Beyond Coincidence: Hands Across the Border

By Trafford Publishing

Authors have many reasons for writing a book, but the reason for this one goes beyond explaining. All I can do is describe what happened and let others tell their story. Friend Dorothy and I were planning a holiday leisurely RVing through Mexico, when suddenly we were sidetracked by the Lord into something else - collecting material for this book.

When God wants to get our attention it can happen softly, like a wink, but at other times it comes as a bolt from the blue hitting one over the head. I'm thick headed so God's usual mode of operation with me is a bolt, but this time it was just a gentle wink!

Just days before we left home a friend phoned, suggesting we look up a small advertisement in the RV TIMES. Someone called Charley was looking for Christian RVers going into North Western Mexico. Why not email him? Wink! We did, and as people say, the rest is God-history. Looking back now I can see that God was up to something!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trafford Publishing
• Release date: Aug 30, 2004
• ISBN: 9781466980976

Book preview

BEYOND COINCIDENCE:

HANDS ACROSS THE BORDER

by

Iris M. Ford

Real Life Stories from Mexico

Need help?

Have hands, tools, Bible, R.V.-will come!

© Copyright 2004 Iris M. Ford. All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.

Cover photo: La Parroquia de la Purisima Concepcion, Alamos, Mexico, was started in 1786 and completed in 1826.

A cataloguing record for this book that includes the U.S. Library of Congress Classification number, the Library of Congress Call number and the Dewey Decimal cataloguing code is available from the National Library of Canada. The complete cataloguing record can be obtained from the National Library’s online database at: www.nlc-bnc.ca/amicus/index-e.html

ISBN 1-4120-3237-7

ISBN 978-1-4122-4785-6 (ebook)

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This book was published on-demand in cooperation with Trafford Publishing.

On-demand publishing is a unique process and service of making a book available for retail sale to the public taking advantage of on-demand manufacturing and Internet marketing. On-demand publishing includes promotions, retail sales, manufacturing, order fulfilment, accounting and collecting royalties on behalf of the author.

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Contents

DEDICATION

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

PREFACE

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER ONE      HANDS ACROSS THE BORDER

CHAPTER TWO      MEXICAN ADVENTURES

CHAPTER THREE      VIDEOS VIVIENTES

CHAPTER FOUR      THE POINT OF RECKLESS ABANDON

CHAPTER FIVE      ALAMOS, A COLONIAL TOWN

CHAPTER SIX      GRANDMA’S KIDS

CHAPTER SEVEN      MAKING A DIFFERENCE

CHAPTER EIGHT      CARING HANDS

CHAPTER NINE      WHERE GOD LEADS

CHAPTER TEN      A NEW BEGINNING

CHAPTER ELEVEN      SOMETHING FROM NOTHING

CHAPTER TWELVE      CLASHING CULTURES

DEDICATION

BEYOND COINCIDENCE is dedicated

to the multitude of God’s hands

that have reached across the border in

many marvelous and amazing ways,

and to Dorothy Thompson,

my traveling companion,

without whose help, encouragement

and patience this project would never

have become a book.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

BEYOND COINCIDENCE would not exist without the contributions of the following people who shared their stories. I acknowledge each one with much appreciation:

Charley, Renee and Josh Griffith

Deep the nameless one and his wife Philippa

Mike Myers

Sherry Archibald

Beth and Paul Stearns

Dick and Olive Merrick

Hal and Carolyn Perry

Bob and Annette Mason

Mary Ann and Darwin Jackson

Larry and Sandy Trotter

The following POEMS have been included, each one enriching the passion of the story: I Saw a Child-John Anthony Davies Here They Come-Vincent Larson

I am also indebted to Fernando Horcasitas’ book THE AZTECS THEN AND NOW for a deeper understanding of the diverse roots forming Mexican spirituality.

This book would contain all kinds of typos without the kind help of Georgina Houghton who has proof read every paragraph. Thank you very much, Georgina.

