As you may know, Jehovah's Witnesses have circuit assemblies once a year, with two days each, and we have one special assembly day, which is one day only. Because we're in an English congregation, we need to go to El Salvador to attend our circuit assembly, which draws from the 12(?) or so congregations in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and parts of Nicaragua. So today we left at 8 AM to get to Santa Ana in El Salvador, riding in the Jeep of our friend Sean and Julene Eisenhauer and their two kids, Lauren and Addie, as well as our friend Doris, who is visiting from California.
Before I go on, let me explain a little bit about what happens at border crossings. First, each of us who don't have any permanent residency must go into Mexico once every three months in order to renew our tourist visa. Plus, if we have a vehicle that is not registered in Guatemala, those folks must move the car out of the country once every three months, I think, in order to renew the permission for the car to be in Guatemala. If they do not do that, the vehicle can be confiscated.
So, we drove from Panajachel to the border crossing into El Salvador. When we got there, Shawn produced documentation that showed that his car is legally in Guatemala, to the Guatemalan border people. However, when they reviewed the mountain of paperwork he brought, they said that his car was not legally in Guatemala. Somehow the last time Sean crossed the border, the border people must have stamped one stamp on top of another stamp and thus his real permission was not readable. So it looked like his legal permission for the car had expired, and thus, the border people said they had the legal right to confiscate his car! It was major PANIC. We insisted that he had brought it across the border into Mexico in December and thus he should have legal permission that should go well into February. And they insisted, repeatedly, that the car was not legal, that he had not received the extension of the permit, and that he (the officer) had the right to confiscate the vehicle. However he said if you want, you can go through the border and let's just pretend I never looked this piece of paper that appears to be insufficient.
So off we went, into El Salvador, nervous but happy that we could attend the assembly.
We drove the three blocks across the border down into El Salvador, crossing the bridge over the river that forms the border, and then had to deal with the El Salvador officials, to seek entrance legally to El Salvador. The El Salvador people had no problems with our passports, but when they reviewed the paperwork on Sean's car, they asked for the original title to Shawn's car. Shawn had with him a copy of the title, but not the original, since that can be dangerous to carry along with the car. The woman called her boss, did all she could, but she said they could not allow the car to pass! So here we are, stuck with five adults and two children at the Guatemala/El Salvador border, unable to proceed after two hours of messing with both messing with Guatemala and then El Salvador border people.! What would do? Would we go all the way back? Is there any way to redeem this disaster?
So we all started to pray! Also, I thought it wouldn't hurt at all if I start talking to the people at the border, several people including the woman giving us the bad news, about why we were there, and giving them some encouraging information about the Bible.
As we were debating what to do, someone suggested perhaps Bill, Doris, and I could continue on to Santa Ana which is come just an hour away from the border, and the Eisenhauers could go back to Guatemala City to leave ther car, and get a shuttle in the morning.
I approached the woman border guard to ask her if there was some way to get to Santa Ana in a safe way, like a safe taxi or shuttle, since borders are notoriously risky locations with a lot of odd people. She thought about it, talked to her coworker, and they were trying to figure it out, when her husband called from a few minutes away. They live in Santa Ana, and long story short (or, not so short), this kind man offered to bring us to Santa Ana, about an hour away! Since he was husband of a border guard, we trusted him, and we were not disappointed!
We repeatedly offered him money, and offered to fill his tank with gas, and he repeatedly refused. It was such a touching example of the kindness of people down here in Guatemala, and how Jehovah takes such wonderful care of us! We talked to Shawn and his family, and they arrived safely in Guatemala city, and will take a shuttle to join us here tomorrow. We have checked into our hotel, had dinner, and looking forward to a restful sleep tonight!
All is well, and we are looking forward to a wonderful weekend. Jehovah helped us get here safely! On Monday, on the way back, Shawn will sort out the problem with the car, but we will treasure our time with our spiritual family now! And we have seen AGAIN that 'Jehovah's arm is not short'!
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