Matt flew to Atlanta this past weekend to attend the wedding of a friend he used to play with. It was beautiful! Many congratulations to Jared and Heather!
After the wedding, he flew to Houston to meet up with Don Allison and prepare for the drive through Mexico. There had been a slight paperwork mix-up, though, that generated a few problems.
Without getting into all the details, there is a waiting period of 72 hours from the time the US Customs Department receives your vehicle title until you can cross the border. Because of our mix-up, we won't be allowed to enter Mexico until Thursday.
It's about 28 hours of driving from the Texas-Mexico border to the Guatemala-Mexico border. If we crossed into Mexico by noon on Thursday, drove all night Thursday, and nothing went wrong (yeah, right), we would arrive at the Guatemala-Mexico border just as it was about to close for the weekend. Matt's flight out is set for Monday morning. There's virtually no way he could make that flight. So if the guys encountered more than a one hour delay in the entire trip, they would be forced to sit in a Mexican border town for two days, miss Matt's return flight home, and generally be miserable.
So we came up with Plan B. John Villanueva to the rescue (again).
John is vacationing in Chicago right now. He flies back on Wednesday. On Thursday, he and Don will drive to the Texas-Mexico border, fill out all of their paperwork on the US side, spend the night, then cross the border Friday morning. They have all weekend to make it to the Guatemala border (which means they'll get some nice time on the beaches of Tampico and Veracruz), then they can enter Guatemala on Monday. Matt will simply return to North Carolina tomorrow.
So, it looks like God knew what he was doing when he had John ride down with Matt in January. John will get one more trip added to his "experience list" and Don will get the help he needs. Additionally, the Fickers will get the 4-wheeler they've been waiting on for a couple of years.
About that 4-wheeler. In the area of Guatemala where the Fickers live, the "roads" are often impassible by car. So a 4-wheeler or dirt bike is needed. They have a couple of small 4-wheelers and several dirt bikes, but to really haul any medical equipment or accomplish a medical evacuation, a larger 4-wheeler is needed.
They have a big Honda Foreman 4-wheeler but it has almost 20,000 miles on it (and not easy miles, either!) It's becoming a bit inconvenient to keep it running as all of the parts have to be imported from the US. This 4-wheeler we're bringing down to them is a nearly new Foreman that has 4 wheel drive. So it'll be even better than the one they already have. Now they'll be able to get supplies and people to even more places than before!
It's important to remember that even when things do not seem to be working out the way you're hoping they will that God is always in charge. He will never close a door without opening a window....
If you're not watching the news, there is a hurricane drawing a bead on Houston as we speak. All of the fundraising staff here and their familes will probably have to evacuate. This includes John's wife and two kids (while he's on a trip to Guatemala). So please include all of them in your prayers.
We'll ask for prayers for the following:
* A safe, expedient, hassle-free and uneventful trip to Guatemala for John and Don
* A safe and easy evacuation for the Leathermans, Shaws and Villanuevas
* No damage or major inconvenience from the hurricane
* A safe trip back to North Carolina for Matt
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