were Canadians living in Mexico City, he asked,"What’s the matter – don’t you like your country?"

"We like both!" Shari answered.

This time, they really wanted to search. They dug to the bottom of each bin, into each suitcase, asking questions as they went. I think they only other place we’d been searched so much was last summer as we tried to enter Canada.

I was starting to wonder if he was going to keep searching until he could find something to complain about. But then God let it loose again – the rain – it started to pour.

The soldiers quickly waved us on.

Can we register our Vehicles?

We arrived back at the vehicle registration place. Again, when you enter Mexico with a foreign vehicle you generally get a temporary permit.

This time we all went in (no more running down van batteries, thank you!).

Don’t forget our running theme – we had two overtired, bored kids. Not a lot to do in government offices. You’d think they’d consider adding a play area.

I brought all my paperwork to the right person. He carefully checked every document, every number. he carefully entered everything in the computer. After this lengthy process, he informed me he needed a copy of the other side of the trailer paper.

So I went and got a copy.

This time, a lady was helping me – and I went through the whole process again. Checking all the paperwork, carefully entering every number in the computer, double-checking.

I had to pay by credit card. She handed me the machine, asking me to "sign".

How? Where?

"Oh, you just enter your PIN."

Now I don’t know what it’s like where you are, but I’ve hardly ever – if ever – used my credit card PIN. And please, don’t ask me to memorize a number. I can’t remember my age, never mind a PIN number I never use.

However, I knew I had it on the computer in the van. I ran through the pouring rain, got the number, and got back in line.

For the third time, we went through the whole process. I paid. We were registered! And we drove on…

The trip back, in brief.

In Mexico, and all paperwork in order, FINALLY! Two days later than expected, of course – and late enough in the day that any break was now out of the question.

There’s a 20km checkpoint in Mexico – our papers were checked, and it looked like another soldier was waving us over – but for some unknown reason he changed his mind and waved us on.

Later there was a police checkpoint – same thing, he waved us over to the side, then changed his mind and waved us on.

Things were going somewhat more smoothly. Oh, I won’t mention the two times we were stopped by the police, or the wrong turn that landed us winding around in some little towns for an hour or two – you don’t need to hear about that.

You just need to hear that we made it back (though with a headlight burned out), all together, and ready to kiss Mexican soil.

Postscript

I mentioned in my first post that I’m not writing this to complain – and I’m really not. I just think a series of events like this ought to be documented. And the fact that anyone has read this far amazes me.

We saw the grace and mercy of God in many details, and are thankful to be home.

We do, however, find ourselves needed to trust that grace and mercy more than ever. We’re heading into the busiest time of our year, without having had the holiday/vacation that we felt we so desperately needed. We see no time available to take a significant break in the next few weeks. So we would appreciate your prayers that we would trust God, pace ourselves, and if it’s His will still find some time to maybe rest and spend some time together (ie not one with a mechanic and one at the store, or not all together working on homework – but, like, together). (We see each other more and have more of a break at home than we did on our "holidays"!)

We’re excited about the next few weeks, but I think it’s our disorganization at this point that is allowing us to maintain sanity – we’re not organized enough yet to really realize how busy we are! 😉

But in the end, all we can do is thank God for taking us through this series of events, and trust that He’ll continue to be trustworthy, as He has been every single day up to the present. And He never changes.

16 April 2010

Daze 2 at the Border

Jim Family, Practical matters, Prayer and Praise 6

This is of course part 3 of the story about our recent time at the US/Mexico border. And we’ve finally made it to day 2. Read part 1 here and part 2 here.

I mentioned that on the day before "daze 1" I had a pretty bad migraine attack. I should note that during these crazy days at the border, I was feeling pretty healthy. I tend to have fewer migraine attacks during times of high stress – whether it’s just the grace of God or the grace of God using some neurological reaction, that’s the way it is.

Of course I would probably keel over after a week or two like this, but it would be a painless death.

Let’s see where we left off. We were exhausted, had a van that didn’t work, were in one hotel and had to move to the other, and were waiting for a document from Mexico so that we could register our vehicles in Mexico.

The Battery

Once or twice a year we seem to have electrical problems, which seem to be solved every time. We’ve really had very few problems with this vehicle, but it has had 3 batteries, one alternator rebuild, and seems to me some kind of sensor replaced.

