Tijuana to Chiapas

I'm going to go back through a quick review of since we were in Tijuana, to where we are now in Chiapas. Sorry, it's kinda long, since I havent' had enough time while we're at cafes to do it...

So, we'd been told that it was dangerous in the boarder towns, especially on the Mexico side, and from what we'd heard, it was worse in Tijuana than Mexicali, so on our way down we'd avoided Tijuana. But, coming back, that boarder was closer for Lisa's parents to pick her up, and we wanted to visit the assembly there, so we decided to spend a night.When we arrived we were met with big hugs and kisses; it had been over a year since we'd last seen everybody there. And because we usually see them at least two or three times a year it was exciting to see them all again.As we ate dinner, the subject of conditions in Tijuana came up, and what we heard was pretty frightening. Their house, built on a hill, was right above a main avenue of the city. About a month ago, one morning around six, the mother of the family heard what sounded like someone throwing rocks at a tin roof close to where they were living. After looking out over the balcony, the real origin of the noise was discovered. Along the street were dozens of cars lined up on the side, each filled with at least three people, and driving past was a whole stream of other cars shooting at the parked ones. Apparently two rival drug cartels, attempting to take control of an area another drug cartel had left (after being discovered, and incarcerated by the police) had arranged a battle. The supposed plan was one group would come from the North, while the other would come from the South, and they would meet, having their gun war on that boulevard. The only problem was; neither assembly kept their side of the deal. The parked cars below were waiting in an ambush for the others. Somehow the opposing side heard of this, and instead of coming from the appointed side, they came from the other way, taking those waiting by complete surprise, and massacring their unprepared rivals. After about 20 minutes of gunfire, it was over. Or at least it seemed that way until pickup trucks arrived with the comrades of the dead and wounded came along chucking those on the street into the bed of the truck, and drove away. A week later there was still blood all down the road where the pickups had driven leaving a trail behind them. The police had been advised of what was going on, but didn't interfere, appearing only when it was all over, and all had disappeared.Then, soon after this happened she went on to tell us that one day she had gotten a phone call, the man on the other line calling her by her complete name, using even her maiden name threatened to kidnap her son, and hold him for ransom. They sent him to the country where he's going to be staying until it is felt he is out of danger.Other than the alarming news, we had a great evening at the meeting there, as well as spending the night before waking up early the next morning, and heading for Guerrero Negro, Baja California.There, the assembly only consists of one family; an older couple and their four daughters, and one of their daughter's husband.The day after we arrived they took us out whale watching. It was amazing! There was a bay that was full of blue whales. Here many spent the winter months, and even had their babies. We went out in a small motorboat, and skimmed along trying to get close to one. You couldn't go three minutes without seeing them; either swimming quickly, their back rising and falling beneath the surface or one coming up for air, mist projecting from it's blow hole.At first it seemed like they just all would swim away from us, their tails raising out of the water, meaning they had dove down deep to where they could remain for up to twenty minutes.Soon, they came close to the boat, showering us in mist. The mother, as well as the baby. When we saw them, everyone would rush over to the side, the whole vessel tipping to one side, then the other. The babies especially liked to show off and would swim fast then twist upside down, their barnacled bodies visible beneath the clear water. Not only did we see them, we were also able to touch them!! The little part of the tail I was able to reach was wet, and rubbery, pretty much what you would expect a whale to feel like. Our guide told us that he had even gotten a chance to hug the whales when they would swim straight up with their whole head out of the water!It was amazing! To know that these enormous, powerful animals would let us tiny, little humans, in a tiny little boat come out in their bay, and actually swim up to us, give us a little show, and actually let us TOUCH them, when they had that whole lagoon where they could just hide, and keep away from humans! It was impressive.From Guerrero Negro, we continued down the Baja peninsula, admiring the desert beauty of Saguaro cactus, century plants, and all shapes and sizes of huge rocks, and steep, but smooth mountains. To the side was the gorgeous Sea of Cortes. It's white sand spread beneath beautiful blue water that slowly blended from the aqua color to a color as dark as the night sky. The little ripples made the rays of sunlight appear almost like stars as the wind blew gently. We were all excited when there wasn't enough time to make it to La Paz, where we were to take the ferry, that night, and would spend the night on the beach.After searching for a while we found a free beach, where we pulled our van up next to where a trailer was parked, thinking everyone had already gone to bed. But, not five minutes after a pickup pulled up between the trailer and us, and we wondered if they'd be okay with us sharing their beach slot. French Canadians from Ottawa, they turned out to be a very nice older couple. They let us use the firewood they had collected while it was still light, and while Mom and Dad prepared their bed in the back of the van, the rest of us learned all about Alaskan Malamute sledding dogs, it being thirty something below back where they live, the fishing camp they had in Canada, how good fishing was there in Baja, and the places they'd backpacked when they were younger. The husband did most of the talking, because his wife didn't speak much English... her French was beautiful though! They were a very active couple, and very interesting to listen to.The four of us laid out our sleeping bags on the luggage carrier, organizing who would sleep where. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, and the moon was half full as we layed there, falling asleep to the gentle lapping of the waves on the rocky shore and an occasional "get your feet out of my face"!!We woke up shivering early the next morning, before it was light to find our sleeping bags soaked with dew. Pulling them off, and packing the van. Everyone got their own seat to sleep on while Dad drove.In La Paz we met up with some friends who had been visiting Cabo San Lucas, and were in La Paz for the day. We also found some hitch hikers we'd picked up a week before in Guerrero Negro (who had traveled with us on a Sunday morning, and got to have devotions with us, and well as were asked to answer questions about it! The singing was what cracked me up though; they sang louder than any of us, not really knowing the tune. Maybe they were making fun, or maybe they really enjoyed it! We might have thought they were a little weird, wearing the whole hippie get-up, but I'm sure they thought we were weirder... a family of six, coming from the States into Mexico, where it's supposedly really dangerous, driving a van, with a Mexican family they really don't know that well, then pick up a couple hitch hikers, which we have been obviously warned not to do, as well have a "Sunday service"! We saw them walking down the streets of La Paz and said hi. They told us they wanted more of the tracts we'd given them to "evangelize La Paz". They were an interesting pair) they were surprised to meet us a week after we had last seen them almost a week ago!

