So, What did you do after church today?

With the use of modern technology we are blessed with being able to spend some time in our home church in Lexington, Tennessee via Skype.  See, there is much good that can be done with all those gadgets and gizmos out there.  It was an exceptional service and Dennis and I got to sit in our room and enjoy seeing friends and family live at church.  Our little Keira is getting so big!

As is tradition for many church goers we always ask the question, "Where are you going for lunch after church?"   So, I asked and the first reply wasn't our favorite restaurant so Carol said they would go to Las Portales instead just to make me happy. Service came to an end and there Dennis and I sat wanting to go somewhere.  Of course there is no place near by to go for lunch but we wanted to go for a drive anyway.

So we started on our Sunday adventure.  First we wanted to show you guys how the river looked this morning.  This was one of the reasons we couldn't make it to our church in Spanish Lookout.

This is the way to Fountain of Life Church in Spanish Lookout.  If you
can read the billboard it even says so.

Not really able to get to the other side.  Unfortunately, the village
is over there also.  May not have school tomorrow.

Since there was no Mcdonalds, Grecian, or Los Portales to hang out at we decided to continue down the road in search of Barton Creek Cave.  We had seen the sign for it and knew that it was about seven miles off the Western Highway.

Right after you turn off the highway in Unitedville there is no more pavement.  And that is how the entire trip was.  After awhile I looked over to Dennis, "Aren't we getting close yet?"  He just laughed, "We've only gone three miles!"  Oh my gosh, I have never been on a road like this one.  I was sure we were going to get stuck out in the middle of the jungle somewhere.  It was even worse than normal because of the constant rain over the last four days.  We drove on and on rattling my teeth and shaking the Bronco so hard I thought the tire was going to fall off the back.  Eventually, we see a glimmer of hope, a sign....

Yes, this was a sign that we were at least on the right road.

Finally, after some fearful moments (for me at least) we were forced to stop because apparently, Barton Creek was now Barton River and no one was crossing it today.  There is no bridge.

Barton Creek/River is on the left.  The road is supposed to cross it just up ahead.

Dennis was wanting to know if I wanted to go first.

No, I don't think so.

 

Bronco looks good in the jungle.

Even though we didn't make it to Barton Creek Cave, we decided to try again another day and we should try to get back out.  Up to this point we had passed a few Mennonite people walking home from church with bibles in hand.  That made me feel more comfortable about being way out here.  As we turned a corner though,  we had what could only be called a "Bigfoot Sighting."  Only our Bigfoot was slightly shorter, holding an umbrella.

No, it is not Bigfoot or the Chubracabra.

 This was actually our new friend, Esmir Cowo.  He was hoping to get a ride back to the main road.  So, trusting that God is looking out for us, we said of course.  As it turns out Esmir is a great guy.  Only 25 years old and has been a guide here in Belize often and is currently farming.  He spoke of his country in such a positive way that he was inspiring.  He loves Belize and farming.  He is actually Mayan and his family live on the other side of Belmopan in Armenia Village.  He had just finished working as a tree topper for a local man and was very glad to be done.  It is very dangerous he told us.  He said it would have been easier to top the trees with a machete but the man wanted him to use a chain saw.  As we were bouncing along Esmir showed me his art journal.  He was very good.  You could see his love for the jungle in his art.  Dennis and I were very impressed.  We enjoyed his company all the way back to the bus stop just down the road from us.  We got his email address and told him where we lived if he ever needed anything.

This is where we waited for Esmir to get his things.

A Mennonite settlement way, way back from the main road.

Had to say goodbye to Esmir hoping we would see him again.
What a great experience.  

So, what did you do after church today?

Love you guys!

Bungalow update 10/19/2013

                     Our home is coming together now.  It won't be long until move-in day.

 This is what you look like after a day of sanding ceilings.

John and Randy are under there putting in water and sewer lines.

The darker color is called Caramel the lighter is called Iwine.
(Not sure what Iwine is, looks a little beigy to me.)
This is the living room, the entire living room.

The green below is more of what it looks like.  Dennis did a great job on the shower tile.

