Well, we’re here, so that’s good.

The adventure began Monday afternoon in Oroville. We met up at the church, loaded all our stuff into a trailer that Shawn is towing behind his truck, and we all loaded into a van. By we, I mean Rhonda, myself, Desi, Lexi, Brenden, Sam, Caleb, Angela, and Justin. Shawn, Jesse, Joanna, and Destiny loaded into his truck. And we ventured forth.

Everything was fine for most of the evening. There was much fun and rejoicing in the van after dinner when Catch Phrase was being played. It was, however, so rudely interrupted when Shawn called on the radio to inform us that his truck’s battery light was flashing on and off and that he might be loosing power. So the rejoicing ceased momentarily while Lexi prayed for the truck. We got off on the next exit just to make sure that if the truck did die that the van could charge the battery. It could, but we were still 65 miles from Bakersfield, our first destination, so we didn’t really want to risk getting stuck on the freeway.

This is where Martha really comes into the story. Martha Garmin is the name of Lexi’s GPS system. We asked Martha for a Nazarene church in the area, and she gave us four withing 11 miles, including turn by turn directions. We thanked God for Martha, made a couple of phone calls, and Ben in Tulare at Wayside Church of the Nazarene became our new best friend. We quickly drove a short 4 miles to the church where we would stay for the evening.

After unpacking some luggage, we all gathered in one of the rooms to journal a little bit about our expectations for the trip and we sang a couple worship songs. It was our first time together as a 97% complete team, so it was good to just be together. In the morning, Ben gave us a phone number for a mechanic that goes to his church, and Shawn got the truck in first thing. It ended up needing a new alternator, which was replaced, and we got breakfast, and we left the Wayside and were back on the road by 10 am. It definitely could have been worse.

On the road again, we met trouble at the grape vine. Shawn’s truck started overheating on the way up. He used his smarts and popped his hood a little to cool the engine down, threw some water on the radiator, and turned on the heater. Then at low speeds and high RPMs we got over the mountain. After a quick lunch stop we started to make our way through LA, which was fine and dandy, but we did have a little hang up that added about 15 minutes. You can ask Shawn about that later if you feel so inclined.

In San Diego we picked up Angie and our team went from 97 to 100 percent. We made a quick stop before the border to get some Mexico Auto Insurance, and away we went. As we crossed the border, they stopped Shawn, so I stopped as well. The border guard looked at our trailer and in the back of the van, and they let us through. It had already been a very long day, so we tried to make it all the way to where we were staying, but we stopped at about 8:30 for some dinner in Ensenada. Let’s just say it was delicious and cheap. Tacos and Quesedillas and sodas and horchata for all of us for 54 dollars. I think that is the same amount I spent for lunch in a mexican restaurant in New York.

We finished our trek at around 10 pm. It was dark and foggy, so we couldn’t see much, but after unloading our stuff and choosing sleeping arrangements, we got our first night’s sleep in Mexico. We woke up to a foggy but amazing view out of our front window. We’re still trying to figure some logistics out, but we’re hoping to go to town and meet the pastor we will be working with today. Thanks to everyone that is praying. If you leave any comments on here for team members, I will be sure to pass them on. Until tomorrow….

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