Back to the Southeast

No, we aren't back in Tennessee. We are in Edinburg, Texas on the border of Mexico. God has continued to bless us. Joy found a pastor on for us to stay with here, and he has been super nice. In fact, I have seen him before about years ago--in Poland! We attended the same camp meeting in Poland, he being Polish and me being with on a choir mission trip. Again, more connections everywhere. Today we went to church and Joy happened to meet some of her friends she went to highschool with in Africa.


Let me catch you up on the past few days.


Wednesday Evening


Even though I was sick, my mood turned upwards. My sister Jessica and her boyfriend Brad drove from Loma Linda, California to come see me one last time. We all ate a luxurious supper with Auntie Alice. Then we realized that Ben and Kim lived in the same town we were in. We found out the number and visited them at their house. We chatted a bit cracking up at Kim's wit and Ben's booming pastor voice. Jess and Brad had class the next day, so we said our farewells and eventually I was back at Auntie Alice's without them both. I was so happy to see them, even for a little bit.


Thursday


We had figured that it would be cheaper to drive back across the States and go down to through Mexico on the eastern coast, especially when we heard rumors of gas being $4.50/gallon. Auntie Alice, of course, had a special breakfast prepared for us. After final preparations we took off at noon for the East. We drove and drove and drove while I finished reading the final half of Out of the Silent Planet. We kept driving until four in the morning. Joy, the driver at the time, finally became exhausted. We pulled into a picnic exit about seventy miles from San Antonio. Ryan, Jessica, and I ended up sleeping outside between the car and the curb. The smell of urine wafted over from the grass to our noses. A little nasty, but we were too tired to care.


Friday


We drove and drove and drove. Along the way we made a few stops to get a gasket and bolts for our truck at a Toyota dealership and some bagels, cream cheese, and apple sauce from a grocery store. We got to Edinburg, Texas around five in the afternoon. Pastor Andrew, a nice Polish pastor who let us stay at his place, met us at Wal-Mart. Again, the guys were dying of hunger, so we told Andrew wed meet him later and we ran off to Taco Bell one last time. I was still feeling really sick, but I tried to eat a little taco and coleslaw. I still hadn't eaten half of either one when everyone else was finished, but Jessica and Joy were determined for me to finish. They left Ryan in charge to watch me while they got some errands done at Wal-Mart. He failed miserably and we followed quickly behind them. When we arrived, I had to visit Wal-Marts bathroom quickly, so a bored worker took me himself. There I stayed while they finished everything, listening to the retching of a girl pucking in the stall beside me. When I came out, they called me on a walkie-talkie asking where I was. I met them outside and we went to the Pastor's house. He had to run help a church with some technical stuff, so we waited for him outside in the warm, breezy night. There we met Noah, a talkative cute boy who kept climbing the brick mail boxes outside of their house. He brought us out some candy and some of his pictures he made. A few neighbors came by. Unsurprisingly, everyone seemed to know Noah. Pastor Andrew returned and we went to his church to watch a satellite broadcast of '05Revival by Doug Bachelor. It was about drawing close to God, and He in turn drawing close to us. Ryan, Jessica, and Andrew stayed at Pastor Andrews house, while Joy and I stayed at June's house, an older lady of the church. I took a glorious shower. Joy was very congested, so I shoved in some earplugs and dropped off to sleep.


Saturday


Today we did a Sabbath School presentation for Pastor Andrew's church. I joined a little class and had fun discussing the Church with fellow believers, especially because I've been thinking about the Church a lot. Then I met Polo who asked me all sorts of questions about our trip and if I knew what to tell people when they asked me what the gospel was. He's planning on meeting me in heaven.


At potluck we met a few Mexicans, showed some pictures, and talked with the young people of the church. Afterwards we relaxed all day at Pastor Andrews house. Joy had randomly met some of her old classmates from Africa, so they came by for some pictures and talking.