PREFACE

Authors have many reasons for writing a book, but the reason for this one goes beyond explaining. All I can do is describe what happened and let others tell their story. Friend Dorothy and I were planning a holiday leisurely RVing through Mexico, when suddenly we were sidetracked by the Lord into something else-collecting material for this book.

When God wants to get our attention it can happen softly, like a wink, but at other times it comes as a bolt from the blue hitting one over the head. I’m thick headed so God’s usual mode of operation with me is a bolt, but this time it was just a gentle wink!

Just days before we left home a friend phoned, suggesting we look up a small advertisement in the RV TIMES. Someone called Charley was looking for Christian RVers going into North Western Mexico. Why not e-mail him? Wink! We did, and as people say: the rest is God-history. Looking back now I can see that God was up to something!

INTRODUCTION

All the personal stories in this book are true and are as accurately portrayed as my editing skills can manage. They all show that in those times when God winks in that all knowing divine way to catch our attention, we listen as God says, Come this way!

Christ’s followers do not just experience coincidences, rather just about everything they experience somehow goes beyond the regular into the realm of the amazing.

Believing that God’s hand is behind and in all, what happens is often simply too striking to explain away or ignore. The timing is amazing, or our little efforts go over the top way beyond our expectations! We did not plan it but things clicked so well that it was all beyond explanation. Surprises happened so often as we made our way into Mexico that the outcome is this book!

As Dorothy and I traveled around, listening to people recall the God-moments that led them to Mexico, we found ourselves thinking back to certain situations that illustrated the decisions that so changed our lives! Life changing forks in the road are long remembered for they stand out from the mundane.

The stories you read here are all true, personal accounts, collected during and after our two RV trips through that friendly land. Many church denominations are involved and so I have not changed any theology orsentence to reflect my belief structure; this is their story, my part is that of scribe.

You will hear from Charley, Renee and Josh, and wonder about joining their Christian RV Missionary Tours for an exciting adventure helping others in Mexico.

You may find yourself identifying with the couple from Vancouver Island who met a young boy outside the church in Alamos and have been helping him ever since.

Beth’s story will touch young couples, for Beth was newly pregnant in a strange land.

Then there is Sherry watching out the window of her home as a large motor home drove up one day bringing an expert in communications to her door.

What do you think really happened the evening a soggy plastic baggy full of money was found floating in the swimming pool?

There was the day when Pepe, the owner of an RV Park, was right there when we needed him. Pepe arranged three wonderful tours of Mexico City.

Meet my friend whom I call ‘Deep’ and see the wheelchairs he and others arranged to be transported to Mexico to help hundreds of handicapped kids.

Nothing prepared the Jacksons for what they saw when they reached their destination-an isolated village in the mountains of Mexico.

Father Ray’s newsletter was exciting, but finances interfered with their plans and God led the Masons somewhere else. Life was never the same again!

Last, but not least, you will meet Larry in Guadalajara, where he bravely went alone to plant a new church mission. Most of what he tried failed, but step by step something happened out of nothing!

Finally, we share our impressions of our visit to the Pyramids of the Sun and the Moon, and the shrine to the Virgin of Guadeloupe. Here we try to understand how ancient cultures have collided, making Mexico what it is today-a beautiful land where many cultures clash into an amazing kaleidoscope of colour. There is a rich spiritual legacy in Mexico, lending to the culture either harmony or disharmony, depending on one’s perspective.

Dorothy and I rushed across Arizona to Tucson, Arizona, where we were meeting up with Charley and his family. We were happy to go across the border with their missionary caravan. It was easy to follow Charley’s converted bus behind the other RVers. Later, when Charley heard that I am a published author, he suggested we go with them for a few days and gather material.

Charley’s vision was to take Christian RVers as missionary helpers into Mexico to help wherever they could. So, we decided to travel with them for a few days. We stayed for ten.

