Casa de Esperanza: day 2 & 3

Mexico Mike  has been a great source of information for me as I began planning this trip. He’s been “in Mexico since 1968 and on the web since 1986”. It was through the purchase of his travel log that I came across Casa de Esperanza. Because we had planned on doing some camping, we had brought our tent and camp supplies with us in the van and had been looking for campsites along our route. Mexico Mike made brief mention of a “small campground run by missionaries” and had included their email address. This is how we met Chacko and Angeles Thomas.

Our van parked in front of Casa de Esperanza, Cd. Victoria, MX

I am always amazed at how a small event, like buying a travel log, can open the door to such large events in one’s life. This is certainly true in the case of Casa de Esperanza (House of Hope). As I began to email back and forth with Chacko, I told him we would like to stay Friday night and be on our way Saturday. He asked me if I would consider staying until Monday so I could give the morning message at his church. Because missions is the primary reason we are doing all this, what could I say, but “we would be happy to.” And I’m so glad we did!

We only met Chacko very briefly and that was in Harlingen, TX. He was there on business and was unable to return that weekend, but he assured us that his wife, Angeles, would welcome us and take care of everything, including rooms for us instead of the tent.

Chacko is an American citizen, but was born in India. When he converted to Christianity over twenty years ago his family disowned him. Shortly after his conversion he felt called to go Mexico to start a church. Selling the RV Park he owned near Houston, he took the proceeds and moved to Cd. Victoria, MX and began building the missions compound and church building that exists today. He has also started a second church far up in the mountains near San Luis Potosi. All this began over 15 years ago. Since then the church he started at Casa de Esperanza has become a thriving, vibrant church.

Angeles leading worship at Casa de Esperanza

 

 

Angeles is Mexican, raised in Cd. Victoria. She is spirit filled and full of love and energy for the people of her country. She has a wonderful singing voice and plays the guitar beautifully. Singing with the church as she lead the worship music on Sunday morning was amazing.

Ben and Thomas packing Christmas bags

On Saturday she asked us if we could help with a few projects around the grounds and afterwards visit a family from the church with her. I worked on one of the vans which wasn’t running well while Barbe and the boys helped sort out a mountain of children’s gift bags already being prepared for next Christmas. The day passed quickly and later we were able to visit Saul and Margarita, making new friends in the process. Saul was paralyzed from the waist down 2 years ago in a swimming accident. Life has not been easy for them since, but the joy with which we were welcomed into their home was incredible.

 

Sunday morning was wonderful. We were greeted warmly by everyone and soon  felt right at home. I spoke mostly through Angeles who acted as my interpreter (photo left). After a light lunch and a siesta we made our way across town, gaining some elevation as we moved closer to the mountain range which Cd. Victoria sits under, to the house of Don Jesus and Dona Marcias. This delightful, older couple with eight grown children and many, many grandchildren and great-grandchildren, of who were that night along with a few neighbors, had invited us to have dinner with them. We all crowded into their living room, visiting as best we could in “Spanglish”. Mama Marcia’s bustled around the kitchen, her black eyes shining with obvious delight to be cooking for so many. It is very obvious she loves to cook and show hospitality and reminds me so much of my own mother…especially when she finally interrupts the conversation to let us know the food was getting cold. The meal of beans, tortillas and meat in some kind of seasoned, vegetable broth was absolutely delicious.

All of us with Don Jesus & Dona Macias (standing between Mark and me) and some of their family.

Sunday afternoon Angeles told Barbe and me that she and Chacko would like us to seriously consider remaining with them to help with the work they are doing. They would give us the large living facility as our home. We are honored that they would offer this to us, but for now are hearts are set on Honduras. They understand, but as we say goodbye early Monday morning we leave with the promise that we will see them again someday, if only for a return visit.

 

One of the things that has always impressed me whenever I travel, whether in the US or abroad, is the obvious bond that connects those who are in Christ. Because of that bond, that “family” connection, we welcome strangers into our homes and our hearts. This is truly an amazing thing.

South of the Border: day 1

It really hits me shortly after I enter the wrong lane at customs and have to back out to enter the correct one. We're Crazy! I say this to Barbe, who, without a seconds hesitation says, "No, you're crazy. This was your idea." "Yeah, but you're going with me, so that makes us both crazy." This conversation happens as we park the van in a dirt parking lot where a man waving a dirty red rag is directing us and other "transmigrantes" where to park. He assures us he will watch our vehicle while we are gone. I, of course, tip him when we return.  We all hike back to the immigrations building to obtain our visas and vehicle insurance. It hits me again. I don't speak Spanish! I have already begun to realize this after attempting to understand the directions our customs broker gave me on how to proceed, how to be reimbursed at the MX/GUA border for our cash bond and who knows what else. It really sinks in as I try to get our visas. I don't speak Spanish. Not really!