When we got up in the morning the priority was to deal with the van. Knowing that we had run the battery down (umm, repeatedly) the day before, I thought there was a good chance the battery was at fault.

Knowing no mechanic in the area, and not wanting to spend a lot, I decided to have the battery checked out first.

We packed up and I walked to Walmart (just about a 15 minute walk), picked up a battery case and some tools (oops – I loaned out my tools to someone in Ixtapaluca and forgot to get them back!).

I removed the battery, and had the hotel reception call me a taxi.

Somewhere in here we checked out from the hotel, but they graciously allowed Shari and the kids to hang out in the lobby (where they were to be stranded for quite some time).

I took the battery to AutoZone (we have those in Mexico – not sure where the company originates). They gave it a charge for an hour, and I went for something to eat (as you may recall, I ate very little the day before – I decided not to be caught like that again).

I walked not too far away to Denny’s. Ate, and watched as it started to pour again.

I tried to pay with my credit card, but they said, because of the rain, it wasn’t working. Tried again – no go. They took my card number in hopes they could get it to work later. I hope they got it to work eventually!

I made a dash for the store. I was not far – but far enough to get very soaked. I arrived in the auto parts store dripping wet. The cashier made some comment about how wet it was.

I stood dripping in the doorway (on the mat) trying to find the paper they gave me so that I could pick up my battery. I checked every pocket – where is it?!

As I searched my pockets without success, I kept glancing up, trying to find the counter where I was supposed to pick up the battery. Where was it? Wait – have they moved things around in here? What have they done to the …

I was in the wrong store.

Seriously, there were two very similar auto parts stores side by side. I had dashed dripping wet into the wrong one.

I walked around (empty battery box in hand) trying to dry a little and give their store a chance, since I had just dripped all over their mat. But there was nothing I wanted here – so out I went.

In the next store I finally found that receipt (right where I thought it was – don’t know how I missed it the first time!).

I dripped on their mat for a minute then went to check on my battery. It had been so low that it still wasn’t charged enough to be sure it was all right. They thought there was a good chance it was fine, but they would need to charge it more to give it a proper test.

Another two hour wait.

Remember our running theme? Over-tired, bored kids. They did well stuck in the hotel lobby, but … well, they’re kids. Day 2 of being stranded places after very little sleep was taking its toll.

There was a restaurant next to the hotel, but it was pouring rain, as you remember.

While I went to wait again, the rain started to let up. It was mid or late afternoon, and Shari decided to try the restaurant.

When she went in, she soon realized it was a buffet-only kind of place. Dealing with our two kids in a buffet line is not for the faint of heart. But somehow Shari pulled it off. (She says she’s not Wonder Woman, but sometimes I wonder….)

I had nothing to do but wait. I went somewhere to order a cheesecake, and I ate it … over the two hours … and watched someone steal a coffee.

Then I returned to AutoZone. The battery checked out fine, and was fully charged.

I carried it to a pay phone, called a taxi, and waited.

Before I got into the first taxi that morning, the driver had gone in to check with hotel reception (to see if I was who I said I was, perhaps??). I had had the time to read all the taxi rules of the city, which are posted on every taxi. Laredo is very specific about how every taxi must charge.

So I knew this second driver wasn’t playing fair when I got in and I was already being charged US$7. "Oh, it’s because I had to come from downtown", he said. "It’s a flat rate of $12."

This isn’t legal, I thought. But I decided not to get hostile, and just pay $12 and no more.

The meter was above $12 when we arrived, but he only got $12. No tip, either.

Or maybe not the Battery

I put the battery back in the van, and got Shari and the kids, who were back in the hotel lobby. Hannah was studying for her exams, which she had the day after we got back.

We decided to go for a drive down the highway, to make sure the battery was holding its charge. It was almost evening, I believe.

Of course, we left our trailer at the hotel.

We drove down the highway, and everything seemed fine. It was low, but holding the charge. I was just about to turn around, but missed the turnoff. So we were looking for the next one…

Then we remembered.

There was an after-border checkpoint here. No way around it now.

Would they wonder what we were doing? Would the trained dogs find the cat in our engine again?

