A couple of weeks ago, we made our biannual trip to the border to renew our visas. We had to stay ten days before we could apply for a new visa and return to Jerez for another six months.
We had a bit of adventure on the way back. We pulled out of Melody Lane a little after eight o'clock Friday morning, thinking we'd get home about eleven hours later. At the border we applied for our visas and they gave them to us with no problem. However, when we got to "checkpoint Charlie" they turned us back. They didn't like the van permit. (The lawyer had assured us we were legal even though it was in Dad's name, but they turned us back anyway.)
At that point, we remembered that we hadn't prayed as we had known we should: against the spiritual forces that were going to try to block our return to Jerez. We prayed, and then we called Dad to get the lawyer's phone number. It turned out that Dad and the lawyer had already talked, so he was able to pass the message on to us in the two minutes that we had left on our phone card. Apparently the Mexican officials are being extra cautious right now because of the situation with the drug cartels, so they don't like to see anything out of the ordinary. We drove back to Reynosa, where Danny canceled the van permit in Dad's name and applied for a new one in his own name. The paperwork went smoothly and took about three hours. The girls were able to run around outside during that time, so that was an added blessing!
Driving around Reynosa, we noticed the town was swarming with soldiers (more than usual), and it seemed to us that they were looking for someone and expecting trouble. At one point, a vehicle merged into traffic ahead of us, full of masked men pointing guns out the windows.
Well, we got our papers in order and headed south once again. When we got to the checkpoint, the same officer who had turned us back before barely glanced at our papers and waved us on! Thanking God (and imagining that we would still get halfway home that day), we got onto the toll road and stopped to use the facilities at the first toll pay station. We pulled into a parking space and just as we got into position, the engine died. It did not start again that day.
There were a mechanic and a tow truck driver there. (Wasn't that nice of God to bring us to a comfortable place where there were a mechanic and a tow truck, and wait until we were parked before He stopped the car?) They told us we needed to replace the fuel pump and offered to tow us back to Reynosa. We felt strongly that God had brought us that far, and that we were not to go back even a little bit. (We weren't thinking of the men with guns -- we were just thinking that we didn't want to give up any ground.) We told them we wouldn't go back to Reynosa. So they towed us to a very small town that was just out of sight of the highway. The mechanic there had to send for the part, so they brought us to a hotel where we spent the night.
The next morning after breakfast, the van was done and we came home. We all three felt sure that God had allowed the van to break down for a reason, and Danny wondered if it had something to do with the violence that had been brewing in Reynosa. He thought that maybe God had decided to remove us from the highway to avoid some danger.
He was right! According to an online Mexican newspaper, there was a massive police chase and gun battle on the highway from Reynosa lasting two hours and covering an area of ten km. According to that source, at least one car caught fire and six cars were shot up. Here is a link to an English news source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/11/08/2414212.htm
I'm posting a photo or two on my website. http://ingrid.zrgtech.com/
Here is my prayer list:
Please (requests):
- Pray for my continued health.
- Ask God to continue to provide Dan and Marcela's financial needs.
- Please continue to pray for Claudia Gamboa and her kids, and Nena and her kids.
- Pray that God would give me the words and phrases necessary to do the best possible job of translating this Sunday School material so that it will be clear to children from all over the Spanish-speaking world. Also pray that God would use these lessons to speak to the children and teachers who use them.
- Pray that I'd do a good job as Sunday School teacher.
- Ask God to help me be diligent and spend my time wisely. Also ask Him to help me live and do all that I do in a way that honors and glorifies Him.
- Ask God to keep healing Bibi and her family.
- Pray for the Bible Study with Claudia Perez.
- Pray for Abril and Cesar.
Thank you (praise):
- God has been healing Bibi and bringing her family together.
- I have been healthy.
- Claudia Arcos is continuing to seek God and follow Him, and she has grown a lot spiritually.
- God is continuing to provide our needs.
- I get to live with Daniel, Marcela, Ari and Andi, and see them every day!
- The climate here is lovely. God made a beautiful world.
- God protected us on our return from the border.
Sincerely,
Ingrid Giles