By this time we were wondering if our trip was being orchestrated by a higher power! Was God up to something? After all the RV TIMES, where we had seen Charley’s advertisement, was dated many months before. Having been put aside for reading later, it was picked up by our friend at the best time to influence and change our mortal plans.

On hearing of that coincidence Charley and his son, Josh, suggested calling my new book BEYOND COINCIDENCE. What a great title! So there we were taking my tape recorder along, meeting many fascinating people who knew that God had taken them beyond ordinary experience.

CHAPTER ONE

HANDS ACROSS THE BORDER

Great excitement was in the air and yes, some trepidation. So many decisions! Which road to take and where would we stay each night in Mexico? Being green horns at this, we spent many fretful hours planning.

Then, one day, while attending an RV rally at Bridal Falls in British Columbia, we met Deep. (Deep is a pseudonym as he wishes to remain in the background, quietly supportive.) We were all ears, since Deep knew the best route to take when driving through to Lake Chapala, our destination.

Deep is a forceful, gentle person with whom Dorothy and I immediately felt comfortable. We sat on the couch in the club room while Deep filled us in on Mexico.

Later, over lunch at his house, Deep warned us to take extra engine oil, some spare belts and a tire pressure gage!

I started making a list as the advice continued…Use caution dealing with authorities in Mexico as the ‘Latino’ understanding and interpretationmay differ from the ‘Anglo;’ Start out early each day and arrive well before dark. Don’t stop on the road.

The list grew and grew as Deep shared, but he took such a cautious approach that Dorothy was discouraged and wondered about even starting. Deep, however, did say, GO, while others said we were crazy! After all we are two senior women and we’d be on the road alone!

On that first trip south from British Columbia in Western Canada to Southern California, we faced rain, rain, rain, wind and FOG all the way. That was the year El Nino generated storm after storm.

Tired out most nights we fell into bed by 9.00p.m. and snored a harmonious crescendo with Mini, our cocker spaniel. We were happy though, regardless of wind and weather; we were on our way to Mexico!

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The Author at Playa Amore

We fell in love with Mexico and its wonderful people. Mexicans are so friendly and helpful, neverfailing to support two Canadian senior adventurers on the road to Paradise, (i.e., Lake Chapala’s temperate climate,) where we met Deep, much to his surprise!

We had such a wonderful time on that first trip that we eagerly made plans to return. Now, here we were on our second trip. On the way down we stopped to camp at Dana Point, a State Park south of Los Angeles. It was here that strange things started to happen.

In the gathering dusk, as we pulled in, a FULL sign stared at us bleakly. SIGH! The attendant had one scruffy site left. Were we interested? Tired and wanting to settle we said, fine! A small scruffy site it certainly was and noisy too for we were facing a large group celebrating a family gathering.

To our surprise several people came over apologizing for all the activity, offering to switch us with their other site used just for extra parking. So Dorothy and I camped over in number 42, a lovely site right by the ocean! I did not know it then, but that was the start of this book as many surprising things continually happened.

Later that evening we drove into town to find a restaurant, ate dinner and returned to the new site. What was that on the picnic table, illuminated by our van lights? On examination we found two plates and a bowl-two complete turkey dinners! It was the American Thanksgiving! What a wonderful welcome God had provided.

When the title BEYOND COINCIDENCE was suggested for this book my heart immediately responded to the truth this theme would explore.

Now as I write, I must admit that God’s activity in my life is not always immediately noticeable. It is only as I look back that the abundant connections leading to so many amazing blessings become apparent. When God acts it can seem so very normal at the time. It’s only later….

So what was happening? A site was switched and a meal was prepared by whom? God? The timing was right! The directions were right on, and even when we were lost someone met us.

Someone was in the right place at the right time, brought there by a divine timetable! Awesome!

A site was switched and a meal was prepared by whom? God? The timing was right! The directions were right on, and even when we were lost someone met us.

Yes, someone was in the right place at the right time, brought there