Waiting in line to clear customs

As we exit the immigrations building I suddenly realize that Tiger, our dog who we left in the van slightly sedated with Benadryl, has not been officially recorded as a visitor to Mexico. And after all those visits to the vet and all that paperwork! Consulting briefly with Barbe we decide to commit our first illegal act in Mexico after being there for only 20 minutes. We run for it. There is no way I'm going back in there and try to explain all this in my "Spanish?" So Tiger is officially an illegal alien. Somehow I think he understands this and has manged to keep his head down at every check point. Of course it could be the effects of the drugs and the threat of the shock collar he wears around his neck.

It all works out in the end. We get our visas, we convert dollars to pesos (1 dollar to 12.6 pesos) and head for Matamoros. We have been advised not to take the direct route south through Valle Hermoso as this is a drug cartel stronghold, but to swing east through Matamoros. It is half an hour out of our way. We gladly do this. We sucessfully pass through our first Federales police check point. And the second. We get to the second adounas (customs) checkpoint and we run into our first hint of trouble. Our trailer has been sealed with special numbered locks just before we get to the first customs check point by our agent. I have the paperwork listing the contents of the trailer, the lock numbers, all official and stamped. However the customs agent wants to "verify" the contents of the trailer against the list. I keep insisting that we cannot open the seals or I will be in big trouble when we exit the country. He insist that he needs to look. He has nothing to actually cut the locks with and I insist that if he does succeed in opening them with his pocket knife, which he is trying to do, that he must give me a receipt. He declines to do so. I begin to suspect he is looking for a pay off.  Eventually another agent wanders over and tells him to let us proceed. I shake both of their hands gratefully...sometimes it is good to not speak Spanish.

Our destination for our first night is on the outskirts of Ciudad Victoria. There is a small missions compound with a campground where we will stay. (My next blog will be about this place and our stay there which turned into a 3 day event.) It is about 225 miles from the border to Cd. Victoria.

After leaving Matamoros we drive through desolate, arid, empty countryside. The few places of business or dwellings we see along the road have mostly been abandoned. This is perhaps the most dangerous of the Mexican states and everywhere we go we can sense the hopelessness, the fear, the poverty. We see quite a few Federales and army units on patrol. I am happy to report that we saw no drug lords (that we know of), no dead bodies and no violence. It is pretty much as I had expected as long as I avoided reading the State Department's travel warnings. Dangerous, but passable using caution, levelheadedness and common sense. We are thankful.

We stop in one of the few small villages which exist halfway to Cd. Victoria. Alongside Highway 101 there  are stands where "carne seca" (beef jerky) is being sold. This particular stand is being run by two teenagers, probably a brother and sister. They greet my with shy smiles, but are quick to show me the different types of jerky they are selling. I am under the impression that business has not been good. I settle on "machacado sin chile". When I ask if I can take their picture the girl is hesitant and blushes, but her brother convinces her to join in. Returning to the van we all try some. It is heavily salted with a slightly fishy taste. It takes some getting used to. It's not terrible, but it's not at all like the what is sold in bags in the supermarket. I wonder which is the real deal.

We arrive shortly before 5pm at Casa de Esperanza. We are releaved to have passed our first day without problems. It is good to have a safe place to stay for the night.

Note: It is Tuesday the 29th of January. As I write this we are now, currently, halfway through Mexico. We have had no problems so far and are having a wonderful time. Because of the lack of time and internet we may actually be in Honduras before I finish blogging about our trip. There is so much to write about. Thank you once again to all of you who follow this blog, who pray for and and remember us each day.


 

At the Border

As of today we have driven 2875 miles since leaving Maine. We arrived in Harlingen, TX this morning. We stopped by to see Hilda, the broker who is taking care of our paperwork to get us through customs and travel through Mexico, and finalized what we need for that. Tomorrow morning we will make our way to the border crossing and see if we got it all right!

Travel Note: If you are traveling through Mexico to Central America with cargo or export items you must cross at the Los Indios Free Trade Bridge in San Benito, TX ONLY. Instead of the usual tourist status you will go as "transmigrantes" with a specific route and a maximum of ten days to exit the country. Contact me through this blog for Hilda's number if you need a reliable broker to handle your paperwork.

Tiger making himself comfortable at La Quinta.
Thomas ans Ben in background, also making themselves comfortable.

