In January and February, 2009, I made my last trip to Mexico before getting married, and as of 2022, I haven't been back. I'm not sure if I will get to return or not. But I hope to!
Start by Going about 200 miles in the Wrong Direction! Tuesday, January 20, my dad took me to Hackettstown, NJ. We left Richboro, PA around 8:30am, and got to Hackettstown at about 10am. From there, I took a NJTransit commuter train to New York City. I had 2 large duffle bags and my roller suitcase, in addition to my backpack and sleeping bag. I managed to get them on the train, but it was a bit of a struggle. I had to change trains at Dover on the way to NYC. Dover had a raised platform and the connecting train was right across the platform from the Hackettstown train, making the transfer easier with all my bags. In New York, I checked my two duffle bags into checked baggage. I then had about 3 hours before the Lake Shore Limited was to depart, so I took a ride on the Subway. I then boarded Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited, which took me north as far as Albany and Schenectady before heading west toward Chicago. At Albany, I was over 200 miles farther away from Mexico than when I started my trip in Pennsylvania that morning!
Missed the Train in Chicago: Not long after I woke up, my friend Tom joined me. He had gotten on the train in Buffalo, but was in a different car. We talked about train stuff most of the way to Chicago. In Chicago, we went separate ways during our layover. When I got back to the station, I saw that the Texas Eagle was delayed 45 minutes till 2:30. So I watched someone play a game of Mrs. Pac Man in the game room, then at about 1:45 decided I should go and wait in the departure lounge. On the way there I checked the monitor again and saw that the Texas Eagle was not listed on the departures board, but that the delay listing I had seen was on the arrivals board!!! I raced to the departure lounge where I saw a long line of people waiting to board a train. Someone in line told me that was for the California Zephyr. The lounge was mostly empty other than that line of people, and it began to dawn on me that the Texas Eagle had departed without me! On another trip a couple weeks before, I had missed a train for a different reason, so I knew what to do. I was able to change my ticket to the next day, and I got the station manager's permission to stay in the North Departure Lounge overnight. Since I then had the rest of the day available, I took a ride on a Chicago area commuter train. The next day I made sure I didn't miss the train!
Safe Travels Friday, January 23, the train arrived in Dallas almost 45 minutes early. I stayed in the Dallas station for a while to see if I could get e-mail and make a phone call. While I was there, Tom showed up! When I was ready to go, we both took the blue light rail line up to Garland. I said goodbye to Tom there. I met with Brad's father and Brad's son, who took me to the bus station to get my bus ticket, then to his house to get some items for me to take to Mexico, then to a grocery store where I got some food for my trip, then back to the Dart station. I spent most of the afternoon riding trains in the Dallas area. My checked bags were still at the Amtrak station, so I picked them up, then headed for the Turimex bus station. I took the Dart light rail to 8th st., then connected to a bus which dropped me off right at the curb of the Turimex station, so it was quite convenient. The bus to Mexico left on time and it was an uneventful trip all the way to Morelia. I had no trouble at the border. I got the green light when it came time to inspect my bags, and they didn't charge me anything for my travel visa.
Taxi Ticket Lost, Money Returned Saturday, January 24, when I arrived in Morelia late in the day, a porter helped me with my bags right at the bus. I bought a ticket for a taxi at the taxi stand, then the porter and I headed for the taxis. When I got there, they asked for my ticket, but I didn't have it! I think I may have handed it to the porter, since I recall him grabbing the grip on his hand truck with a piece of paper in his hand. We went back to the ticket stand where I tried to convince them to just give me another ticket, showing my empty pockets and hands, not finding the ticket on the ground, or anywhere else. It was only a matter of a few feet from the ticket booth to the taxis, so the ticket couldn't have gone far, but it was nowhere to be found. So I asked the porter to let me use the phone and internet, and I managed to get in touch with Cherith who told me the best thing to do was just buy another ticket. So I did that. That was sad because the ticket cost 175 pesos, or about $15. Then back to the taxi stand. After my bags were loaded up and I was in the taxi, the lady from the ticket window came running out and told me to wait. There was a police officer there as well, and the porter. About a minute later, the woman came back with the money I had paid for the first ticket! I thanked God for His kindness and goodness. The taxi driver took me right to Acuitzio, I only had to identify where the apartment was, and I was able to know enough Spanish to tell him where to slow down and where to stop.