Floor tile almost done.  Future home of the official Bungalow Commode.

Looking in from the front door.  Kitchen will be on the left and that's our bedroom on the right.
The outside doors are up now just not in this photo.
Nice looking ceiling fans, Thanks Mike Holifield!

All the masterminds at work.
Randy, John, Dennis, and Tim.
Cute little porch huh!

Front porch after Dennis walked on it.
Don't worry it's not paint, just dust.

The wood is called Cabbage Bark and it is exotic and very expensive in the states.
It is quite beautiful, but not hard to get here.

We are going to have a team here in a few weeks so Dennis and I have to be out of the dorm soon. It will be good to be in our home.  I mean, the dorm is quite nice but it's definitely not a home.  I will miss our gecko family.  But I have already spotted one over at the Bungalow.  

Just yesterday I walked into the dorm and found this one above the bathroom doorway.  He is the huge one that came in when the scorpion was here.  This is the biggest one I've seen and he lives up where the water pump is.  When the our team comes maybe they will have the pleasure of a visit.  I asked Dennis what we should name him.  "What do you call big men Dennis?"  His reply was "Sir".  So we will call the giant gecko Sir.

Say hi to "Sir".

I also wanted to let the GLK know that the Lizard of Oz has two friends.  This is one of them.  He or she looks slightly smaller and is still green.  Oz is turning more of a brown/grey color.  I am told, by my friend from school, Albert, that they are small iguanas.

        

I have had some requests for a mailing address.  We are sharing the PO Box with Bridge the Gap.  When you write don't send cash or anything expensive, (checks are OK).  Send mail to Dennis and Vicki Lucas, Bridge the Gap, P.O. Box 336, Belmopan, Belize, Central America.  Put Central America on the bottom line by itself. 

Been thinking about family and friends with the holidays coming up.  Seems odd to still be sweating to death every day while it's getting cooler back in Tennessee.  That's alright, when you are really tired of the ice and snow you'll wish you were here! I don't see many Halloween decorations here.  Most people don't like it.  Of course, Thanksgiving is just for America, but there is Christmas and Santa Claus here.

That's it for now.  More blogs to follow soon.  Wait til you hear about the kitty cat!

Love you guys!

Vicki

Blowouts, Borders and Banditos Part Two

BANDITOS!

So now they are just starting to cross Mexico, with its wide open spaces and long stretches of empty roads.  This is bandito country.  So, clearly a wise person would never say, “What else could go wrong.”

John had hired a guide to get them through Mexico, a very good thing for anyone wishing to get across.  So after leaving the border they were guided through a large city and were beginning to make good time.  Felipe is driving the box truck with John in the passenger seat.  In the rear view mirror they can see some guys pass the semi and pull up behind them.  They are checking out the Bronco.  They move forward and show a hand gun out the window, yelling at Felipe and John to pull over.  Felipe freaks out!  “They have guns, they have guns! What do I do?”  John is watching everything and turns to Felipe, “Do Not Pull Over!”  But Felipe is totally fixed on the gun thing.  Then the vehicle pulls closer in front and shows an M16 out his window.  Felipe begins to think he really should pull over.  John repeats, “Do Not Pull Over!”  Felipe screams “But they have guns!”  His eyes are huge and his knuckles are white on the steering wheel.  John yells, “Listen, if we pull over we are dead!”  Somehow those were the words needed to spur Felipe on.  He stopped talking, faced forward and hit the gas.  In the mean time John can see the car next to him with a gun in the window aimed at him.  He takes off his hat and begins to pray.  (The fervent prayers of a righteous man availeth much.  This was a fervent prayer.)

All the time this was going on Tim was behind them in the semi yelling “Don’t pull over man, don’t pull over.”  He is watching the whole thing, guns flying and the box truck speeding.  At one point the banditos pull in front of the box truck and put on their brakes to get try to get Felipe to stop.  Felipe, not wanting to die, just blasted past them.  I think Tim was cheering!!

