A DELAY!
That's what happened to Scott and Steve, as they set out on a journey into Mexico with our belongings from Ohio. Everything was going as planned. Safe travels, good weather, they easily went through customs, and then the roadblock...
The young lady at the counter would not issue Scott a permit for the box truck he was driving. At first Scott thought that the lady was trying to get more money from him, but as the story unfolds, she was truly an angel! He made several phone calls, sent numerous e-mails, He even called the US Embassy! Still... he was not allowed to cross over the second border. He called me and, I asked for prayer for him and Steve. It kept coming to my mind...delays are for a reason. I encouraged Scott and then prayed for God to protect them as they stayed in a small border town, in Nuevo Laredo, Texas.
Scott reached Brad and Mark (Elders from Antioch) and they were able to contact Clint Hough. Clint is very experienced in border crossing. Please read the e-mail from Clint to Scott, and see just how Awesome our God is!!!
Hi Scott,
Well, I hope by the time you get this you're back home and resting up from your long trip.
Brad, Mark, and I talked this afternoon about how God showed us, once again, that He is always here with us and arranging events and timing for His purposes. If you do end up beginning a journal of your Godly experiences here in Mexico, I thought you might like to add your recent calamity at the border. God's intervention was so obvious to all of us, it seems certain He really wants you and Tammy in San Miguel!
It's humbling and in a way I feel honored that my experience in border crossing was used to help give you guidance. But, there are more pieces to this wonderful puzzle you are likely not aware of and so I thought I would give you my knowledge of the events that occurred for your benefit.
For the past 8 years I have been using the same border agent, a guy named Joe Lopez. Nice guy but I can honestly say I have never had a smooth crossing with Joe. I've spent countless hours waiting for him to come through with my permits or my shipment, literally sitting at times in a parking lot for 9 hours while he fumbled the ball of my importation process. I have prayed during those long hours that God would give me a new agent who would get the job done in a more professional manner. In several years, I had yet to receive any word from our Lord regarding this request.
God Event #1:
My wife Karen found some linen shirts she wanted to begin making for our Texas market and just "insisted" I find a source for the same fabric. Obediently I marched myself down to Guadalajara and begin investigating where her new fabric came from. Carlos, a wonderful Godly man who is going to be making our new blouse styles recognized the fabric and knew its' source was a company out of California called Robert Kaufman. We contacted the head of sales, another nice guy named Carlos and ended up placing a large order to be shipped from California to my agent Joe Lopez with Amermex.
God Event #2
Incredibly, Robert Kaufman company uses a border agent, Herman in Pharr Texas just 30 minutes from Imermex. The name of the company that Herman runs is Amermex. So when Carlos from Robert Kaufman Co. said he would ship our fabric, he mistakenly thought he was sending it to Herman at Amermex rather than Joe at Imermex. Two things happened as a result of this misunderstanding. First, our fabric didn't make it to Imermex. It made it to Amermex. Second, when asked Imermex couldn't come up with the proper permits to cross our fabric, but Amermex could.
God Event #3
Karen and I went over to meet this new agent, Herman with Imermex last Wednesday .....just as you and your friend were heading to Laredo in the now infamous church truck. The fact that we had a new agent, with permits, and a new level of professionalism, our load crossed in 20 minutes rather than the "days" it would have taken for Joe Lopez to figure out a way to get our things across. Hence, we were in Mexico to receive Brad's SOS call.
God Event #4
The 10 hour drive from the border to San Miguel is marked with long distances without cell reception. It just so happened that Brad's SOS call came within a 10 minute period when I could actually be reached. Knowing I would be out of cell range within minutes, the only thing I could advise was that you get a hotel room and wait until I was back in San Miguel for further instructions.
When Karen and I got home I called the cell number for you that Brad had given me and got no answer. I tried thirty minutes later and you answered the phone. You told me that you were next door at a restaurant eating and could get calls there but not in the hotel. I asked you to update me on what was going on. You told me that you had arrived at the border, crossing with a 20 foot commercial truck loaded to the max with your house items. That Mexican Customs had charged you $400 for the load at the first check point and had given you papers for your load. But, when you asked for a permit for the truck the lady at customs said that if she gave you one you could get the truck taken from you or worse.
