It was Tuesday May 27, 2003, the day that we left for Mexico!

The Turbervilles

Josh (My older brother) shook me awake “It is 5 o’clock, time to wake up.” I got out of bed, put my clothes on, and went downstairs to cook breakfast with Josh. Josh and I made eggs for ourselves. While we were cooking our eggs, Mama came downstairs, and Papa stepped into the shower. After we ate our eggs we ate some doughnuts, and we left for the airport. At the airport we met Bill Reeder (The fourth person on our team - the other three were Papa, Josh and me.)

Next we waited through the long line to the metal detector. While we were waiting in line, Josh found that he had his pocketknife still in his pocket, so Papa had to walk to the post office to mail it home. So while we went through the metal detector Papa mailed home Josh’s pocketknife. While we were waiting for Papa to come back, we (Mr. Reeder, Josh, and I) played Phase 10. Mr. Reeder said he would have to buy phase 10 for his niece.

Papa got back, and it was time to board the first airplane. It was my first time on an airplane in five or six years. The flight attendant said the flight would be an hour and fifty minutes long. On the flight I read some of the Bible and some from Flying Blind (Written by Frank Peretti). We arrived in Houston at twelve o’clock (one hour later than Denver time).

We had lunch at the Houston airport, and after lunch we boarded the next flight for McAllen, Texas - only half as long as the last flight. At the end of the flight we stepped out in McAllen.

Mr. Wes was going to pick us up. Now Papa had never seen Mr. Wes, and Mr. Wes had never seen Papa, so I prayed that we would find him soon. A few minutes later a man came up and asked Papa, “Are you Nate Wilson?” It was Mr. Wes! We sat around and talked a little, then Mr. Wes drove us to the Turberville's house. Mr. Turberville has a dog named Razz, and we had fun playing with Razz! We had a dinner of bread, salad, and pork tender loins with a desert of an angel food cake and watermelon, and it was good! Then we went to sleep.


WHAT I LEARNED: summers in Texas are hot and humid and how much a peso is worth. (Ten cents)


The deaf classroom



The next day when we were packing up to go, Mrs. Tuberville gave us a bag that said: “ROAD TRIP SURVIAVAL KIT.” No one could survive on it because it was mostly filled with candy.

We could not get in touch with Mr. Wagner (He was going to drive us from McAllen to Mexico.), but He still came to the Turberville's house. When we stepped outside, the humidity didn’t seem as bad - maybe it was because it was morning or maybe it was because I had gotten used to the humidity. Then we headed for Mexico. When we crossed the border Mr. Wagner told us that the biggest car gets the right of way, and Mr. Wagner had a big car so we got the right of way. We were going to meet two of Mr. Wagner’s friends who were coming to Pastor Gonzalez’s house with us, but there had been bad weather, and a bridge they had to cross was out, so we decided to meet them at a shopping plaza in Reynosa, Mexico. The shopping plaza had a McDonalds, a Kentucky Fried Chicken, a Blockbuster video, and several Mexican stores. While we were waiting for Mr. Wagner’s friends Mr. Wagner got a call saying that their car broke down at a Pentex gas station. That didn't help much, becaue all the gas stations were called Pentex. On the way Mr. Wagner said, “Sooner or later we’re going to meet these guys,” and we did finally meet them. Their names were Jason and Adrian. Then we went to the ICCFD (International Christian Center For the Deaf).



A flooded street

Then we (Papa, Josh, Mr. Wagner, Jason, Adrian and I) headed for San Fernando. An hour or two later we arrived at Pastor Gonzalez's church and it was raining hard. The rain was five inches deep all over the street, and it was only raining for one hour! Mr. Wagner said that the first five years he was in Mexico it didn’t rain at all!

The church was a house that Mr. Gonzalez was renting, and he had changed the garage into a church service room.

Since it was past time to eat we started to look for a restaurant, and while we were driving we saw a car that was stuck in the water. We ended up having to go to a store and bought some chips to hold us over till lunch, which was at three. (Mexicans eat at different times than us - at eight AM three PM and eight PM.) At three we ate lunch at the church. (The house Mr. Gonzalez was renting had a kitchen, so we ate there.) Lunch was shrimp and corn tortillas. They said that we were going to eat dinner at seven because they were having a service at eight.

The church service.

Before dinner we had a cake with flan on top; Mr. Wagner said it was to make sure you were ready to eat. By this time all the water was drained off the street. Dinner was flour tortillas stuffed with scrambled eggs.

After that there was a church service, then we went to the Hotel that we were staying at.


WHAT I LEARNED: Mexicans eat at different times than us, and how much it can rain in one hour!



I woke up, “Get your bag; it is almost time to go to the church for breakfast,” Papa said. A few minutes later we were at the church, and we had breakfast. It was eggs, ham, tortillas, and cereal. After that we had a meeting about what MTW was doing in Mexico. Then we went to a restaurant for lunch. I ordered a chicken fajita, and it was good. Across the street from the restaurant was a store whose sign said something about rats, cockroaches, and other insects. Mr. Wagner said they were selling them to eat, but Papa wasn't so sure. After lunch we went shopping. We bought Chiclets, a sling shot, a toy where try to catch something from the string on the stick, some porcelain, and a top. Then Mr. Wagner gave us a collection of a 1, 2, 5, 10, and 20 peso, and 10, 20, and 50 cent coins.


The insect place

We went to the hotel and swam in the pool there. After that we played some Phase 10 and it was time for dinner. Dinner was chicken. After dinner the adults held a prayer meeting, and they didn’t want Josh and me in because Mr. Gonzalez might share some confidential things. So while we were in the dining room after dinner a boy waved to us through the window to come outside, so Josh and I did. He said something to us in Spanish that we could not understand. One of his friends who seemed to know a little English said, “He wants to know your names and ages.” So Josh said, “Me llamo esta Josue, once.” I said, “Me llamo esta Beni, deiz.” He tried to tell us something else, but his other friend didn’t know enough English to translate this time. So we said, “Adios,” and went inside. When we came inside we found that a lady from the church had gathered her girls. They showed us a game where you clap your hands, cross your hands, and one hand grab one ear while the other hand grabs your nose, then you clap, cross your hands, and grab your other ear and your nose and so on until you mess up. Then it was our turn to show them something. Josh showed them a finger face, and I showed them the mirror fingers.

Then the adults ended their prayer meeting and we went back to the Hotel.


WHAT I LEARNED: a Mexican game and how a 1, 2, 5, 10 and 20 peso and 10, 20 and 50 peso cents look.



Our team


Josh woke me up. We (Mr. Wagner, Mr. Reeder, Papa, Josh, and I. Jason and Adrian were staying another day.) jumped in the car, and we left for the US. On the way we stopped at a McDonalds, and I ordered pancakes. Then we went to the border. In the sign that said what color security is, it kept changing from yellow to orange to yellow to orange to yellow etc. When we got into the USA Mr. Wagner said, “We could have gone to a Shoney’s breakfast bar but you had to go to McDonalds.” In the US side of the border we stopped at a Christian bookstore. Then we left for the McAllen Airport. At the airport we ate a few snacks and boarded the first airplane to Houston. In Houston we boarded the plane for Denver. On that flight I felt a little sick. When the plane landed we said good bye to Mr. Reeder. Then a message came over the loudspeaker that said that the ramp to the baggage was closed so our luggage was late to the baggage claim, and we were a little late getting home to a yummy dinner of homemade pizza!


WHAT I LEARNED: That McDonalds has pancakes and how hyper younger brothers are when they see you for the first time in four days.






THE END

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