Late for Church: Sunday, January 25, I had been told we would be going to church for a service which started at 11am, and we would need to leave by 10am. But we had no car, and David didn't show up until after 10am, and it wasn't until after 11am that we finally departed! But the service was about 2 1/2 hours, and all we missed was the singing. Afterward, we were invited to have lunch at someone's house. that turned out to work really well. I played a game of Risk with Micah, Cherith, and at least one Mexican kid, which was fun. Then back to the apartment.
First time Driving In Mexico: Monday, January 26, David and I were up fairly early and went to Morelia. We shopped at Wal-Mart, then tried to pick up their little car. I stayed with the van while David went to the car shop. David told me to move the van forward when a car parked ahead of us moved, so that was my first experience driving in Mexico. When david returned, he reported the little car wasn't ready yet. So instead, we went to David's friend's place for a little while, then finally back to the car. They were still working on the car, but would be done soon. We were there at least half an hour. Now, we had 2 cars, and so I had to actually drive one of them! I took it easy, and it actually wasn't too bad. I just kept careful eye on the traffic around me. Next, we stopped off at a place where David has a lot of their stuff stored, and filled the van with as much of it as we could. By this time it was afternoon, and we had several gallons of milk with us! I was a bit concerned about the milk spoiling. Finally, we headed back to Acuitzio, which meant I had to drive the little car. That turned out to be not so bad either since it was a pretty direct road.
David makes good use of empty 5 gallon plastic buckets for storage of camp activities. This was likely the time referred to above:
Money crosses the border easier than anything else: Tuesday, January 27-Thursday, January 29, I worked on computer projects for David, including a template for an e-mail newsletter, the web page, a map for how to get to Acuitzio, and various other odds and ends. I also unpacked my bags of stuff I had brought. David "lectured" me on raising funds vs. bringing stuff into Mexico, a point he has made before but I kept reminding him that this is how I do things. Key to this lesson is that money crosses the border easier than anything else. Yet ironically, he used the buckets and most of the other things I had brought right away, and not just because he thought it would make me happy, but because he really needed to.
Where can I buy oatmeal? In one afternoon, I took a walk through town to get some exercise and buy some food. One thing I was particularly looking for was a place where I could buy oatmeal by the Kilo. I checked just about every store all the way through town, but finally, the store directly underneath the apartment, which had opened apparently since my previous trip, had the oatmeal!
A visit from Christian Camping International people: Thursday, January 29th in the morning, people started arriving, particularly a group of 4 from Canada, near Toronto, from a camp center, who were members of Christian Camping International, who had come to check out David's work. In the afternoon, we all went out to the camp land, now formally called Los Domos. David gave a tour of the property, but the focus of the entire time was on fellowship and discussing issues related to running camps. They stayed overnight. Friday, January 30, the fellowship continued, then they packed up and departed. David, Karen, and the kids departed later, then I was by myself. I updated my journal, did some work around the property, and worked on other computer projects.
Becky, my future wife! Saturday, January 31, I did a variety of projects around the property, taking down a tent, clearing sticks, mowing a section of the property where the grass got tall, raking pine needles, etc. I also did some computer work, but was sad to discover that I hadn't downloaded my latest e-mails when I was last at the apartment, which meant I had no new messages from Becky.
Sunday, a relaxing day: Sunday, February 1, I relaxed most of the day. In the evening, I worked on my comet project, which was also relaxing. The comet project involved collecting data regarding the orbial periods of long term comets and comparing them. I may have started reading a Spanish Bible. Passages I was familiar with I could almost understand just from reading the Spanish.
General Work: February 2-4, I worked on more projects around the property on and off, taking down a couple more tents, burning some sticks, mowing another seciton of the property, watering plants, and raking tusa mounds. I also did some computer work. David stopped by both Monday and Tuesday but didn't stay long, while I stayed on the land. Wednesday, February 4, I finally got to head back to the apartment. I was there until Sunday morning. I worked on a number of things, but one main thing was maps from Morelia to Acuitzio.
