Category: Mexico

What a wild whirlwind tour that is life over the last few weeks. (I have to go back and check to see where I left off). Oh, yes, Gettysburg.

After Gettysburg we spend a few days in Syracuse, New York with some dear friends. He is the pastor of a deaf church and president of a mission board. I was privileged to preach for him on the Wednesday night that we were there. We have always loved his church people and the fellowship we have with them. Bro. Steve took us to a science museum one day while we were there. Steve is a geek from the 50s. As a child he attended a special session for electronic engineers on transistors when they first came out. He has been a hardware hacker ever since. The science museum turned him into a kid with the rest of us.

After NY we were back in PA for the camp that I was speaking at. It is a camp for children (hearing) ages 7 to 12. Not my favorite group to work with. But the beauty of this camp was that I was just the speaker. I only had to show up for my sessions and was not expected to entertain the children the whole time. Thank the Lord.

It was a wonderful week. There were at least 7 who accepted the Lord as their Savior.

From Sunday to Sunday that week I spoke in 13 different services at 7 different venues! Busy. I also coordinated getting some body work done on our van after our neighbor in Florida backed into it. How many weeks ago were we in Florida? Well, it didn’t get fixed immediately after the crash, but we got it fixed that week in PA.

We made the long trip from northern PA to Pensacola, FL in a day and a half. This allowed us to be home 3 full days and a partial day to get ready for the next month long trip. During that week we put 2 new tires on the van, installed a transmission cooler and air bags for our rear springs. The cooler and air bags are to help with having to tow a trailer out of Mexico with the things we are bringing home.

Friday afternoon we left FL and bedded down in LA. Saturday from Baton Rouge to McAllen (border town) TX. Sunday I preached in a church in McAllen and then prepared the final things we needed to cross the border into Mexico. The crossing went very well and now we are in a hotel a couple of hours south of the border. We are only about 3 hours away from our destination tomorrow which is the start of our northern Mexico deaf camp.

We will be at camp for a week and then drive to Merida (where we lived the last 4 years). In Merida we will be selling/packing/giving away stuff that we had stored there. Then we have another week of deaf camp in the Yucatan area of Mexico. It will be tough saying good-bye to everyone this time. We know we are not going to be coming back any time soon. Last year when we left we knew we would be back this summer. But now that time is upon us and we will say our “farewells” this time around.

In some ways it seems we are coming home. In 16 years of marriage we have never spent so much time in one place as we have the city of Merida. Even though we were at the Bill Rice Ranch for 6 years, we traveled 9 months of the year. With the exception of a couple of weeks each summer, we have lived in Merida year round for 4 years. It is certainly home for our children and home for us. Will be fun being back there, but tough to leave this time around.

I better be careful or I will get all drippy eyed.

My plane back from Guadalajara was scheduled to leave at 8:00 am. Since the airport was an hour away and I needed to be there 2 hours early, that meant I had to leave at 5:00. I was totally at the mercy of whoever the pastor found to take me to the airport. The other missionary with me did not have a vehicle. Though he lives in Guadalajara his truck is in the shop for repairs.

The pastor was supposed to be working on my ride. At 9:00 Friday night I asked him who was taking me to the airport. Somehow something so important to me did not seem that important to him. It slipped his mind. Fortunately Raul, one of the two men who was a possible driver, happened to be at the church with us that night. The pastor got it all lined out.

I told the other missionary who my driver would be. By his immediate reaction I knew I was in trouble. The missionary said that this man thinks nothing wrong with showing up to an event an hour and a half late. Something I could not afford.

Since Raul lived an hour away from the church that would mean he had to leave his house at 4:00 to come and get me. What were the chances of that working out? At the pastor’s suggestion Raul decided to sleep at the church with us and then go home after taking me to the airport.

A major birthday party was taking place at the church the next day for Raul’s daughter. I finally kicked the decorating crew out of the church building a little after 1:00 am so I could go to bed. I have no idea when Raul went to sleep. I slept from 1:30 to 4:45 and had the great joy of awakening my driver a couple minutes before 5:00.

A little trouble getting Raul’s wife from the girl’s sleeping area and finding the keys to the gate so we could leave and we were off.