They were a little confused that we were leaving Laredo… and heading for Laredo… but eventually they let us go. And we turned around.

About 45 or 50 minutes into our trip (We weren’t intending to be driving for an hour, but with the missed turn and checkpoint…) it happened. The battery started draining. Faster and faster.

"I’ll drop you guys off, and go back to AutoZone", I said. But as we entered Laredo it became apparent there would be no time. We needed to go straight to AutoZone. And we did. Almost.

3 and a half blocks away, the van died.

I walked to AutoZone, and they gave me a booster machine. I walked back. No go.

I went back again and they offered to send someone over.

I forget the man’s name, but he was the best. Smiling, helpful, he came and gave us a boost.

It died again.

Another boost.

Dead again (I think that’s the 7th time, if you’re counting).

He checked the battery – aaahhhh – it’s a loose connection! He went to get a new connector.

New connector – another boost – another death.

All right, he said, I’ll bring a new battery and get you back to AutoZone – it’s likely the alternator.

Fine. He got the battery, and we made it back, with him behind (far behind – we burned rubber trying to make it before anything else happened!).

This time the whole family was together – not much to do at AutoZone, however. Especially for kids who were exhausted beyond recognition (us too, of course, but we have a little more self control. Sometimes.).

The smiling helpful AutoZone guy checked the alternator – looks like that’s the problem. I picked out an alternator and they called a mechanic.

The smiling helpful AutoZone guy kept coming back and saying (in Spanish, of course),"What can I do to help?"

He was great.

Two Spanish speaking mechanics arrived. By now it was late, and dark. And we were running out of good games to play with the kids in a parking lot.

But it was then I warned the mechanics about the cat. The body was extracted from our engine – pried out – I won’t say it was all in one piece, but I’ll spare you the details.

The mechanics were working in the dark (we had parked in the one spot in front of the store where the light was burned out), and covering their noses with their shirts because of the smell of … deceased cat.

Fortunately, we had a little flashlight, so holding the light with their teeth or hands, and with occasional help from me, they put in the new alternator.

And at their strong encouragement, I bought some Febreze Auto to spray into the engine.

Our van engine is very compact – it wasn’t an easy job. I don’t even know how the cat managed to get in. But enough about the cat.

How to pay the mechanics? Why, with $US of course – which I now had more of, but still not enough.

So I went with them to an ATM (probably not the brightest move, going with two strangers in the dark – but that’s not the first mistake I made in these two days!). I dropped something getting out of their vehicle and was in such a rush I jumped up, banging my head on the car window.

Shaking the stars away, I got the money, we went back, and I paid them and thanked them, and we took the kids to the hotel.

Getting to bed again

If we can at least get them in a hotel room, they’ll be contained and can maybe watch TV or something, I thought. Remember, the trailer (with our suitcases) was still at the hotel we had checked out of that morning.

We checked in, and I left for the old hotel. But there was nothing on TV, and the kids were so tired they were close to insanity. It was not a happy place.

Shari decided to give Nathanael a bath, but all our luggage was in the trailer, so she had to put his dirty clothes back on him.

Meanwhile, I picked up the trailer, and returned. This hotel had a parking garage, so I decided to unhook the trailer and park it in one spot and the van in another. It was pretty empty, so I carefully got the trailer in position, avoiding the cement pillars, and went to unhook it.

A parking attendant walked up, and explained to me (in Spanish of course) that I should park on the next level, where there was a large gated lot that I could easily turn around in.

Fine – so I manoeuvred out of that spot (not easy to miss those cement pillars) and drove up to the gate. Another parking attendant told me I could go in.

This time I wasn’t so careful. Give me a break. I’d had a busy week.

C-R-A-S-H!

I had smashed the trailer into the metal gate.

With the parking attendant’s help, we got the trailer loose, and I drove into the lot.

I ran back to check the gate and apologize. It was a little bent up, but not destroyed. I didn’t bother to check the trailer.

You may not believe it, but this lot in the parking garage was not level – it was basically a hill. I have no idea why things were designed that way.