We rode the ferry over the channel of amazingly beautiful ocean for about five hours before arriving at the mainland at night, the moon once again sparkling over the water.
We spent two nights in Culiacan, with a couple in the meeting we'd seen at Tijuana conference almost every year. Their next door neighbors had an ocelot they had adopted from one of the places they were working in the forest. It was pretty cool. It could be on one of it's owner's shoulder, and jump clear over to the other side of the room where it's other owner was.
From there, we drove to Durango. The road was pretty curvy, and seemingly dangerous. It was only later we learned a week before an older American couple had been detained by some delinquents, shot and killed, the motor home, and money they had was taken. Apparently events such as these were known to occur on that road. Traveling with a brother from Culiacan, we were able to locate where the brethren were. We hadn't eaten dinner yet, so we went out to pizza with an aunt, and a couple nieces and nephews we'd never met before.
We were told we could stay in the house of the daughter of a brother near the meeting room, but weren't quite prepared for what we found at the house. Two little boys, age eight and five lay on a bed with only a dirty sheet and blanket. Although it was past elven at night, their mother was nowhere to be found. The TV was up in a corner, the blue hue cast over the room. My parents were told they could stay in another back room in the only other bed in the house. In the next room was only a washing machine, and a whole pile of clothes the boys would dig through to find something to wear. The toilet was behind a small cement wall, the shower directly in facing it with another wall. Neither had doors. It all smelled like urine, and to flush the toilet there was a tank of water you would dip your bucket into then pour it down into the bowl.
Mom and Dad slept on the bed, Nate, Anna and I slept in the van on the seats, while Ben froze up on the roof of the van.
In the morning we ate some cheerios we brought from the US, along with milk we bought in the store down the road, which we ate in plastic cups we'd brought. The only other food we found in the house was a couple of Cup 'O Noodles. There was no fridge, and only a small camping burner to cook food on.
That day was a Sunday and we walked down the road to meeting. A family was visiting, so the small kitchen was very crowded. All the benches, chairs and stools were put to use, and still we were all shoulder to shoulder, knee to bum, backs to the walls all around.
Dad noticed one of the main younger brother's wives didn't break bread, and asked if she was saved, to which she replied yes. But when asked if she had been baptized, she said no, but said she would like to be. When my dad heard that he asked "why not today"?
So down to the river we went after going and having breaking of bread for the second time that day, (the second time in two weeks, considering we'd done the same thing last week in Guerrero Negro, only this time only the sick man who couldn't make it partook of the emblems, considering we'd already done it earlier).
The river was quite contaminated as she and my dad descended down the muddy bank. Ironically, after examining a picture Ben took, we saw a man in the background floating in the shape of a cross...