God Event #5
You can't fully appreciate (unless you have had 8 years of border experience) what a complete "blessing" it was that there was a young woman who actually cared enough to refuse you a permit. The likelihood of that happening again is so rare and the beneficial outcome to you....immense!!
Here are just a few of the Mexican Custom's laws you were at risk of breaking had you gone any further. First, since you had no title to the truck "in your name", you could not legally bring it into the country of Mexico. Second, because of the truck's size you would have fallen under other restrictions of commercial trucking in Mexico and sent to commercial port for which you had no legal papers. Third, under the law you can not bring in ANY used furniture or household goods into Mexico without a one time household permit called an FM3, which you do not yet have. Fourth, you can bring in $1,000 worth of items if you have invoices showing their exact value at which time you would have to pay a 15% IVA tax on that amount. To get a truck load of personal goods past any customs point in Mexico without formal importation under an FM3 One Time Move Permit would be about as miraculous as Moses parting the sea. Thank God your migration officer stopped you by not giving you a permit because if she had there is a very high probability your truck and all possessions would have been confiscated. A friend of mine here in SMA lost a Ford truck and trailer about 4 months ago at the same bridge you were at and he speaks fluent Spanish. He never got his truck or trailer back. They held him for two days and finally let him go home on a bus without his truck, trailer, or load.
God Event #6
When you told me the details I hung up the phone and called Herman back in Pharr, Texas and ask him if he could work his magic again for me. I asked him if he knew a trucking company he really could trust in Mexico that could come up to Nuevo Laredo right away and pick up your things and get you back on the road to SMA. He told me he had a company in Saltillo that he had dealt with for years and that he would give the owner a call and get back to me. He called me back in no more than 5 minutes and ask if I wanted the truck to leave, saying the cost would be $710 for the truck to make the 3 hour drive up to the border, load your things and then turn around and make an 11 hour truck drive (paying many tolls) to SMA and deliver your things....then back to Saltillo. Having driven that highway many times with a trailer I am not sure I could make that run for much under $700. I tried to call you and got no answer so I called Herman back and told him to tell the driver to go ahead and get on the road. I got you by phone in about 30 more minutes and updated you with the news of the driver coming your way.
As you know, the driver got there that afternoon and ya'll ( Texas Term ) loaded out his truck with your things and he took your " Not so legal paper work " and headed South for SMA. Brad and Mark got a heads up from us both and waited on the truck. The truck got to SMA on Saturday and they all unloaded your things in your rent home.
God Event #7
You told me as you were leaving Nuevo Laredo in the " Still not so legal empty truck ", you got lost and a lady cop pulled you over and wanted to give you a ticket. God was with you again because lady cops in Mexico are a very new and very few. She took it easy on you and because of the language barrier felt sorry for you and gave you an escort to the river. A male cop would have taken your truck 9 times out of 10 to get money out of you.
Last but not least, the truck driver that drove down your things had a English Bible on the dash of the truck and turned out to be a Christian who really loves our Lord. Brad and Mark even prayed with him!! In this predominantly Roman Catholic culture, that alone is incredible!
The long and the short of all this is that God really is with us always. He really does know how many feathers are on the sparrow and you and Tami are where God wants you to be in coming to Mexico or none of these things would have happened the way they did with such perfect timing. I am sure there are other things God worked out in advance that we will never even know about. But clearly, He brought you and your belongings to San Miguel on "angel's wings".
It also reconfirms once again, to some hard headed but forgiven sinners down here in SMA, that God is always here and loves us all beyond our wildest imagination.
God Bless,
clint
I will rescue them; I will protect them, for they acknowledge My Name. They will call upon Me, and I will answer them; I will be with them in trouble, I will deliver them and honor them. Psalm 91
God's delays are for a reason. At the time we may be upset or frustrated when things don't go as planned, but God has a purpose for everything...trust Him in time of trouble. Our things made it safely to San Miguel with the help from God and some very special people!
This is the outside of our new home in Mexico. Mark and Brad met with the driver of the moving truck, and they unloaded all of our household belongings, without us there!! They are awesome,and we thank them very much!!!
This is inside our dining and living area.
Mark taking a much needed break!
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