Dan from Wyoming: Saturday, February 7, Dan from Wyoming arrived. He had driven to Dallas and taken the same bus I had taken to get to Morelia, then took a taxi to the apartment. Sunday, February 8, we all went to church in Morelia at Refugio Del Rey, where we had gone 2 weeks before. I helped Dan as best I could understand the Spanish, but of course I wasn't all that good at it myself. Afterward, Dan took an interest in the music and someone let him play their guitar. He sang a song in English, and drew a crowd. We were invited to dinner at the same place we had gone 2 weeks before, which meant real Mexican food. It was really delicious. We then came back to Acuitzio, where David gave me a bunch of stuff to work on and told me to be ready for him first thing Monday morning.
Iglesia (Church) Refugio del Rey (Refuge of the King). The church met in the upstairs portion of this building:
This is real Mexican food:
The strange behavior of a computer hard disk drive: Monday-Wednesday, February 9-11, David didn't show up until Wednesday evening, so I worked on all the things he gave me to work on. The maps, stuff for the web page, stuff for the database, copying files from an old computer to a newer one, and various other odds and ends. I used an external hard drive that they had been having trouble with to do the copying. They had said they copied a lot of pictures to it, deleted the pictures off computer, then discovered the pictures were all unreadable on the external drive. Yet I didn't have any trouble viewing the pictures on the external drive. This was several years worth of pictures including some pictures from an anniversary trip David and Karen had taken. Once I had the files copied to the external drive, I plugged the drive into my computer and looked at some things to see if the stuff I had copied had copied correctly. It appeared to be fine. Then suddenly, all the icons for the files simply disappeared. I struggled to get them back, but couldn't. I unplugged the drive and plugged it back in and got a message saying, "Drive is unreadable, do you want to initialize it?"!!! I tried each computer I had access to, but was unable to resurrect the disk. It was getting late so I finally gave up and went to bed. I prayed hard that somehow the disk would be readable in the morning. The next morning, I tried the disk again on David's computer, and it worked!!! I was very happy. So I started copying files to David's computer. After that was done, I started checking to see that files had copied OK. After a while, all the file icons for the external disk disappeared again! At this point, I figured perhaps the problem was that the disk was getting too warm after a while. As I had more comparisons to do, I let the disk sit a while, then tried it again. It seemed to work fine for about 20 minutes to half an hour at a time before needing to sit for a few hours to cool off.
A visit with Nico: David finally returned Wednesday evening, but I stayed at the apartment. David came and went more or less randomly. Then on Friday, Dan and I were going to go to Morelia to spend the weekend with Nico. I hadn't seen Nico since my first trip to Mexico in 2003. We took the bus from directly outside the apartment. Nico met us at the bus stop right at Wal-Mart. After doing some shopping at Wal-Mart, we went to Nico's apartment. We went to eat at a nearby taco stand, where you could add your own fixings. I tried some red sauce that was extremely spicy. That was real Mexican food!
Bad News: Saturday, February 14, we got up early and left the apartment around 5am. A friend of Nico's picked us up and took us across town to Vida Abundante church, where we dropped off Nico's wife to go on a woman's retreat. On the way across town, we had to drive around the center of town because the streets were blocked off with police vehicles. We had watched some news the night before, and Nico told me about a plane that had crashed in NY state, then he was a bit distressed to see that a bomb set by drug lords had exploded in the not too far away city of Uruapan, and another bomb had been found in Morelia! Fortunately, the bomb in Morelia didn't go off.
A trip to Pray: After the stop at Vida Abundante, we headed north out of town and across the lake on the other side of the mountains. Just on the other side of the lake, we went into a small town, probably similar in size to Acuitzio. We joined up with a group of Christians who had come to pray for the town. We did a prayer walk around the town for about an hour. Then we ended up down at the beach, where each person prayed individually for the town. That lasted another hour. Both Dan and I prayed during the time at the beach, and Nico translated our prayers. We then headed back to Morelia. We had some lunch, took naps, then I helped Nico with developing a web page. Then we ate some supper. Both meals Dan cooked, and they were again very good.
