Feeling like Santa Claus...

I spent almost all day trying to get me visa today. I left the house at 7 a.m., walked 5 minutes to the nearest public transportation, and 2 1/2 hours later I was at the immigration office after 3 Metro (subway) trains and, one VW bus and one microbus. Then...well, finally at around 3 p.m. we were able to talk to the guy in charge, and although I didn't get my visa document, I did get some papers that will enable me to drive the van. So I guess the day wasn't all lost.

After prayer meeting from 8 to 9 p.m., Alberto, Miguel, Alex (son), Daniel and I went to Sams and spent about $900 on everything from huge bags or rice and beans to water to candy (my idea). The biggest article of purchase were $15 boxes of "despensa," or basic food staples that are pre-packaged. We bought 40 of these red boxes (see pic). The supplies about 60% filled the van, taking into account that we plan to put a platform using the hitch and also put light items on the roof.

Tomorrow (almost today) I teach a class on urban church planting at the Puebla Bible Seminary, and plan on buying $200-300 of Bibles and Christian books.

The guys are all REALLY excited about this 16 hour one way road trip...and I'm getting excited too. If you haven't contributed to this yet, you still can, up through Friday. So far $939 has been received in my account, about half of what has been promised.

Thanks for your prayers!