What a Day in Mexico!!!

Pastor Brad, you were right, we haven't a clue what we are getting into!

So, we made it to the border today but not without incidents. Took us 6 hours to get the papers we needed to enter and cross through Mexico. This process in Canada or the USA would have taken approx. 10 minutes. However, the people at the first port of entry told us they couldn't give us the necessary papers and we would have to wait until tomorrow. The other option that the nice Government man gave us was to give him approx $300US and he would make it happen. We opted out of his options and we went to the other port of entry.

Two minutes into our travels in Mexico we met our first police man who said we were speeding (but we weren't). He asked us to follow him to the police station to pay a big fine. He also had a second option which was to pay him directly and avoid all the trouble. Our great new best friend Mario Alonzo helped us out of the 2 expensive situations and at that point we had spent no money on bribes. We don't see how we would have been able to do this without Mario Alonzo.

After finally arriving at the next port of entry we were not able to be helped again, but wait, it gets better.

We then went to the third port of entry and there the fun began. We spent a long time there, approximately 4 hours and this is what happened:

-Mario did all the speaking (thank GOD)
-he spoke to 2 people
-first guy said things looked good, second guy wanted $100-$150 to make it happen
-our options were to go back to USA, get another hotel and hire a lawyer, then come back to Mexico and pay a ton of fees (much more than necessary)
-after speaking with Miguel, we decided it was cheaper to pay the cash to the Government man. We would not go higher than $100US.
-he charged Mario Alonzo $100US but after hearing about us being missionaries and God not being happy with him the man gave $40 back and must have thought that God would be happier with him for not taking as much.
-it wasn't over yet
-we then went to the other nice people in the office and paid the regular fees
-then we went outside...talked to more nice people who asked us to empty the trailer. I was not happy, but I did it.
-after the nice lady looked in the almost empty trailer she asked us for more money
-Mario Alonzo explained to the lady we were missionaries and we were going to help people, and told her that God would not be happy with her either. Not only did she not charge us any "extra" amounts she actually reduced the allowable charges by 85% due to the number of people in the van
-cost us a bit
-saved a ton
-God is awesome!!!
-5 minutess after we left the border...you guessed it... we were pulled over again
-police asked for the proper papers which we showed them...this police sent us on our way without any requests for money. We were relieved.
-had to stop at a check point approx. 1 hour away... yep they asked for money too... unbelievable..Mario got us out of this one too.

We have never prayed so much in one day in all of our lives.

Sounds exciting doesn't it?

Well, we made it to the hotel and we are going to have a well deserved rest now.

Thanks for your prayers and support. Please cover us with prayer. We will be with Miguel and Oriana in two days. We can't wait.

Goodnight all,

The Virags

WIA
151-10090 152nd st
suite 314
Surrey, BC, Canada
V3R 8X8

If you are donating and would like a tax receipt make the cheques out to WIA. Do not put our names on the cheque, simply drop in a quick note allocating the funds to the Virag family.


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