So I was parked uphill, and I went to get a cart to load the luggage on to. Fortunately, there was a speed bump nearby, so I braced the cart on the speed bump and ran up and down the hill with the luggage. It was a bit tricky, but I managed it – down the elevator to the lobby, up the elevator to our room (on the 9th floor).

Nathanael was beyond all reason. But somehow we got them both to bed, and crashed into bed ourselves. It must have been three or four hours past the poor kids’ bedtime when they finally got to sleep.

What would the next day hold? We were still waiting for our document, and had to cross the border again. Find out what happens next in the next post (and the final post on this topic, you’ll be relieved to hear)…

16 April 2010

At the Border â€“ Daze 1 (part 2)

Jim Family, Practical matters, Prayer and Praise 2

When we last left our brave travellers, they were on US government property, overstaying their welcome. Their van battery was dead. Thankfully, their friend and co-worker Rod was sending up a missing document so that, in a couple days, they would be able to return to Mexico to try to register their vehicles again.

Trying to get off Government Property

Of course, Rod would need an address to send the document to. But we had no hotel reservation, as of yet.

But it was late afternoon, and we had another more pressing issue – getting a tow truck.

I had AAA (CAA) membership, but didn’t have the emergency number.

The US officials, anxious to get rid of us, allowed me to use one of the phones in their office.

I tried several AAA numbers, but none worked – finally someone in the office looked up the right number.

I gave the operator careful instructions – van and trailer, need a tow, here’s where we are, here are the nearby landmarks, etc. A 45 minute wait, the operator said.

Remember our running theme from yesterday? Overtired, bored kids. Yes, they did very well, but give them a break. They’d been cooped up in the van all day, and they still couldn’t go anywhere (for some reason, the customs officials didn’t want them them wandering around on government property where passports were being checked. Go figure.

We waited. Shari took Hannah to the bathroom, weaving through the long line of people lined up to go through customs. Officials kept asking who they were and what they were doing.

I took Nathanael to the bathroom, weaving through the long line of people.

Meanwhile, a customs official came over to the van and trailer with a big dog. We thought we were all done with this checking, but we were looking very suspicious, I suppose.

Suddenly, the dog leapt up, right in front of Shari, on to the hood of the car!

Ma’am, do you have any pets in there?

I left out a detail from earlier. When the official with the booster was first checking out our engine, he made a discovery.

We’re guessing that several weeks ago a neighbourhood cat was chilly on a cool Mexico City night. It climbed up into our warm engine. But was still there early in the morning when Hannah had to go to school – and —-

Just guessing.

But whatever happened, there was now a dead cat in our engine.

No, really.

No wonder we had a mouse in our house, building a home in our oven, shortly before we left… no one left to chase him. But we got the mouse. And, apparently, we got the cat too.

After 45 minutes the tow truck hadn’t arrived. An official said to give him another 15 minutes, then to call again.

Then I spied some pay phones across the street – so I ran over and called.

The operator couldn’t imagine what had happened. He kept trying to get a hold of the contact person, and eventually put me on hold. While I was on hold, the tow truck showed up.

I had been hoping to book a hotel too, but now had no chance.

The tow truck driver came in a big truck with his (I think) 9 year old son. He didn’t speak (much) English, so we carried on in Spanish.

I would hate to be stuck in Laredo, USA, not knowing Spanish!

He wasn’t told about the trailer, he claimed. He would have to charge for that.

Fine, I said.

We loaded the van on the truck, and hitched up the trailer. (He was pretty well equipped, considering he apparently knew nothing about the trailer)

The six of us crammed into the small (well, it seemed small with six of us!) cab of the truck, and drove to the hotel. It was about 10 minutes away, I imagine. Nathanael fell asleep.

The Hotel

We arrived at the hotel, and the tow truck driver began to unload. I carried a sleeping Nathanael into the hotel and went to the front desk – remember, it was evening and I still hadn’t made a reservation (actually, none of us had eaten lunch either, come to think of it).

By the way, that was one reason we didn’t go straight to a mechanic. The other reasons were that we didn’t think many would be open by then, and AAA couldn’t recommend any in the area, so we thought we’d better wait until morning.

The hotel could give us a reservation, but only one night – apparently the Disney on Ice cast was coming to stay at the hotel.

Fine, I’ll reserve for one night. But I still needed the second night, because I needed an address for Rod to send our document to, remember?