This was at the side of the same lake that was dry the first time I crossed it on the bus in 2003:
Another trip to Tzitzio: Sunday, February 15, we got up a bit later this time, and headed for Tzitzio. They were having an anniversary celebration. Nico gave both Dan and I opportunity to introduce oursevles. After the service, there was a meal, which was delicious Mexican food, with beef and some kind of sauce, plus rice, but I couldn't tell you what else was in it. We were there for a while afterward as Nico was counseling someone. Dan and I talked for a while with several people, but mostly one young person who spoke some English. He was the same one who played the keyboard during the service.
The road to Tzitzio was very mountainous
And a trip to a blue jeans factory for a church service: We returned to Nico's apartment for about 20 minutes before heading out again. This time, we went to Refugio Del Rey, or at least just outside that church. There were a handful of others that met us there, and we rearranged who was in what vehicle. Then we drove north again, past where we had gone Saturday morning by probably half an hour or so. Finally, we got to a small town, and held a service in a building designed as a garage for a full size 18 wheeler truck. In fact, there was a truck parked inside, though there was still plenty of additional space for us to have the service. In an ajoining room, there were many large piles of new blue jeans, and some sewing equipment. For the service, I gave a testimony about how God had provided water for me in the apartment in Acuitizo. Nico translated my story into Spanish. Here and there, I was able to say a few phrases in Spanish. The people laughed when Nico translated them to English! Hopefully someday I'll be able to give my entire testimony in Spanish. Then Dan preached, and gave a good message about turning around to follow Jesus. Afterward, there was an invitation, and people came forward.
Catch the son: It wasn't long before it was clear that this was a pentecostal group, as there was speaking in tongues, and people falling down backward. I was in position to catch a couple people, including the pastor, and perhaps his son as well. At least, it could have been his son, a young person probably between 16 and 20 years old. In fact, I think I was the only one left to catch the son, as he stood for a while with arms raised after those who had been praying for him stopped. It was a good thing too because it was a concrete floor. I wonder if anyone has ever fallen down without anyone to catch them. Then a woman asked if she could pray and prophecy for me. I said sure. She prophecied that I would go to other countries. That may very well be true, however, after returning to the United States, as of 2022, I have yet to leave the USA again. I also talked with a girl who knew English. She had ridden up from Morelia with us. I talked with her for quite a while both before the service and also during the time of prayer. We read some scripture together and we both helped each other across the language barrier. Someone suggested she would become my wife! (To be sure, she didn't!) On the way back to Morelia, we took the much faster toll road. We were on it only about 20 minutes if that, but the toll was 50 pesos! We had to rush home because Nico's wife was returning from the women's retreat and he wanted to be there when she got there. Unfortunately, she got there first, and was quite distressed that she didn't have enough money to pay for a taxi.
Dinner at Nico's: One of the nights that I was at Nico's place with Dan, Nico would have been satisfied eating basic Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, but Dan, who was a chef at a place in Wyoming, wasn't. We had been able to pick up a number of items from local street vendors, and Dan fixed up the Mac and Cheese with all sorts of yummy things includng sausage, diced tomatoes, and various other seasonings and spices. It was quite good and Nico liked it too!
Nico's Day Care Center: Monday, February 16, we didn't have to get up so early, but I heard Nico and Dan talking before I got up. Nico had to go out, but the plan was that Nico would return sometime between 9 and 9:30 to get us. But he hadn't shown up by 10am. Finally Nico's wife, who had been so quiet I wasn't even sure she was there, came out and said something incomprehensible in Spanish. I asked her to repeat it, and I finally figured out that she would take us to where Nico works. We walked most of the way there, then we got to a busy street that was divided in the middle. As soon as we got there, we stopped to wait for traffic, but Nico's car was the first car to come along, and it stopped right in front of us! It wasn't much farther to where Nico works. He works at a day care center. He gave Dan and I a tour of the place and introduced us to two groups of children, and both groups sung a song for us. We got pictures as well.
Enjoying some time with the kids at Nico's Day Care Center
Aquitzio, Los Domos, and return: Then Nico took us to Wal Mart and said goodbye. Dan and I spent over an hour in Wal-Mart where Dan was on assignment to plan menus that could be used at camp. We bought about as much food as we could knowing we would have to carry it on the bus. We got to Acuitzio around 1:45 I think. David and Cherith were waiting for us at the apartment. We did some more shopping around town, then all headed out to the land. Once we got there, I didn't do much other than help Dan fix dinner. Then David drove me back to the apartment so I could work on various computer projects. I worked on the map from Morelia to the camp, the database, and finishing up moving files off the old computer. I ran into some problems with the file moving project which made things take longer than they should.