Wednesday we stopped in Houston at the Guatemalan Embassy to purchase a permit for our dog, Tiger. After sitting in the waiting room for an hour we were told that unfortunately they could not issue the permit there because the APHIS form 7001 which had been stamped by our New England area FDHA vet should have been sent to the embassy in Rhode Island. When we told them we were driving and would be leaving the country on Friday, they were kind enough to issue the permit anyway, but made it very clear that they were uncertain whether or not the Guatemalan border officials would recognize it. This dog has cost us more money, more time and more uncertainty than all of the rest of us combined. He's a wanderer and will probably jump out of the car and get lost after all this!

Travel Note: If you have any question about taking a dog or cat to Mexico, Guatemala or Honduras, feel free to contact me through this blog. I will be happy to help as I am now an expert in this!


a few last minute purchases at Walmart, getting the A/C topped up and doing laundry took up the remainder of the afternoon. We, the boys and I, decide that to celebrate our last American meal we should all go the place which, as Barbe puts it, is "what's wrong with America". Golden Corral and we love it! In a sense Barbe is right though. Massive amounts of food, huge amounts of waste, vast amounts of calories all for a reasonable price. No wonder so many of us are obese and die of heart failure. We still love it, the boys and I.  




So what have I learned so far? I would give anyone planning on stepping out on a new venture, adventure or plan to just "get on with it". Although there were many reasons we needed to take time to prepare and get ready to go, much of the second guessing, worry and fear I experienced could have been avoided by making the move more quickly once we determined our course of action. Those of you who know me well know how much I enjoy talking. I can tell you this though, after months of talking about our plans I had had enough of talk and was ready for action. Talk is good, planning and preparing are good, but nothing will ever replace action.

To those of you who pray, please pray for us these next few weeks that as we travel all will go well, safe and trouble free. For those of who don't pray, we know you love us too and will be thinking of us, wishing us well, safe and secure and trouble free. Thanks to each of you!

PS. I hope to continue to blog when I can during our trip. Be sure and check occasionally for updates. We really enjoy having all of you share this adventure with us.

On the Road: we leave Maine

January 15, 2013 10:24 am EST we officially begin the first leg of our road trip from Farmington, Maine USA to Siguatepeque, Comayagua, Honduras.

It felt wonderful to finally be on our way after months of waiting and preparing. As I expected, at least for me, all doubts and fears vanish the moment we get under way. I am psyched. Waving good bye to our mothers was the only sad moment (Barbara and Millie in the background of video) as we pull out of the driveway. Check out the Hella 500 driving lights I added to the van shortly before leaving! As it turns out, I'm very glad the van we bought is the 1 ton version. We are loaded down quite heavy and it shows. I did take the precaution of adding a transmission cooler. Other than the less than spectacular 11 mpg we've been averaging, the van with it's 6.0 V-8 has been handling the load very nicely.

We drove most of the first night so we could visit the Smithsonian Air and Space and Natural History Museums in Washington, D.C. the next morning. This is something Barbe has wanted to do for a long time. To see all D.C. has to offer really requires a much longer visit than just an afternoon, but it was still worthwhile.

Travel Note: If you are planning a trip to D.C., don't take your vehicle to the museum and monument areas. Parking is almost nonexistent. Better off to park elsewhere and bus in.

Driving as far as Raleigh, NC that evening we spent the night there and Thursday morning visited our good friend Mark Wogaman before continuing on to Savannah, GA.

Friday evening we arrived in Hilliard, FL. We are staying here with Pat and Tommy. This couple has, over the past two years, become like...well, I was going to say grandparents to us, but they are younger than my parents, not by much, but... anyway, they have become very dear friends to us and they love us like there own children.

Pat and Tommy

Most of Saturday was spent doing team training with the missions team NGF will be sending to Honduras this June to help us drill a well and do VBS. It will be good to have friends from our home church visit us! This morning (Sunday) I will be bringing the morning message at NGF and on Monday we will be on the road again headed for Brownsville, Texas and the Mexican border. Our plan is to get all our documentation completed on Thursday evening and cross the border Friday morning.

Writing Naked

No, I'm not sitting here in my underwear or less. I didn't even come up with the post title. Billy Coffey did. But, when I read his blog post, I knew exactly what he meant. Sometimes I just write the newsy, everyday stuff. The kind of things I might share on facebook, but sometimes I write the things that I really feel inside. My emotions, my dreams and fears, my heart. That's writing naked. I've had people ask me why I would do such a thing, you know, put myself out there like that. Sometimes I ask myself the same thing.

So why? Because, that's the kind of writing that matters...to me. I tire very quickly of the superficial, the mundane, the chit-chat; or the glowing, God is good, everything is always fine reports, because although God is good all the time, the circumstances of our lives are not necessarily so. I like to know who a person really is. I guess I just like honesty, so that's how I write. Besides, this blog is about "the journey" and true journeys require honesty. I'm pretty sure it's in the rule book.