It was a happy time. We played with all the kids in the water afterwards, then all rode on the roof of the van on our way back.
That night we talked late with the family before going back to the house we stayed at the night before. At eleven we arrived to a locked gate. The mother of the boys had brought them home at eight when she'd gotten off work, but was no longer there. Once again they were left alone.
We decided we'd just stay the night in a hotel, partly because the following day was Mom's birthday. It was good we did because a certain individual of our family desperately needed a functioning bathroom that night, considering both digested and undigested food was expelled rapidly both at the same time. It was painful just listening to it!
A close friend from an assembly in California had both friends and family in the state of Zacatecas, and wondered if we could make it to visit them. We arrived in Tobasco, and met up with one of her best friends, Tita, her husband, and three sons. They generously opened up their house to our family, and guided us to the rest of the family's homes.
The first night we arrived, she told us what had been happening to her the last couple of
days. It all started when the phone rang, and upon answering it she heard a young man. He claimed to be a nephew that had visted years ago when he was young. Later she realized he had gotten the information out of her that she had a nephew named Juan who she hadn't seen for a long time, and that had a sister named Susie. He claimed that he was Juan, and was traveling with Susie and wanted to stop in and visit her. At first she was overjoyed, but as he continued to call, getting closer and closer, she began to get nervous. When he claimed his car had broken down, and he had to fly on the plane, and was at the airport needing a relative to sign a paper saying he was a honest upright man who woudn't be using the 30,000 dollars they had found in cash in his suitcase for anything wrong, asking if she would sign, she really got afraid. When she asked for the name of the guy's mother, he promptly hung up, and after that didn't speak to her again, but the phone kept on ringing, and upon answering there would be no answer. It was then she knew that wasn't her nephew, and they were probably involved in some sort of drug trade, and wanted to use her to get them out of trouble. It was kinda scary.
We visited Juana's brother and wife, two sisters at their houses, then another sister who lived up in the boonies with her dad. We also visited Tita's parents house. Although none of the people we visited were professing Christians, Dad had a little Bible reading at each place, and we talked a little bit about it. Some were very happy for our visit, others a little suspicious, especially because not having everyone's number we were not able to communicate that we were coming.
The time we had with Tita, her husband and two boys, 12, and 14 was really fun. And, in the end, Tita especially really wanted to know more about the Lord, and was asking my mom a lot of questions. They need a lot of prayer, because there Catholicism is so strong in those communities, and becoming "Christian" is a real sacrifice to many... even to the point of their own family abandoning them.
From there we were on our way to Queretaro! We arrived in the afternoon, where we met up with Jaime, later Iris and her little son. We spent the evening with Jaime, Allison and their little daughter at Jaime's parents house, where we had a delicious bbq dinner. Iris and her son were also there, and we met up with her sister, brother in law and niece.
It was so wonderful for me to see Iris again! It had been a long time I'd spent time with her, and for the first time I met her son. We stayed in her parents house, (who live in the US) where she is also living. She was so hospitable, and all of us were able to sleep in beds! While there, we visited the city, her sister explaining to us all the arcitecture, and the history of things which was very interesting.
We were only going to stay one night there, but the Lord allowed a rock to be thrown at our van, splintering our largest side window to crack into splinters, meaning we had to stay an extra day, which the majority of us weren't too disappointed about :D

Dad temporarily fixed up the window with duct tape...