The tow truck driver was done – it was going to be US$85 to tow the trailer.

Now, I had some cash, but not that much. Credit card? Nope. Pesos? Nope. (I wasn’t crazy – lots of places just north of the border take pesos)

He said we should go inside the hotel, maybe they can charge my card and get me cash. They couldn’t. He said he was charging for time, so I’d better hurry up and get something.

The hotel staff were a big help. They gave me a free shuttle drive to a money exchange place.

Which was closed.

We went to another.

I got some money exchanged, but then made the mistake to ask for specific change so I could pay the tow truck driver. (We’re communicating in Spanish again here)

He took the money, and handed me back pesos. I explained again. By the time the money had exchanged hands 3 or 4 times, I thought I’d better check my change – sure enough, he’d given me US$15 too much. I gave it back, rushed outside (it was starting to rain) and went back to the hotel… and paid the tow truck driver.

Meanwhile Shari and the kids had found some microwave food in the hotel lobby, and were eating it. Lunch and supper combined. It was getting late.

I quickly tried to get a hotel reservation for the next night. Still under the illusion we might get in a mini-holiday, I booked a hotel with a pool. I sent Rod the address.

It started to rain cats and dogs (there are those cats and dogs again!). It was pouring.

I unloaded the van and trailer in the rain, and got soaked.

I returned to the hotel. Hannah was having a bath (all those hours at the border in the heat aren’t great for cleanliness), so I played briefly with Nathanael, microwaved a mini-pizza, and wrote this tweet/status, to let people know we were fine:

In the USA for a couple extra days, but everyone is fine, together; I’m at the moment playing Hot Wheels with Nathanael.

Well, what else was I supposed to say in a few words? I think that 5 minutes of playing Hot Wheels was just about the only "holiday" we had!

It was around 9 or 10pm when we ate "lunch" and got the kids to bed. I was moving furniture and I spilled the applesauce, and it went all over the floor and wall …. but enough about that day.

Maybe tomorrow will be better. Maybe? We’ll see as we move on to Daze 2 at the Border… next time!

15 April 2010

At the Border – Daze 1 (part 1)

Jim Family, Practical matters, Prayer and Praise 5

I don’t know that I actually expect anyone to read all about our time at the border. But it’s one of those things you just want to document. It’s really quite something the number of minor problems that avalanched on us, specifically during a couple of days.

And let me make it clear I’m not complaining – just intrigued – although I am concerned about one thing, and I’ll tell you about that at the end.

The Very Short Version

If you really don’t want to read everything, here’s the very short version. We had a delay at the USA/Mexico border, had some van trouble too. Then we got it worked out and fixed, and we came home.

Background

For the brave who want to know the details, a little background. We were combining some business and pleasure into a ten day road trip up to Dallas. For various reasons we ended up packing mostly business into the first part of the trip. Paperwork, shopping for ministry items (although we did shopping for us as well), getting packages for people, visiting with people.

Most of the visiting was both business and pleasure – and it was a highlight. Let me make that much clear. It was great to see some friends, and that also forced us to slow down briefly during the first few hectic days.

The night before we left Dallas to drive to the border, we had some trouble finding the place we were looking for, and ended up being out late. This was a rough few days for Hannah and Nathanael, especially Nathanael who usually needs 12 or 13 hours of sleep a day. But this was an especially late night for all of us.

We drove to Laredo, at the border, the next day. Long day, another late night, and if I’m not mistaken I had a migraine attack that day. So we crashed into bed in the hotel quite late – exhausted – but looking forward to – finally – some slower days – the holiday/vacation part of our trip.

Daze 1 (part 1)

The next morning didn’t start well for me – I was feeling very sick to my stomach, maybe just due to a lack of sleep. I felt a little better after breakfast, and we headed for the border.

We had a couple of items to "declare" at the Mexican border. It went very smoothly, and I paid far less than I was expecting. Hold on to that nice feeling.

Registering Vehicles

Once in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, we had to register our van and trailer. I went through the whole process, but when I told them about the trailer they asked me for a paper I didn’t have. My fault.

The paper – if it existed – would be in Mexico City – in our house – somewhere – in a box maybe?