 

Further on down the road the guys in the caravan can see a Federale Check Point.  They were not required to stop so they just blew on through.  The banditos disappeared but Felipe’s foot never left the gas pedal.  John said that Felipe was confessing to God all along the way.  I’m sure promises were made to God in exchange for a longer time on earth. 

They still had not slowed down a lick and there was a town up ahead.  The guide who was up ahead must have been pretty shaken up because they missed a left hand turn.  John recognized the road and told Felipe to turn left.  Of course, Felipe had to argue with that because the guide did not turn left.  John said, “Turn left Felipe.”  But Felipe wanted to argue and stick with the guide up ahead.  John leaned over to Felipe and very firmly said, “Turn left or I’m going to punch you in the face.”  Felipe turned left.

At the end of day five they had doubled the planned distance for this part of the trip.  See, God can make something good come out of every situation.

 

BAD TRANSMISSION AND STINKY PEOPLE

The guys got some sleep that night because they arrived early at their destination.  So, you might at this point say “What else could go wrong?”, but that would not be a wise question.

The next day was a Sunday.  I say that because it’s really hard to find a mechanic who is open on a Sunday.  The box truck lost its transmission.  They had to pull off the road as far as they could and take out the broken transmission fluid line.  I did not know this, but transmission fluid is quite stinky.  John had to eventually get all the way under the truck and transmission fluid was all over the place.  This gets quite interesting because I had failed to mention earlier that when you cross the first Mexican border they put a lock on your cargo until you reach the other side.  All the guys had put their clothes in the back of the truck.  This was day three without clean clothes.  So John gets out from under the box truck and doesn’t even have a rag to wipe off with.  He now has to go find a mechanic who can help him fix the broken transmission line that he carries in his oily black hands. 

And so he did.  He found a small Mexican village down the road a bit with a mechanic!!  (Because God is good!)  Through hand gestures and attempted verbal communication the guy understood that he needed transmission help.  That and the fact that John held the broken line in his hands.  So the very nice man gestured for John to sit while he worked on it.  So, John sat and sat and sat for over two hours.  When he heard someone come in the back he peeked around and saw a young woman carrying a bag from a store.  The guy must have sent his daughter somewhere to buy the part they needed.

Unbeknownst to John while he was getting the part, the police had showed up back at the box truck.  They were insisting that the truck must be moved.  After much attempted communication they realized that it had to be fixed before it could be moved.  Finally, after John got back the truck was fixed and everyone was happy.  One of the people there saw that he had transmission fluid all over him and gave him a special hand cleaner.  John was really impressed when the fluid just bubbled off his hands.  And it left the skin behind! (Of course it probably contains some kind of cancer causing agent but that’s beside the point.)

A little side note here, perspective determines how we live our days.  Will they be good and prosperous or will they be depressing and negative.  I have come to find out that John has a positive Christian perspective in almost every situation.  Some may say that the police were just hassling the guys, trying to get bribe money.  John said that he was glad the police were there.  He said he was glad to have  police protection in the middle of bandito territory.   We have the choice to view this how we wish.

BORDER RULES AND DRUG SNIFFING DOGS

After traveling all the next day the caravan ended up in a town called Escarscia.  They had to stop because there is a rule in Mexico that they can only drive from 6am to 6pm.  It was 6:10 when they pulled into the only Burger King on this whole trip.  Because it was after 6:00 they couldn’t go any further and had to find a place to park the semi.  By the time they found a spot they had driven through the entire town.  Remember how I mentioned that the semi was only 12 inches of the ground?  Well, this quaint little Mexican town had exactly six speed bumps which all measured 13 inches.  Tim and John were laughing when they were telling this.  “Yea, we shaved about an inch off each one.”  Maybe the people of the town appreciated shorter speed bumps.

The next morning they got to the Mexico/Belize border.  This was a newer border with rules that the guys had not heard of.  There was to be only one person in the cab when crossing the border. (I guess the other person was supposed to get out and walk across.)  When they went through they got the green light to pull over.  It’s kind of like Dean Rice being singled out at every airport security they went through during the last trip to Belize.