Sadly, we left the next morning at 6, picking up Lety four hours away in Mexico City. The drive Iris makes every Sunday to get to meeting. After packing her stuff in the van, we drove to a metro stop where we were to meet a brother of Florentino from meeting in Gresham. We found him, he found us, jumped in our van, and guided us to where he lived. There almost the whole family was hanging around. We had a Bible reading and they called in Domino's pizza. It was amazing!
When asked if Gabriel wanted to go with us to visit his other brothers, as well as Josefina's family he was game. We left around one in the afternoon, and didn't get into the town till about ten. There we showed up unannounced at his brothers house who didn't really seem that comfortable, which is understandable. We had a short Bible reading and sing before saying goodnight, and going out to eat since we hadn't eaten since lunch, and got a hotel for all of the four hours we slept. But it was nice to be able to shower and be in an actual bed.
The next day we got up at 5, and were off to visit his uncle on the farm. Most of us were asleep in the van by 8 when we arrived, so I'm not exactly sure what went on, but apparently my parents got a tour of the town!
Then, we were invited in for breakfast. Imagine eight people just all showing up at 8 in the morning unannounced saying they were friends of your nephew in the US! Florentino's aunt was busy making corn tortillas, all by hand, all perfectly symmetric, and just the right thickness. The scrambled eggs were dark yellow, confirming the fact that they had practically just been taken from underneath the chicken. Dad had bought yogurt and bananas for all of us too.
Here they were eager to hear Dad read the Bible, and explain some things to them. I felt horrible about doing this while Dad was reading, but both mom and I were fast asleep sitting upright in our seats!
From there we climbed the dirt roads to where Josefina's mom, and sister live. They had a huge herd of goats there. Anna had fun feeding them some milk that was just on the point of going bad. We rode on top of the van like usual on those terribly bumpy dirt roads. There was a little boy, a nephew I think it was of Florentino who hitched a ride with us, and rode up there too. It was fun ducking under the branches, and trying not to get bounced off the roof.
We even stopped at a little aqueduct, that had the most clear water I've seen in a stream down here, where Nathan (who is always in his swim shorts) jumped in for a swim.
We dropped Gabriel off there, where he was going to spend more time with his family there, and we continued on.
While i was driving, before turning the corner on a switchback, there suddenly appeared odd signs painted on the road. I was trying to figure out if they were ligit or not when a semi appeared coming straight at me in my lane! I got the picture real quick then...

Switching off between sleeping, driving, talking, or just sitting watching out the windows, we finally arrived in Chiapas, where brother Lalo, his wife, six children lived in a small, two-bedroom house.

We thanked the Lord for having Lety with us. Although she had only been to the house a couple times before, she was able to direct us to where they were. It was around ten or eleven when we pulled up in front of the house. Lalo was laying in his hammock on the front porch, and when we arrived he came to greet us. Upon opening the door, it felt as if a wall had hit us, and we had suddenly stepped into a sauna... the air thick in our lungs. For a second there we all wondered if we were going to last. After spending the last few days in the air-conditioned van, it was a major shock.

The house only had two rooms, as well as a small meeting room filled with long wooden benches. In one room slept Lalo's whole family (he, his wife, and five children) while Mom and Dad slept in the other room. Lety, Anna and I had fun “creating a bed” out of the wooden benches in the meeting room; laying extra hammocks, and sleeping bags on top of them. Ben slept in a hammock on the porch, while Nathan got the top of the van.

It was so hot, but there were so many mosquitoes that you'd rather put the sheet over you than be covered in the small, insignificant, extremely annoying, frustrating, exasperating bites.

In attempting to partially escape the stagnant muggy heat, we got our hair all wet before lying down, which provided at least a bit of alleviation.

The next day was Sunday. We had a couple meetings in the morning, after which we sat down to a delicious dinner of barbecued beef accompanied with the traditional beans and unending supply of tortillas.

Following the meal, we all felt steamed. Sitting in the house, doing absolutely nothing, the sweat just flowed down our legs, backs and arms. When informed that a river ran close to the house, we needed no convincing! The brother drove up his cattle truck, and we all jumped in the back, enjoying the feeling of moving air evaporating our sweat, cooling us down.

Hiking down to the river was a beautiful walk. On both sides of us loomed luscious trees with brightly colored flowers. Butterflies fluttered around our heads, and the frogs croaked in nearby grass.

Upon stepping into the slowly moving water, expecting it to be cool, it was a bit disappointing to feel it warm on our legs. The brook in that particular spot was wide and shallow, so we decided to go upstream to where it was deeper. There it was cooler, and we had fun hitting a volleyball around, trying to keep from slipping on the moss-covered rocks lining the floor.

That night was our last with Lety, so the three of us girls decided to sing; something we hadn't done much of in the three days we had with her. It was so fun! Well, for us at least, Nathan, sleeping on the luggage rack claimed our voices awakened the choir every rooster in every yard in the whole town... he and Ben weren't too thrilled :D

The next morning, we set off once again, leaving Lety there in Chiapas, while continuing on with Lalo to Central America.