For the last day and half of my time in Belize, I wanted to go back to Orange Walk to be with the Joiner and Harris families and the church. Again I had to cross the ocean by boat in a two and a half hour trip back to the mainland. When I arrived in Corozal I grabbed a taxi instead of repeating that whole bus ordeal that I wrote about in my first blog post.
I was anxious to be able to preach and finally my chance arrived!
After church the first night, Sis. Lorraine Joiner prepared this delicious meal. A handmade flour tortilla, beans, and egg mixture that was very tasty. Over everything was sprinkled a chile powder.
(Los huevitos con su chilito y los frijolitos calientitos, recien saliditos y la tortillita con su chilito....)
The next morning we went out too see the Mennonite German families and how they live.
After sight-seeing for a while we came back to the house and I started preparing for the service that night.
A very tall black man with dreadlocks to his waist and driving a truck drove by and offered me a ride to the airport - for a small price. I'd already tried calling a taxi, but it never arrived. I didn't want to trust this guy, but after talking to him for a bit, I had to. He was my only hope at getting back home.
This 20-minute ride started out with him taking a route I did not recognize. I was already on edge and felt the need to point out that this was not the same way I came. The man turned to me and said, "Amigo, don't be so mistrustful!" I replied, "Well, this is a little weird, I think you can understand my position!" He told me this way was shorter and after a few minutes we pulled up to the Mexican border. There were plenty of guards there and we got out of the truck to talk to them. They wanted to see my papers and asked me where I was from. I told them, "I'm from Mexico! Can't you see the cactus on my forehead??" (Since a cactus is the most emblematic thing about Mexico, this is a common saying used here.) The guards thought this was hilarious and cracked up laughing. I was so glad to be back in my country!
We were then ordered to unload everything from the truck. The guards were pretty suspicious of my chauffeur and asked him a bunch of questions. They began taking out the seats from the truck, removing all the rugs, inspecting everything, leaving no stone unturned. A terrifying thought hit me - if this man was smuggling drugs, we were ALL about to be in MAJOR problems.
THANKFULLY, no drugs were found and we continued on our way to the airport. This was a very exhausting morning, to say the least.
Finally I was flying back to Mexico...
I was anxious to be able to preach and finally my chance arrived!
I had to have a translator which was a weird experience. I'd never preached like this and in my opinion I preach really fast without pausing. The translator "took out my crazy" and forced me to slow down. It took me a little bit to get used to, but in the end the presence of God visited us.
After church the first night, Sis. Lorraine Joiner prepared this delicious meal. A handmade flour tortilla, beans, and egg mixture that was very tasty. Over everything was sprinkled a chile powder.
(Los huevitos con su chilito y los frijolitos calientitos, recien saliditos y la tortillita con su chilito....)
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| El Salvadorian food - Pupusas - this one's for you, Mary! Tortillas filled with beans, and sprinkled on top with lettuce and shredded carrot. |
The little German kids were adorable. Blond-haired, blue eyed and wearing overalls.
Lunch -
Lunch -
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| Belizian tacos |
After sight-seeing for a while we came back to the house and I started preparing for the service that night.
Thank God for his help - His presence descended in a powerful way.
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| My translator and friend, Bro. Richard |
I had a really good time with the Joiner and Harris families. They are wonderful people.
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| The Joiner family |
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| The Harris family |
After church we went out to eat shrimp ceviche.
After dinner that night we got back pretty late. I went went to bed at one in the morning and woke up at two for my flight back to Mexico.
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| Lemon Pie |
I got to the border and there was not one taxi or form of transportation to get me to the airport in Chetumal. This was pretty worrisome - it was 3:30am and I was at a dark and deserted border in Belize.
A very tall black man with dreadlocks to his waist and driving a truck drove by and offered me a ride to the airport - for a small price. I'd already tried calling a taxi, but it never arrived. I didn't want to trust this guy, but after talking to him for a bit, I had to. He was my only hope at getting back home.
This 20-minute ride started out with him taking a route I did not recognize. I was already on edge and felt the need to point out that this was not the same way I came. The man turned to me and said, "Amigo, don't be so mistrustful!" I replied, "Well, this is a little weird, I think you can understand my position!" He told me this way was shorter and after a few minutes we pulled up to the Mexican border. There were plenty of guards there and we got out of the truck to talk to them. They wanted to see my papers and asked me where I was from. I told them, "I'm from Mexico! Can't you see the cactus on my forehead??" (Since a cactus is the most emblematic thing about Mexico, this is a common saying used here.) The guards thought this was hilarious and cracked up laughing. I was so glad to be back in my country!
We were then ordered to unload everything from the truck. The guards were pretty suspicious of my chauffeur and asked him a bunch of questions. They began taking out the seats from the truck, removing all the rugs, inspecting everything, leaving no stone unturned. A terrifying thought hit me - if this man was smuggling drugs, we were ALL about to be in MAJOR problems.
THANKFULLY, no drugs were found and we continued on our way to the airport. This was a very exhausting morning, to say the least.
Finally I was flying back to Mexico...
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| Puebla's volcanoes from above |
I arrived in Mexico City and from there took a bus home to Puebla.
My whole trip was quite an experience and I could see God's blessing on it. I'm very content and thankful to God for helping make my dreams come true, for allowing me to take his Word to places I'd never imagined.
God is so good.
My whole trip was quite an experience and I could see God's blessing on it. I'm very content and thankful to God for helping make my dreams come true, for allowing me to take his Word to places I'd never imagined.
God is so good.
Thank you, Beth for letting me tell my story.
God bless you all.
God bless you all.
-Abner
13 comments:
Abner, I really enjoyed reading about your trip to Belize. May God continue to use you. We also look forward to the day you visit us in the US!!
Sounds like you've had the perfect vacation. Good church, good food and lots of adventure!
Yes! It's time for you to come to the States! We'll line you up with lots of services, you'll have more good food, and we'll provide more adventure! Haha!!!
Wow! Parece que tuvo in excelente tiempo en Belize. Belize es muy interesante. :) Ahora lo siguiente es Honduras!!! ...es más bonito! ;)
Looking forward to more guest posts by Abner (and others).
-Allana
The food in this post looks alot yummier than the food in the last post :-). I was kinda thinking back there that the only thing that seemed ok was the beans and rice. Haha.
Do you have any pics of the outside of the boats that take people 2 1/2 hours across the ocean? Im curious about those. It seems like it would be scary and claustrophobic. And make people sea sick. Or is it like riding a bus?
Oh yes...and swimming with all those sharks! Oh my goodness. NO WAY, JOSE!!
Amanda - Gracias! Yo tambien espero ir pronto para alla.
-Abner
Amy - It was perfect! Thank you for reading and commenting!
-Abner
Cherie - your comment got me super excited. I look forward to it!
-Abner
Allana - en el principio esos eran mis planes, hasta hable con tu papa, pero al final no pude, pero primeramente Dios un dia si ire.
Gracias por tu comentario.
-Abner
LaLa - I don't have any pictures of the outside of the boats! But I didn't get seasick and I didn't see anyone else getting sick. It is really relaxing with the breeze from the ocean. You could feel the waves as we went over them...it was great.
And all the food I ate while in Belize was AWESOME. Not all of it looked very tasty, but really it all turned out to be delicious.
-Abner
Interesting! Thanks.
The Lord protect you Brother Abner, that seemed like a very dangerous situation with the man that gave you a lift to the airport. The hand of the Lord go with you, very interesting pictures and post, food looked very yummy as I thought those countries don't have very much beef and pork meat so I am assuming they rely on the seafood greatly. Thanks for sharing your trip with us. Lord Bless Flor
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