So now the inspection begins.  They have to open everything up.  There is a new female inspector running the place and she comes out and starts to climb in the trucks.  John, a very honest and upfront guy shows her the bike way in the back that had not been tagged for duty fees yet.  He wanted to do the right thing and pay what was due.  So, the inspector starts to climb down and accidently kicks over one of my kitchen canisters.  It falls to the ground and out comes a white substance.  It got very quiet.  This is bad, very bad.   John looks at her and she is not happy.  John really didn’t know that it was back there.  No one knew it was back there.  John bent down and tasted the substance, knowing that video cameras were now aimed at him.  He looked at the camera and said, “Look, it’s just sugar!” I had asked Amy, my wonderful daughter-in-law to empty them out and then put them in the Bronco.  She probably thought she was being nice by letting me keep my sugar.   He looked around as the inspector was getting her paperwork out and said, “It must have come from this bin.”  And just as he said that he picked up another one of my canisters and the lid came off.  And you guessed it, flour came pouring out all over the ground.  At this time the armed guards were backing up while covering their faces, thinking that maybe something treacherous was going on here.  All was quiet again for a moment. But then the conversation sounded pretty grim, I’m sure “Get the Dogs” and “Call the Federales over here” was part of it.  John was at a loss for words.  He was envisioning himself behind bars in the very near future.

But God is good and John has his ear.  After he said a quick prayer he walked up to the inspector woman and tried to get her to see that he was an honest man and this was all quite innocent.  God softened her heart and all she said was “This is the first and last time this will ever happen.”  She showed mercy. 

In the end, it took the guys two days to get through the final border.  John and Tim went home to sleep and then had to go back the next day to get everything in order.

A few days later we are sitting around the dinner table again and John actually said these words, “Next time….”

Proverbs  2:7-8

He (God) holds victory in store for the upright.  He is a shield to those whose walk is blameless.  For He guards the course of the just and protects the way of His faithful ones.

Borders, Blowouts and Banditos Part 1

This could be a movie.  I think we should ask Bruce Willis or Mel Gibson to play the part of John Vandermark.   Tim, who was driving the overloaded semi should be played by Sam Elliot and Pablo could easily be the Hispanic actor in Courageous.  (You know, the hilarious guy who pretends to be a member of the Snakes Gang.)  The only reason that Hollywood wouldn’t pick this up is because the power of God, integrity, perseverance, and obedience flow through the story like a river.  It appears to be an action flick but in reality it is a demonstration of how God works through the obedience and intense prayers of His people.  He will get His work done here on Earth through willing, Spirit Filled, Christ Followers.  Of course there is much comic relief in the story, especially if you are sitting around the table after dinner and John and Tim are telling the story.  It seems to get funnier each time it is relived by these two.

In the middle of September John planned a caravan to run all the way from Pennsylvania to Belize, over 3,000 miles.  It could take anywhere from seven days to two weeks.  Included in the caravan were three different entities.  John and Bridge the Gap, Pablo who represented another individual, and the Christian Mission Technical Services, (CMTS).  There were six “adventurous and sturdy” men willing to make the trip.  The vehicles included a box truck with our Bronco attached to the back, a semi truck carrying a very low bed, and a-Nissan Path Finder.There was a variety of cargo that ranged from huge 30,000 pound bulldozer with blade, two dining room sets, a huge industrial sized stove, a massive stainless steel sink, boxes of clothes, books, Tupperware, bedding, computers and much more.  Oh, let’s not forget the few innocent (and not so innocent) items from the Lucas household, including a washer and dryer, five ceiling fans, tools, a few tubs of school supplies and kitchenware.

