All About Juan

I was really not looking forward to this roadtrip. Just as I'm feeling settled at the base I have to leave for about 36 hours, drive 14 of them across tope infested highways, and deprive myself of sleep. Not fun. Then I met Juan and I forgot about my pity party.

Juan is a 19 year old kid who is very normal by all standards. He lives in a small village not too far from myself, he works hard, and by the grace of God came to know Christ within the last year. One Sunday night just over a month ago, Juan was walking to church along a highway when a truck came up from behind him and the truck's rearview mirror hit Juan's head sending him careening into the dusty ditch. Luckily his brother-in-law, Ramon, was with him and scooped up Juan's limp frame and ran to find their nearest friend with a vehicle. Thankfully they found a friend who took them to the local doctor. When they got there, the doctor took 1 minute to look at Juan and matter-of-factly told the family to get ready for Juan to die. The doctor said Juan may live for 2 hours......3 at the most.

Not willing to give up, the family got in the car and drove to a bigger city with an actual hospital. Upon arriving at the next city, they were turned away and told the same thing: "I'm sorry. There's nothing that can be done for this boy. He may as well already be dead." As devastating as this prognosis was, the family was still not giving up. With Juan's skull exposed, eye out of socket, and more blood in the car than should be in one human body, the family pressed on through the 6 hour drive to Acapulco. When they got to the hospital in Acapulco and the doctors heard the story, they were amazed that he was still alive so they decided to do what they could to help the boy. Fast forward to Tuesday night when I met Juan.

Juan had a checkup and x-ray scheduled with the doctors in Acapulco, but the family had no way of getting to Acapulco so the pastor of their church asked me if I could take Juan. I agreed only knowing that a "sick" person had a doctor's appointment. I had no idea what an impact was awaiting me.

Two of Juan's brother-in-laws carried him into my car as I leaned the seat back for him. He still doesn't have sufficient strength to even hold his head up. As we get him loaded into the car next to me, I'm starting to get a sense of his desperation. I load their luggage into my car. Diapers? What are those doing here? Oh, Juan has no control over his bowels as a result of the accident. On the way to Acapulco on Tuesday night, Juan's brother-in-laws feed him some applesauce so that he has some nourishment. In only minutes he vomits it all up. His body has trouble digesting properly now. He is but a frame at this point after losing 30 pounds since the accident. He can motion "yes" or "no" when I ask him if he's hot or cold. That's about all he can muster.

So with the smell of every foul bodily fluid hanging heavy in the humid Mexican night air, we travel to Acapulco with the mission to get Juan help.

After two appointments and 16 hours at the hospital, our day is complete. The doctors are amazed that Juan is conscious and responsive. He can even lift his hands a bit and move his legs when he's propped up. Miraculous. So now we embark on our trip home. After another 7 hours in the car and wishing for some space to stretch, we get home. Juan and his family are dropped off at their home and we part with grateful hugs. Not so much grateful that we're home, but that God has bonded us and given us a taste of His love for those in so much need. "I truly have family here," I think to myself.

Thank you Juan.

Thank you Jesus.

A Brief History of Mexico

*In chronological order*

Mexico was founded by Juan Valdez. Some people have mistaken him as being more well-known for his accolades in the coffee industry, however this is just not true. About the time that the island of Mexico ran into then Texas in 78,000 B.C., Montezuma overthrew Sr. Valdez and was elected president for several millenia. It's not really clear during Sr. Zuma's reign when things happened, but what we do know for sure is that the Vikings landed in Mexico and invented soccer. Sometime after the people grew to like the game though, they ousted the glory-hoarding Vikings in favor of Mel Gibson and his band of evil war lords from the kingdom of Taco Bell. Sometime after this, a man named George W. renamed the land "Meshecko." (they have since returned to the original pronunciation)

More recently, Mexico has begun to use the 12 month calendar giving it a much larger window of time in which to produce cacti and baja chalupas. At this point you may be asking yourself, "How did I not know any of this?" Well my dear reader the answer is simple: ever since Sr. Gore invented the interweb it is difficult to keep up with everything. That's all.

I hope you like dry satire as much as I do.....