I started messaging and calling Rod, our coworker in Mexico City. I was having some trouble calling him, because I was so close to the border and my cell phone was still roaming in the USA, even though I was in Mexico.

In the middle of these calls back and forth, Nathanael knocked the cell out of my hand (by mistake) and it broke in three pieces. I was frantically trying to get it back together so I could talk to Rod again.

I finally got the cell reassembled.

I remembered I did have some paperwork for the trailer with me – I went in again, but they wouldn’t accept it.

Rod said he would go to our house to look for the paper. I said I would call him from a land line.

I went inside to the row of payphones, they were all out of order.

Found another payphone, but my card didn’t work.

Got Shari’s card, and it seemed to be working, but when the time came, I couldn’t get through.

Meanwhile – and this is important – Shari was trying to keep the kids entertained in the van (the very tired, bored kids – watch for a running theme on that one). Since we didn’t know how long this was going to take … we didn’t think about … the lights in the van … which were slowly … draining the ….

But back to Rod. He had to go buy more cell minutes because this was so expensive calling to and from the USA (even though, as you remember, we were in Mexico). We relied on messaging back and forth, and – wonder of wonders – he found our trailer paper right away (filed under "trailer" in our filing cabinet – amazing!).

Rod said he could sent the document "overnight" (not literally, but you know what I mean), and that it would probably arrive in a couple of days. He suggested it would be easier to send to a USA address, and we already knew a good hotel across the border, so we made the (maybe wise, maybe not) decision to cross back into the USA to wait.

Perhaps we could still have some family time after all, while we waited for the document…

Back across the border…

As we arrived at the international bridge to the USA (like, after it was too late to turn back), we realized the van battery was low. The line was stop and go – there was no hope of recharging. A third of the way across the bridge the van stopped running.

I pulled out the booster cables and tried to get someone to stop, but no one would (I think technically you’re not supposed to stop on the bridge. But still….).

Finally a man drove up in an official looking car and gave me a boost. But without giving the battery a moment to charge, he removed the cables and drove away as soon as the van started.

It quickly stopped running again.

A worker on the bridge came over to help. He stopped a man in a white van beside us, and we boosted again. He quickly removed the cables and told me my battery probably needed water.

The van quickly stopped running for the third time.

Almost halfway across the bridge, the friendly bridge worker said we could push it. With the trailer? I asked. Oh sure, he said.

He was right. And slowly, bit by bit, we pushed it all the way across and over to the side, just before the US customs booths.

He told me to ask the US officials for a booster (those little battery charging machines, you know). The official didn’t seem too interested, but the bridge worker went and asked himself.

The booster appeared, but the van wouldn’t start.

Could we get someone going the other way to stop? Eventually we did – a very kind man in a white truck stopped. He spoke little English, but I finally explained I wanted to keep it connected for a few minutes to charge the battery a bit. He agreed.

We managed to drive up to the customs booth, but while we were having our passports checked, the van died. Again.

Our passports checked out fine, but the officials were talking – they had no idea what to do with us. So we waited.

Finally a car drove up and gave us a boost, and we were told to drive over to one side where we’d be out of the way, and a tow truck could come for us. We made it barely far enough. (That’s the fifth time it died, right? I’m losing count…)

The officials checked out our trailer, and we were good to go. Get off US government property. Now.

But that was easier said than done….

Next time – cats and dogs and needing cash – as we continue with "Daze 1" tomorrow.

11 April 2010

“Journeying Mercies”

Jim Practical matters, Prayer and Praise 5

I’m writing because Shari mentioned on Facebook that you should watch our blog for “the whole story”.

Well, the fact of the matter is, it would take too long to write right now. And the “story” really isn’t over.

Suffice to say, we are in the USA for a couple of extra nights, waiting for a document that we need for re-entry into Mexico. Our co-worker Rod Fry has been graciously helping us, and Lord willing we’ll be back in Mexico on Tuesday.

We’re all fine, and going to get some rest now.

If I started telling the whole story, I really would have to include the part about the big dog… and the pay phone… oh my, I would have to include the part about the applesauce… and that guy in the white van…. the storm… you know, I’m just not going to get into all that right now.

So please be patient, and we’ll get back to you! 😉

Good night.

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