BARKING DOGS

The story begins even before John arrived in the states.  He was helping some friends out by transporting their two Doberman Pincers from Belize to Atlanta.  One is a docile, well behaved, older female and the other is a bouncy, exuberant, vocal, happy, male who is less than a year old. Let’s just say that some really nice medication was used to help him through. (Of course I’m talking about the male dog, not John).   They were to be dropped off at the airport for the owners to pick up.  Unfortunately, there was a hitch in communications at the airport.  The tag said the final destination was to be Pennsylvania but it was specified that the dogs were to stay in Atlanta.  After much friendly deliberation there seemed to be no satisfying the airport staff except to give them $250.00 more to hold the dogs in Atlanta.  Now, John is a patient man, but all this friendly deliberation did not seem to include common sense on the part of the airport staff.  So, as nicely as he could John said “They’re not my dogs, you keep them.”  After which he just walked away.  The airport staff were quite unprepared for this remark and had to “back up the ship” for a moment.  Now remember all of this is happening right in the middle of the airport with people stopping to take in this scene of two overwrought dogs in large crates, who are now fully alert and ready to get out.  And an ever increasing crowd of airport staff and this man from Belize. Finally, as John was walking away his cell phone rang and it was the owners.  After he talked to them he turned around and went back to the dogs.  They were on the way to get the dogs and pay the extra $250.  John, who prefers not to look like a saint, did have thoughts of flipping the latches of the crates and letting the Dobermans free in the airport.  But that didn’t happen.  (But it would have in the movie.)

BEGINNING THE TRIP

After finally getting to Harrisburg, John met up with Tim (who has a complete story of his own) and began organizing all the people, paperwork and cargo.  This was no easy feat. Trucks had to be loaded and machinery had to put together and then loaded on the low-bed trailer, which ended up being only six inches from the ground.  This of course, wasn't going to pass any safety inspections, so they had to work on the trailer to get it up higher.  John said something about replacing tires and suspension bags and they got it to 12 inches off the ground.  While all this is going on there is paperwork being processed for these vehicles to travel through five states and three different countries.  John had to rely on many different individuals to do their part for all of this to work.  All the while there is a pressing time issue because no one wants to travel through Mexico during optimal bandit-hijacking time periods.  Even if everything went well from this point on the stress involved with all these tasks is huge.

BY THE WAY, THERE WERE MIRACLES

At this point I wanted to share two miracles that occurred for John.  He had to get his commercial drivers license renewed before he could drive.  Not a problem, until you get to the “passing the physical” part.  John is colorblind and has a few high blood pressure issues.  Not sure why, but he drank a pitcher of iced tea just before they took his blood pressure which is usually around 130 over 85.  When the nurse was done she just said “118 over 62”.  John is thanking God but still a bit nervous because he knows that he must pass the color test.  He has had to do this in the past and he knows that there are patterns of colored dots that you must be able to identify.  When they went through the pages John could see every pattern!  Thank you God!

BRAKES

So finally, after hours of hard work and preparation the caravan set off down the freeway.  All was going well until the brakes went out on the semi.  Tim didn’t know this until the group pulled off for a planned stop.  They were all up ahead at a four-way stop and he was quickly gaining on them without the ability to stop.  (At this point I am envisioning scenes from the movie Convoy with Kris Kristopherson.  Some of you may know what I’m talking about.) The guys up ahead  had no way of knowing that Tim couldn't stop.  He had only one option, to go to the left and on around them.  If he would have went right he would have ended up in the woods, wrapped around a tree.  There was one car ahead of the caravan and I’m thinking he must have seen Tim coming up the on-ramp behind him, because he pulled out just as Tim got there.  Tim who was at this point laying on the horn,  just followed the car through the intersection.    I’m sure the guys  had no other choice but to watch in amazement as Tim went barreling on past them, blaring his horn!  He got through the intersection and successfully stopped the truck on the other side.  It was as if a Hollywood director had yelled, “Action!” And the whole scene was being filmed by five different cameras.  But credit needs to go where credit is deserved.  There was no director unless you consider God the director.  At this very moment in Belize, Tim’s wife Carol was on her knees in prayer.  Carol had told me that the Holy Spirit had prompted her to stay home from church with a strong inclination to just pray.  There is no telling how disastrous this could have turned out.  Many people were praying through this whole trip.  As Christians we believe that our prayers touch the very heart of God and hold the same power that Jesus had while on this Earth.  That is called “faith”.