Dan from Wyoming could fix some excellent food, even at the camp land!
Final Work Marathon: Tuesday, February 17-Wednesday, February 25, I don't think I went back to the land at all. I worked on all sorts of things in the office, including numerous details with the web site and database. We ended up doing the database a different way, making some work I had done previously obsolete, except that it helped us determine what we should be focusing on. I stayed in the apartment by myself on Sunday, but I took a relaxing day. Monday through Wednesday, the last 3 days I was there, the pace of activity picked up quickly as we knew my time was getting short very quickly. There were many things David would ask me to do that I would say, the people coming from Rensselaer Institute of Technology would be able to know how to do that. So we compiled a list of those things for them.
Aquitzio to Morelia and Return: As part of my final departure from Mexico, I had planned to stay overnight with Nico to continue to help him with his web page. So I departed on a bus from right outside the Aquitzio apartment at about 7pm on Wednesday, February 25. It was about a half hour ride up to Wal-Mart where Nico was supposed to pick me up. I had told Nico I would be there between 8pm and 8:30pm, but he didn't show up. At 8:30, I went into Wal-Mart and got a few things. I then waited at the bus station until about 9:10. I knew the busses would stop running soon, and this may have been the next to last one back to Aquitzio for the night. So I boarded this bus and and went back to Aquitzio. When I got back to Acuitzio, David had gone back to the land, but Cherith was still there. She called Nico, who said he had had a busy day and had forgotten about me. He decided to drive out to Acuitzio to pick me up since there were no more busses going back to Morelia by then. On the ride back to Morelia, Nico and I discussed many things regarding his ideas for the web site, plus Nico told me about his concerns regarding cultural differences that he felt were affecting David's RYCCA ministry. I slept in Nico's day care center, which was also his house, overnight.
Get up quick, the kids are coming! Thursday, Feburary 26, Nico got me up and said I had 3 minutes to get my stuff out of the room I was in before the kids started arriving! So I moved quickly. Nico then set me up in his office, right at his desk, and we got started on the web site. I spent my time finding code that would work while Nico typed up the contents of the various pages. Before I departed, we were close to having something working, and I had the information I needed to work a bit more on it while on the bus. Nico took me to the bus station around 2:30pm, and went all the way out to the bus with me. The bus was starting to load when we got there. I said goodbye to Nico and the bus was on its way by a few minutes after 3:10pm, its scheduled departure time. The bus made several stops between Morelia and Queretaro, then no more stops all the way to Saltillo. I was surprised that in all that distance we didn't get stopped even once for a military check. It was about 11:30pm when we got to Saltillo.
Quick! Eat the bananas: Friday, February 27, When I woke up and looked out the window, I was quite surprised to see the sign that looked like it was the one on the international bridge. I couldn't believe it, and it took a few minutes to realize that it was indeed the sign. I then remembered I had 2 bananas with me so I ate them quick. I didn't want to have them taken away by the customs officers. It was just before 6am at that point. When we got to the security check point, a guard checked my passport as I stepped off the bus, then everyone took their bags and ran them through the x-ray machine. Once past there, it appeared as though that was it. The bus came a few minutes later, we loaded up, and departed, the whole process took about half an hour! I hadn't been asked any questions, which was a first for arriving back in the states from anywhere.
When will I return? That concluded the last of the series of 6 trips to Mexico between 2003 and 2009. As of 2022, I have not yet returned to Mexico or left the USA for any other reason. However, I have made a commitment, should the Lord allow, to return to Mexico within 20 years of 2022, and hopefully much sooner than that. The major challenge is that after marrying Becky on August 1 of 2009, followed by having 7 children between then and 2022, my life is dedicated to caring for my family, as God instructs us to do. That in itself is a ministry as great if not greater than anything I did in Mexico. However, when I do return, I hope that I will have some of these children with me, which Lord willing, will give us the opportunity to have an even greater impact than any of my previous trips. Please pray for that! Stay tuned for details.
Visit Camps International web site to learn more about doing Christian camps in different countries.