STRANDED

(Sent 12 -1-16)

This week has been NUTS!!!!! NUTS!!!!!!

"Before" photo - Heading out on a wild adventure

This last Saturday, for p-day, the office team went out on a road trip in a little truck thing with a giant back compartment to store stuff. We were ready to go at 5 AM (with plans to make it back to Chihuahua around 3-4 PM). We were going through the whole trip we had planned -  to pick up stuff and take it to houses that need it. We headed out, bought brake fluid, and got the truck with a member who we paid to help us.




At around 6AM, we drove 40 minutes outside of Chihuahua to Meoqui and loaded up a bunch of mattresses, parts for beds, heaters, and other things that missionaries have extra in their houses. From there, we went to missionary houses in Delicias (A good 20 minutes further out of Chihuahua). Including, we went to my old house in Delicias (tears of joy). From there, we drove to Saucillo (about another 30 minutes out of Chihuahua). There, we had an entire house to load up, we ran out of space and plan to go back one day. But, we wanted to load up one last thing from Jimenez, a city about another 1 hour and 30 minutes from where we were. (There was an extra washing machine there that some missionary in Chihuahua needed). 

First breakdown

BUT, just before getting to the toll booth entering Jimenez, our trusty truck ran out of Gas. (Not gasoline, Natural Gas, that's what it runs on). So, we were stranded, not knowing what to do. We talked to the police and asked for help. We were thinking, and we remembered that we had a gas propane tank from one of the houses, we pulled it out, but didn't have the pieces to connect it up. The police officer told us that every once in a while a truck that does free service that the government sends out, passes around from time to time. AND RIGHT WHEN HE SAID THAT, that very truck passed by and gave us the needed piece.

We headed on our way with our little gas tank, that lasted us until the next gas station. We filled up.

And the battery wouldn't start. We all got out, and gave the baby a nice little push and got the energy going and she started right back up. THEN! We went to Jimenez and got our washing machine. Then, we got some food, pushed the truck to start 'er up, and started off on our 3 hour trip back.

Infamous Toll Booth

BUT.... Passing by the SAME toll booth, but on the other side, the car stopped. We pushed it to the side of the road, and started doing our classic push techniques to get it started. But nothing worked.

We tried and tried and tried. But nothing. A police officer came over with his truck and gave us a nice jump. But it just wouldn't start. We took a look at the engine, and found that a certain band that connected the engine with a rotating thing, had broken off and now wasn't there.

Elder Gardner, who worked in Jimenez before, called up a member and asked for help in buying a new band, we had to wait 15 minutes for him to come. He came, and the band that he bought was too big. He left, 15 minutes, and came back, The next band was smaller, but still too big. (We even got the type that it should have been, but, nothing.) 30 minutes, he came back with 2 bands. A small one and a medium one. Measured out and everything, it should have been the one. But, it just wouldn't fit. It had to fit over a little ring to go onto the piece where it needed to be. And it wouldn't flex over the ring. (at this point, it was about 9:30pm, and the shop had closed.)

SO! Our handy-dandy member friends and we started to take off a certain piece of the truck to get the band on and put it back. We finally got it off, put the band on, and the piece wouldn't go back into place. We ran out of options (I must say that we had been praying this whole time.) We called up President and told him our situation. (He had given us permission to head out on our adventure, and to do it in street clothes, so no one had church clothes on.)


Our plan then became that we would call up a tow truck, put our truck in front of the church house in Jimenez, and take an Omnibus (like a fancy bus that travels to far places like Chihuahua) at 12:30 to our house, so that we could put on church clothes and go to church the next day. And then, the member from Jimenez would call a mechanic for Monday, and we could go get it on Tuesday.

But, one of the policemen came over and said that he has a brother, or a cousin, I don't remember, who was a mechanic. So, the cop called him up and convinced him to drive from the other side of the city of Jimenez to help us out. The tow truck was going to be really expensive, and the mechanic said that if he couldn't get it fixed up, that he would drag the truck behind his car for 600 pesos, (instead of 1300 for the tow truck) (On this trip, we all basically ran out of the cash that we had. Like literally, we ran out of cash with no way of taking out money or using cards). We were like, "ok, if it works then, boom, we are on our way. If not, it comes out cheaper anyways. So, we waited, the mechanic came, fixed up the truck PERFECTLY like a master. And we headed out at around 12AM towards Chihuahua.

Sleeping spot for the night

I went in the back with Elder Navarrete and all the stuff that we had, I made myself a bed with the blankets that we took on top of the 2 washing machines that we had. And Elder Navarrete laid down on the only open space left on the floor (which was a little L shape square). And we headed out. We stopped in Camargo (about 2 hours aways from Chihuahua) because we were worried about how much gas we had, and we didn't want to run out in the middle of nowhere. (You can't see how much gas is left on the meter in that truck.) All the gas stations were closed at 1:30 am, who knows why. So we slept it out in a truck in Camargo, Elder Navarrete and me in the back, Brother Rodriguez and Elder Bustos in the front part of the truck, and Elder Gardner wanted to sleep outside in the grass that was there.

And yeah, at around 6:20, the gas place opened up, we filled up. and headed out. We actually went a bit slower on the way back due to the weight and the fact that we were worried, and it was early. We made it to the zone leader's house at around 9:30 am. (the night before, we had asked them to buy us food to eat for when we had planned to get back at 3AM in Omnibus). But that plan didn't work out, so we went to their house and ate old rice balls at 9:30AM. From there, we made plans to go to another church to take the sacrament, because our services had started at 9. Then we made it to the house and changed. WHAT A STORY TO BE TOLD!!!

That is why I was really unable to write Saturday, and then, because of that day, and the fact that we never took all the stuff that we had to the houses that needed them. The work load has been incredible. SO much stuff to do all day every day. I'm sorry I didn't write. And I will write again on Sunday! (Most likely)

Elder Greenwood :)

P.S. The office crew had Thanksgiving dinner on Tuesday. We prepared it for the missionaries who were leaving for home the next day.