BEING THERE FOR SOMEONE

When the caravan reached Tennessee they knew that there was a resting place in sight.  Some of the people at Greater Life Church in Lexington, were following what was happening with the caravan and were expecting them.  Unfortunately, just as the guys were arriving at Parkers Cross Roads, the semi had a tire blowout.  Which was actually a great place to have this happen.  There is an awesome small business owner who runs a tire shop, with a hand painted sign, back behind the gas station.  This man quickly changed the tire and only charged $45.  His has a great reputation in the Parkers Cross Roads area. 

 Pastor Jamie was there to greet them with traditional southern hospitality.  He fed them Barbecue and put them up for the night in a hotel.  This was very well received and appreciated.

The next day the guys made their way to the Lucas home where the Bronco was waiting for them, stuffed to the gills with Lucas stuff.  Just in front of the Bronco, on the floor of the shop was a pile of items that I really wanted if they could find a place for it.  So they loaded all that stuff, my porch chairs included, on to another truck.  Before they left, Dennis had told them to look around for anything they might have need of.  Not exactly a safe thing to say to these guys.  They spent some serious time trying to figure out how to take the half-restored 1957 Chevy Pickup.  Fortunately, they couldn’t figure out how to get it across the borders. So, after loading our belongings and injuring Felipe on the washer, the caravan started out for the Texas/Mexico border.

  

BORDERS AND BAD GUYS

Timing is everything at border crossings.  There are great amounts of paperwork and inspecting to be done, and this border closes at 3:30. 

The caravan had already been traveling since Saturday and it was Tuesday. That is four days of driving with little rest. The stress, endless driving and lack of sleep had started to take its toll.  The guys had stopped for fuel and snacks.  John had just paid for his things and went for the door.  Just as he reached the door he realized his wallet was still on the counter.  It took less than 12 seconds to get back to the counter, but his wallet was gone.  Besides the $3800 for duty fees, all of John’s required ID was in that wallet.  It was devastating.  He immediately got on the phone to stop use of the credit cards taken.  Later, on the video cameras he got to watch the whole thing happen.  The guy who took it was quick and very good.  They did get his face on camera, so at some point in time it will catch up with him.  So there they were hoping to get across the border, but that wasn't going to happen today.

 Early the next morning, after having a few serious conversations with the CMTS people and Pastor Jamie, John had to go quite a ways out of the planned route to receive money grams that were on the way.  Actually, he had to go over 400 miles, round-trip  in order to get to the Walmart store where the money was. 

(At this point in the story John stops and looks at me,  “You have a very generous church you know.”  We know.) 

John and Tim get back to the border at 3:00, it closes at 3:30.  Never give up! Never give in! This is a good motto for John, so he tries to get across anyway.  God was really showing who is in control because they got through without a hitch.

Matters of the Heart

We had to wait a month, but the Bronco arrived here the other day.  After further conversations with John and Tim I will write about that major adventure in a later blog.

According to Katie in the book Kisses From Katie, there will be a time when my heart becomes reconciled to loving people in different parts of the world.  I will be able to be in one place without mourning the absence of the other.  I'm not there yet...

I opened a large bin brought in from the Bronco and I was immediately back at home in Tennessee in my kitchen.  There was my favorite coffee cups and my crock pot and my best spoon and knife.  I started to cry.  I wasn't expecting that.  Touching these things was like a whisper from home.  It was very nice and very difficult.  I guess I am mourning the loss of familiarity.  Mourning the loss of time spent with my children.  Mourning the loss of all that I have known for the last ten years in Tennessee.  My heart still hurts when I think of these things.  But I believe that God knows my heart better than I.  He knows the pain of separation.  His own son was separated from him and God couldn't even look upon Jesus.  I can't imagine that kind of anguish and pain.  God can be trusted.  His words are true and I can know that I can do all things through Him.  God will lead me to a place where I can be in one place, separated from those that I love and not feel this pain in my heart.  I'm just not there yet.

Along those same lines Dennis and I got to Skype at our home church, Greater Life Church in Lexington, TN.  It was so good to see all those that we love.  It was awesome to be a part of the praise and worship.  Pastor Jamie had a great sermon.  We got to see our children attending church with our grandchildren.  It doesn't get much better than that.  My heart feels a little better already!

Love You Guys!!!
Thank you Lord!!!