In all seriousness though, things are going well. I will go into town soon (where they have high speed internet) and post pics. Until then, keep praying that God gives me wisdom to develop the coursework and lending program. Tonight I am taking a sick man to Acapulco for a Dr.'s appt so prayer for a safe trip would be appreciated. Keep him in your prayers too as he was hit by a truck while walking along the freeway several months back. Updates to follow.

Props: Thank you for the info on portions of the history go to Hirsch.

In Mexico

My body has totally forgotten what it feels like to be cold and I am immersed in buckets of humidity: I'm home.

In short, the trip across the border was great. Matt and I only got lost for a total of 3 hours, we never were stopped by military (at the border or otherwise), Matt learned how to drive standard, and we re-learned that topes are the most irritating things on God's earth. (a "tope" is a speed bump that has been enlarged to match the approximate size of Mt. Everest. They are placed in every town along the last 5 hours of the drive)

One of the unfortunate things about where I'm living in Mexico is that the internet is super slow so until I build up the patience necessary to do battle with the blazing speed of this connection, I won't upload pictures. Be looking forward to them though! More to come soon and thanks for the prayer!

Roadtrip?

As of today, it has been written in stone: I will be leaving Tulsa for Mexico a week from today! After all the waiting, everything has come in that I need for the vehicle, I have a travel companion for the 36 hour roadtrip (thank you so much Sr. Schilb), and gosh dangit I'm ready to use my new roadmap!


So this means that I will be crossing the border somewhere around dawn on next Sunday morning and arriving at Roca Blanca late Monday night if everything works out. I really cannot wait to just get down there and get settled. Here are some ways in which you can be praying:

Safety for Matt and I. I am not anticipating that there will be any problems driving across the country of Mexico. That said, two gringos attract attention and sometimes that attention can be unwanted (especially if it's the attention of crazy Mexican policia). In addition, banditos can be bad news. Plus I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if I got Jill's new hubby into trouble.

(Actual Banditos probably look scarier than this)

I pack/remember everything I need. There are several things I am bringing down to the base for people living there and it's pretty important that I not forget anything. The mail system in Mexico leaves a bit to be desired in terms of reliability so mailing/shipping stuff really isn't an option.

That's about it for now. The adventure is finally on! Thanks for all of your support to this point. I can't wait to show pics from what will undoubtedly prove to be a great roadtrip.

Politics

During this time of the 4-year cycle, the US turns its attention to all things political: the divisive, the innocuous, the boring, and the interesting to see if we can come up with a perceived "fix all" for the upcoming 48 months. I will admit that I grow weary of this for reasons I don't completely understand. Probably, it is as simple as knowing that no one will ever really be happy with the way the country is being run and so I don't understand all of the fuss. Then I'm caught by my own desire for change in the areas that I deem important. Blah. It will be different to be able to watch the whole circus unfold from Mexico this year. I wonder what it will be like to be able to hide from the slew of ads. I also ask myself, how much time in advance do I really need to start thinking about who I want to vote for? Days, weeks, months? I'm not sure. I will most likely wait to decide anything until we're down to two candidates (sorry independents, you realistically don't have a chance of winning).

Now that I've covered that controversial topic, I will transition to Oaxaca plans. I did get the title back from AR for the 4Runner late last week and applied to get a clean one in my name through OK. They told me it takes a week and a half or so. This means that I will most likely be leaving early to mid week next week. So exciting! Please be in prayer that God will be preparing the way for my journey to be safe as it is an excruciating 36 hour drive. More updates to come regarding that.

Quick Update

I truthfully don't have a lot new to share with you at the moment. I am still waiting on the title to come back from the AR Dept. of Finance so moving to Mexico is on hold until that happens. Other than the waiting, I have gotten to do a lot of hanging out with the fam and friends. Christmas, New Year's, and bowl games have brought me together with old friends and it has been great. Last night, I sat in a hot tub until 4 in the morning talking to a guy who I've known for 10 years now about anything and everything regarding our spiritual journeys. Sweet time. I would say that I am living my best life now (Gu).

I will keep everyone updated as the timing of my trip to Mexico becomes clearer. The only other important thing I can add to this post is that Feist's new CD is amazing. You should get it, or bear the consequences of not experiencing some great music. That's all.