Jess' Journal

SO TIRED! But thankful for all the prayers for our journey...pretty sure I would have turned back after the first 10 minutes at the border :(

We started the day with a 2:45 AM wake up call...we wanted to get most of the driving done while it was still cool out. We went to bed about 11:30 pm last night...probably not a good idea :) After the alarm went off we packed the rest of our things and headed toward Laredo, TX. We headed over the border about 6:45 AM. Our first stop was directly over the border. We got a red light and were asked empty out the back of the van :( So Bruce started to take things out when they noticed that we didn't have our car permit or visas yet. So they stopped him half way through the processes and directed us on the way to the permissions building. We pulled up to the parking lot to armed guard with machine guns standing on the balcony...this is where I lost it...the realization had finally set in. After the girls and I shared a few tears that Bruce wiped away with encouraging words (reminding us who created Mexico and who is more powerful) we headed inside. This seemed like it was going to be a quick process. The lines were short and I was hopeful. Our first stop was the visa line. Only one person before us. We hand him our passports, he scans them and inserts a paper, then calls a guy to finish filling them out (that took about 10 min). Next we get back in the line that has grow to about 10 people in front of us...still thinking that isn't that bad. We waited about 15-20 minutes in the line. We hand the visas back to the man to pay and he tells Bruce that he is only going to charge us for Bruce's visa. The rest of the family will be free. Bruce hands him a $100 bill, the man gives Bruce a smirk and said "thank you Mr.VanderMeulen" and put the money in his pocket!! What!! Already seeing the corruption?? So weird!
Next was the car permit line. This one didn't look to promising...a very long line awaited us...maybe 30 or so people ahead of us. By this time the kids were very restless...I was VERY thankful that there was a open space for them to run around in while we waited. FINALLY about 40 minutes later it was our turn...only to find out that we needed copies of our title, Bruce's passport and drivers license. So we had to go to the next window and get copies. Making copies was quick and cheap. We returned to the car permit line to another 30-40 min wait....Our turn again, we hand them our copies, everything is looking great...then ran our debit card and it was declined! What!! Grrr....I forgot to call the bank and let them know that we would be using our card in Mexico :( So out to the car we go again to call the bank. Then back to wait in the line again...this time I waited in the car with the kids :) Bruce paid and all was good. The whole processes took about 3 hours.
Now on to Monterrey...this was about 2.5 hours from the border. We entered the city with many mixed feelings...excited to be doing the work of the LORD but nervous what this work would cost our family. The City was CRAZY!! In just a few blocks we saw around 100 police riding in the back of police trucks in full armor sporting machine guns. What a sobering site! After a few short miles we were in the desert with nothing around. We drove for about 30 minutes and stopped at our first check point. They wanted to see all the passport again and checked to make sure our faces matched. The next check point wasn't so easy :) They made Bruce and I both get out of the car and open the back doors of the van. During this time they made the children stay in the car and were going through things up there. What a weird feeling...armed men in the car with your kids while you are asked to step out :/ They made us take out almost half the stuff again...poor Bruce...most the stuff was too heavy for me to help him with...and remember it was almost 100* by this time :( They smiled and said that's enough...on our way we went :) From here we paid two tolls...not sure how much they were yet...need to do the conversion still :) Then FINALLY we arrived to our destination...Holiday Inn in Monterrey. 
We will wait here for a Brother and his Pastor to meet us here tonight. They will stay with us here and they we will head out to his house in the AM...So thankful that we have someone to follow and trust on the trip there! Praising God for the safe travels!! Also thank you again for holding the rope!!