A few blocks into the trip and Raul asked me if I was in a hurry. I said that I needed to be at the airport at 6:00. Whatever that took. He decided we were in a hurry. We took off and my seat tipped backwards. Quite a feat for a 30 year old Volkswagen Rabbit. We sped down the major north-south road in town flashing our lights at any car that was somewhat close to us warning them to get out of the way. We could not make a left hand turn at the intersection we wanted so he turned right onto a one way street going against us. Raul executed a nice U-turn and sent us off the direction of the airport.

I asked him to stop at an OXXO so I could get a cup of coffee (and steady my nerves). It took a few minutes to pour up the coffee and grab his wife a Coke.

When we got close to the airport there were speed bumps. My seat that tilted backwards every time we accelerated also slid violently forward when he slammed on his brakes for that first speed bump. “Knees, meet dashboard.”

Even with the stop at OXXO for the coffee I was at the airport in just over 30 minutes. Some of the time was made up because of there not being much traffic at 5:00 in the morning. But the rest of it was clearly due to some wild driving. I guess I don’t mind it so much if I am the one behind the wheel, but sitting helplessly in the passenger’s seat makes me a bit uncomfortable.

Whew!

This week while I was in Guadalajara I had the privilege of sleeping on the floor at the church. I am going to consider it a privilege since I was not sleeping outside in the dirt. If you have not slept on a concrete slab lately, you might find it amazingly uncomfortable. Every so often it is my lot to have to take up residence with las cucarachas on their level.

Some of the men at the meeting with me had mattresses. They were all claimed by someone else before I got a chance to grab one. Fortunately I had a sleeping bag (albeit a very thin one) to sleep on. One of the missionary ladies tossed in a comforter she had as extra padding. Traveling light, I did not have a pillow. My zippered hoodie, stuffed with clothes, served as a pillow for the week.

It was very musical in the church too. All the men seemed to snore on a different key. Quite a chorus. My friend Gary kindly provided a set of earplugs to use the rest of the week. I was thankful.

One of our cooks was arriving on Tuesday morning (our first morning) but did not have keys to the gate. She honked her horn at 6:30 (after a bed time of close to 2:00 am) to get someone to open the gate for her. Did I mention this was a group of Deaf I was with? Gary and I were the only ones who heard the honking. I decided to let him take care of it and I slipped back into dream land.

The second morning I was up before the cook arrived. This time her brother was supposed to have the key when he dropped her off. He forgot it at home. One thing I get great enjoyment from is waking people up. I had the privilege of waking the pastor from the floor of the church to get the keys.

The third morning the keys were not to be found. I got to wake the pastor once again, but this time the keys were not with him. He sent me upstairs to look in the kitchen. I did not find them there. The pastor had to get totally up this time and search for 30 minutes until they were located.

Friday the head cook did not come. That was too bad. It could be the explanation as to why we did not have breakfast served until 11:30 that morning. Fortunately there was plenty of coffee and cookies to keep me alive.

I had to leave by 5:00 Saturday morning. This meant that I could not use my earplugs and still hear my alarm. Since I did not get to settle into my spot on the floor until 1:30, that meant for a short final night. The lack of earplugs did not affect me negatively though. I was so tired that I did not hear any snoring.

By the way, after about 3 nights on the floor, you get used to it. I don’t think it has ever taken me more than 4 nights to get to where I was sleeping well. It is not as horrible as it sounds.

I have really been hoping for time to catch up on the blog. I have so many events and activities that are taking place every day. Then when I do have time to blog I have not had Internet access.

This week we are in a conference at a church in Ringgold, GA. This is a church that I have been part of in a small way since its inception. A friend of mine started a Bible college for the Deaf in 1994. The school was connected to a local church and did well in the church. After some time though, they felt they needed more room for their own church services because they were growing bigger than the hearing church could accommodate. I am not sure what year they started having services on their own, but they have been an organized church for quite some time now.

In 2001 we were at this church for their missions conference. They were growing well, but still at the early stages of growth. Now the church has several missionaries that they support and some which are sent out from this ministry. We have had well around 200 each night for the conference.

Many of the missionaries and staff at the church and school are old friends of ours. It is great to get together with them and share stories and catch up on old times.

When this is over I will be flying to Guadalajara, Mexico. I may or may not be able to blog from there. But rest assured, I am working and not just going there for vacation. You believe me, right? I know, how can someone go to a beautiful place like Guadalajara and call it work? I will try.