Our great mission trip adventure began with a 33 hour dead-head trip to El Paso, Texas. We felt the protecting presence of our Lord early on in our trip. While driving late at night in Missouri, we ran into a serious snow storm. In order to make it to El Paso in time to meet up with the rest of the crew, we pushed through the night, a few times driving only 25 mph due to low visibility and slippery conditions. We sent a message home asking for prayer as we traveled through the threatening storm. And, our God answered the many prayers and we made it to El Paso, 6 hours behind schedule but safe.
 |
| Our whole crew from MN right before leaving El Paso |
The plan was to head into Mexico early Monday morning, so some of the mission crew from Mexico brought vans and a truck to El Paso to meet us. Once again, we had to trust in God, as we discovered we did not have a trailer to haul all our tools for the building project into Mexico. Basically, in Mexico the government is so corrupt that our tools likely would have been confiscated at the border if discovered. Clearly, we really needed these for the construction work we intended to accomplish. Once again, we sent a message to our brothers and sisters at home asking for prayer.
Trusting in God, with the tools buried in the bottom of the truck bed and vans under our personal baggage, we headed across the border. I can't say exactly what happened at the first border check except that all our belongings made it safely through, but I was able to watch the security guard at the third crossing. He pulled off the cover of the truck, wanting to see inside. At that moment, I just knew that whatever happened, God was the one in control. With great joy, we watched as he only looked at our luggage on top and then put the cover back on and let us go. Yes, I believe that was a miracle-- just wait till you read later on about the great work God allowed us to accomplish with those tools that He brought safely across the border!
So, after crossing the border and making it safely through customs, we began what would end up being a 16 hour drive to the mission in the Copper Canyon. This post would be incomplete if I didn't mention that late at night as we were winding through mountains, we suddenly came upon the cartel, who pulled us over and ran to our vehicles. When they saw our headlights heading up the mountain, they thought we might be a rival cartel gang. However, after we had explained that we were missionaries, they let us go with a surprising "God bless you and your work."
The last hours of the trip were spent driving along the curvy mountain roads, which began as nicely paved roads and later became bumpy dirt roads leading further into mountains to the remote canyon mission. The last 2 km of the road to the mission were so steep that we had to get out of the vans and hike down to the mission.
 |
| The point where we parked our vans (taken later during the week) |
This, like last year, was a highlight of the trip for me. Once again, we had a full moon, and it was exciting to descend down into the canyon to the mission below. Some of you may recall from my blog from last year's trip, that this tortuous road is known as the "Miracle Road" because after some ten years of hauling supplies and goods over the mountain on burros, the government built this road to the mission. Yes, surely a miracle from God!
To give you a picture of the remote location of the mission, let me share some of my favorite pictures that I took later during the week...
 |
| Looking down from way above the mission; the tiny little building at the bottoms is the mission |
 |
| Other pictures from above where you can see the road winding down toward the mission |
You may be wondering why I said that these were among my favorite pictures. Well, I can't help but look at those pictures and proclaim, How great is our God?! When I consider how God gave Pastor Tomas a vision to start this mission and now the progress they have made, the many children that they house, and the local people who are coming to know Jesus Christ in this remote, desolate region, I am so humbled and awed.
No comments:
Post a Comment