So you ask me, "How are you guys doing, Mike? You must be getting excited about leaving for Honduras." The superficial answer would be, "Yes, can't wait!" The answer I've been giving (slightly below superficial) is, "Yes, we are excited, but we're under a lot of stress right now too. I don't think we realized how much work it would be to get ready." And this is true. But the naked answer would be this.

"Along with the feelings of excitement, stress, tiredness and worry, I find that I'm experiencing feelings of aloneness and loneliness. This seems odd to me and unexpected. After all, my family is with me. We have seen many of our friends over the past few weeks, so it's not that kind of aloneness. It stems, I think, from the realization that we are going through this experience, this process of moving and starting a new life in another country entirely by ourselves. It is, to some extent, self imposed. I understand that and I'm okay with it. This is the direction which for various reasons we chose and continue to choose."

"Most people who do what we are doing belong to a missions organization. They have spent the last few years raising financial support, building a base of people who encourage them and pray for them. They have a home office who is helping them with all the logistics, who know the ropes, the regulations and the rules. We made the decision not to go that route, although we had several opportunities to do so. Instead, we have chosen, at least for now, to support ourselves and make the move on our own. So, we're mostly figuring this all out as we go along. Lately I feel like we're hemorrhaging money. The cost of just preparing to go, let alone the actual move continues to rise with each new and unexpected tax, stamp, duty, bond, insurance or fee. The church we consider our home church is in Florida. It's along way from Maine. We will be visiting them on our way to Honduras, but by then the hard part of leaving will be over."

"We had a surprise 80th birthday party for my mom last Sunday. We met at the local Chinese restaurant. My siblings, those who still live in Maine, where all there. My nephew and his family drove up from Lewiston. It was a really nice evening. In the back of my mind there was this nagging thought...this could be the last time I see my parents. I try to quiet it, to hush it up, but it's there. It was still there tonight when I visited them at the house I grew up in and where we will be staying for the next few days."

"We're leaving the life we're used to behind. The country, the culture, the stability, the security the...normalness of life in the United States. Ahead of us lies uncertainty, danger, a new country and culture...the unknown. All of this only adds to this feeling of aloneness and loneliness. I think Barbe is feeling it too. I know she is, she just expresses it differently, but the past few weeks have been hard for her too. The boys are doing okay, I think. Mostly just ready to be done packing and cleaning and to get on with the adventure part. I guess they didn't realize that adventure is 99% hard work."

"On a positive note, we've been enjoying a January thaw so the weather has been quite warm. We had a wonderful dinner Friday night at the Calzolaio Pasta Co in Wilton with good friends. We're almost done packing and cleaning. The trailer is packed...probably overloaded, and I think we're still on schedule to leave Tuesday."

"So any way, yeh, that's kind of how we've been. How have you been?"

So, how have you been...really?

Sorting, Packing and Painting

This has been a busy, busy week. Between New Years parties and goodbye parties with friends and family we have spent every day sorting through mountains of clothes, dishes, books and the junk that we've managed to collect in the 13 years we've lived here, packing away the the things we want to keep, packing up the things to take and and either giving away everything else or making dump runs. We still have a long ways to go!

Ben and Thomas, whose room usually looks like a war zone, had their work cut out for them. As you can see from the look on Ben's face, the reality of the situation has finally hit him. Thomas, I think, just gave up.

It became evident pretty quickly as we cleared out bureaus, beds and dressers that some of the rooms were severely in need of repainting, so Thomas and I have also been tackling that. Our new tenant chose the this color for her daughter's bedroom. Very Central American! By the way, this room is the same room pictured in in the photo directly above. This should give all of us the hope that world peace really is possible.

This week is our final week to get everything done. Taxes, lawyers, painting, carpet cleaning, trailer packing, van maintenance, more vet visits with APHIS form 7001 signings, good byes...everything needs to be done by next Sunday. If all goes well we will hit the road on Tuesday morning and head for Jacksonville, FL. I will be speaking at the Sunday morning service and we will have STM team training sessions on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. Then it is on to Mississippi to visit old friends from Hurricane Katrina days. Next stop will be in Texas to pick up a box to bring to Honduras for friends Alan and Nicole, a stop at the Guatemalan embassy in Houston to obtain paperwork for Tiger and one last visit to the vets for a final check up on him so we can enter Mexico.

Hopefully all the paperwork that we will have sent ahead of us to the border agent will be processed and cleared and by Friday morning, if all goes as planned, we will be in Old Mexico.