Furloughs in a Nutshell

Well, we’re back in Mexico after a brief home-assignment in Arizona, California and Oregon. It’s good to NOT be on the road! Every six months, we travel a ridiculous amount of hours squashed into the van with a ridiculous amount of stuff. Every trip we tell ourselves, “This time we’re not coming back down with a bunch of stuff.” Every trip, however, God blesses us with so many things which are useful for our ministry in Mexico. How can we say no, simply because it makes us a little crowded?

I’ll post a few highlights of our furlough later, but for now I wanted to give you an idea of what it’s like to travel with a missionary family on furlough.

The Mexico leg of the trip is generally pretty relaxed. No seatbelt law means that we can utilize the space in the back of the van as a bed. Very nice…for the first 14 hours or so. Then we cross the border. Click it or ticket!!!

We found the piece of plastic bag tucked behind the Mexico side of the sign comical. You have to travel in Mexico a bit to understand why.

The first 10 to 12 hours of any trip are pretty easy. Sure, it’s a little uncomfortable, but hey – it’s just one day. Tonight you’ll get to stretch out and relax. But then, the next day comes, and it’s another 12 hours in the van, and last night every time you stretched out you kicked someone in the head. He then promptly, in his sleep, whacked you back. Plus, you forgot your foam mattress, so the cement floor just wasn’t as cushy as you would have liked. Tempers are short, bums are numb, backs are achy…and then there are the kids. ;^)

[Seriously, the kids seem to travel better than this grouchy old mom. I was such a whiner this trip!!! God was faithful though, as always. Remember 2 Corinthians 10:13 -- "No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. But God is faithful and will not allow you to be tempted above that which you can bear but will, with the temptation, provide a way of escape for you.” I just needed to stop my complaining and praise Him and suddenly the trip went much faster, the kids were kinder to each other …and I slept much better. Funny how it works like that!!!]

The third and fourth days are just a lot of this…


and this…

the kids see a lot of this…


I get to look at this handsome guy!

Some of the kids read.

Once in a while I pass back my camera and they do a lot of this…


It is, after all, what we’re doing. Driving. Of course, they also take tons of photos of each other’s nostrils and big toes. Whatever works to pass the time as we travel along, singin’ a song, side by side…by side…by side…by side. You get the picture.

Every once in a while we have to deal with this…


Or this…

…or maybe this…

For those not terribly familiar with wheels, that’s a blown bearing. Bummer. Fortunately, we didn’t have any of that this trip. Thank you, Lord!!!

So, there’s my peek into the travels of a missionary family. Yep, it’s pretty boring. We make our own fun playing the ABC game and doing “I spy” lists. We did discover that while the Mustang is one of the most ridiculously popular cars in the US, there aren’t very many in Mexico, so if you’re doing an “I spy” game and “Mustang” is on your list of things to find, you need to find it north of the border. On the other hand, “Herd of goats” will be harder to find in the US (at least until you get to Oregon!), so you should always check your list so that you know where you’ll look for each item. Also, you should specify, when putting “Moving Tractor” on your “I spy” list, whether or not it needs to be moving on its own power or if a tractor moving on a trailer counts. That’s assuming that you play “I spy” and that your family is as competitive as ours. ;^)

I’ll write a more interesting post later!!! I promise!!!