(this is a copy of our email update which some reading this might not receive)
This trip has truly been excellent in every way. We praise God for how He has worked in these past 17 days.
- He gave us an amazingly smooth trip up through northern Mexico. All three vehicles in our caravan drove flawlessly and no one got sick or injured. There were no safety issues encountered throughout that day, and none since then either.
- God provided $6,600 toward the purchase of a replacement vehicle in one week with only an email message sent out to mention our need!
- God provided the ideal vehicle at auction that fit all of our list of requirements/needs and it was the only vehicle in the huge Dallas auction that made our list of potential vehicles for our dealer contact to bid on.
- God providentially and unbeknownst to any of us ahead of time had Beth’s brother and his family from El Paso (an 11 hour drive from here) staying in the same building at the same time Cameron and I were staying there here in Dallas!
- God has provided friends who have housed and fed us for many nights and meals.
- The “new” 2006 Toyota Sienna has performed very well and proven to be in excellent physical/mechanical condition. (never know with a used vehicle, especially one bought at auction)
- God has blessed us with some wonderful contributions…like new curriculum (just what we needed!) and a classical guitar (to give to Jason so he can join in learning our worship songs…he’s a very good guitarist but couldn’t afford a guitar)
- Cameron has enjoyed a number of days playing with other MKs that we know well and who live in this area now.
- Most of our shopping list of needs has been filled and all of our homeschool curriculum for the next 2 years is now packed in the van and ready to roll.
PRAISE GOD! He is so good no matter what…whether things go well or not well. So many things have gone perfectly!
This leads me to one important prayer request. Despite the best efforts by our dealer who did all that he could to ascertain the title situation of the van before bidding, there has been some sort of hitch. It doesn’t seem to be a critical problem, just a delay in getting the papers for reasons he could not discover. It appears the vehicle was brought here from Florida and we could speculate that it might have been repossessed, although we really don’t know.
The problem this delay presents us is that we are scheduled to head to the border on Wednesday. Our teammates who have two vehicles and can travel within CAM’s strict travel policy without me, apparently would need to do just that should we be unable to drive the van into Mexico. While I don’t need a title in-hand, the previous/current title must be produced here in Dallas in order to finalize the purchase and to allow the vehicle to be registered in my name (along with an application for a new title in my name). That must happen before I can leave. So, if our co-workers leave us, we’re stuck here even when our papers come through because we’ll not have another vehicle to travel with us through northern Mexico where CAM’s travel policy applies. At least, we don’t have to travel with other CAM missionaries, we can travel in tandem with just about anyone else, but we do have to know them and have some info from them for tracking our whereabouts as we travel those few hours through the northern region.
We have no idea when the title will arrive. It could come today, tomorrow, or anywhere from 1 to 8 more weeks from now. Obviously, with Beth and Dayton at home in Mexico without us or a vehicle for the past 2 1/2 weeks, it would be difficult for them to have us delayed for a significant period of time. Not to mention we all miss each other and are hoping we can be reunited as planned later this week.
Would you please join us in praying that God will provide the title to our dealer today or tomorrow or just as soon as He wants it to arrive? We know that God is in control and has us here for just as long as He wants us. If it creates a human crisis, that’s something He certainly can do. He knows what is best for us and we trust His heart and hand in all things. Nonetheless, we’re charged to pray for our needs and desires as they fall into place with His will and since we don’t know for sure what His will is in this matter, we will presume to pray for this matter to resolve any hour or day now. If God does have us here with our papers after it’s too late to rejoin our caravan before they cross, pray that He will provide another suitable traveling partner that could help us satisfy CAM’s travel requirements.
Ironically, the reason we felt the need to purchase the van was because it puts us into a position to meet the strictest travel policy requirements whereas our former vehicle didn’t meet those requirements. So part of our purpose of making this purchase was to avoid finding ourselves in a bad situation due to the very policy that could once again leave us stranded in the USA as it did last October.
Your prayers have been so very much felt and appreciated these past few weeks, and we hope you’ll take a moment and pray for this situation.
God is good all the time!
Knowing Your ABCDs 