A flat tire at night in Tijuana!

Blowtorch: $23

Help from two guys walking by in Tijuana: $5

Help from the security guards at the rest area: $40

Help from Helio and Ricardo the next day when your car is still there: Priceless

What a night and day. Erin and I set out on a normal trip to the US for groceries for the month of February and some banking/postal errands. But what was going to be a quick trip from 1pm to 6pm, turned into an adventure.
As we returned to Mexico, we experienced some construction. It was dark and the exit was difficult to find. Erin pointed up ahead at the exit and I responded to her point and took an exit too early. Actually, it wasn't an exit. Just construction. We tried to enter back onto the road and it proved to be challenging. No gaps. Finally a car let us back on the road and so I slammed on the gas and apparently hit something. It gashed the side of our tire and we could hear it blowing out air. Not good.
We stopped and I quickly started working on the spare. I got out the tool (and by tool, I mean a little stupid piece of junk that Jeep puts in the back of the car) and worked on taking off the bits. I got 4 of the 5 bits off when the "tool" bent and stripped and did everything but work.
Two guys walking by offered to help and they went to work and couldn't get it either. They tried to help but it didn't. We flagged down a car and a guy with his wife and a bunch of kids in the back, stopped and pulled out a bunch of real tools for changing tires. But by then, it was no use. They tried to knock it off and this only made it worse as well.
They suggested that we drive the car to the rest area, which was only a quarter mile ahead. It is well-known in Mexico that if you leave your car on the road, it will probably not make it to the next morning. Usually gutted or stolen. So we drove on the flat tire.
We asked two security guards for help. And in their bullet proof vests filled with shotgun shells for their weapon, they got down on their hands and knees and went to work with whatever "tools" they could find. This consisted of a lead pipe, a screwdriver, and a bunch of other random pieces of metal.
They worked and worked and worked. But nothing was getting better. Erin and I really believed we were making progress. We didn't want to call anyone and make them drive up to us, especially since we didn't really want to use our US cell phone. We don't have a Mexico plan so we know that using it is REALLY expensive. So we waited. Hoping that it would be fixed.
At 8pm, Erin was ready to call and quit. But we only had two numbers for people in La Mision. So I suggested we work a little bit longer. And as we swung lead pipes at our innocent hands, we really wanted it to come off.
After a while, I could see that this wasn't going to work. I was ready to call someone. But now it was 10pm. We called our friends, Brendan and Sarah. They were awake and thought I was playing a practical joke on them. But he quickly realized that I was not joking. (she didn't) He grabbed some tools and jumped in the car and headed to rescue us. I was freezing at tired and hungry at this point, so we waited in the car until he arrived. The security guards told us we could leave our car by their shack for the night.
Brendan arrived at 11:10pm. He brought with him a power drill and whatever tools he had. We worked on it more with the security guards and with the drill not lasting long and the hammer only a little bit better than a lead pipe, we weren't getting anywhere. At 12:30am, we decided to quit and work on it in the morning.
We loaded up our refridgerated goods, paid the security guards each a $20, and prayed that our car would remain there until the morning.
The next day, I woke up and talked to Helio and Pastor about our adventure. Pastor said we could use his blue van and Helio said he would go and fix it. We grabbed every tool we could think to help along with two drills and chisels and all my drill bits.
Ricardo joined us. He is a 19 year old guy that lives with us here at the church. He grew up at the Door of Faith orphanage.
We drove the long trip to Tijuana. We started working on the tire which was much easier in the daylight, with better tools, and with Helio. But it was messed up. We started pounding away at it, but it was not working again. We decided we needed a blowtorch. Helio and I went to a hardware store close by (luckily Helio knew Playas de Tijuana really well since he works

the elections there). We continued to use the torch and the drills (we went through 3 battery charges) and at 5pm, Helio muscled off the tire.

We replaced the tire with the spare and I drove it back to the church.
All in all, it was a great adventure. We prayed and prayed that God wo

uld help us and take off the tire. But instead of it going the way I wanted it, it was better. God asks us to praise Him in the good, the bad, and the inconvenient. We were blessed with nice people in Tijuana, a safe night, and the help from people who care about us. And to be honest, this really is one of the worst fears of us in La Mision. And it was no problem. If God is with us, who can be against us? I got home at 6:30pm and Erin was there all stressed for me. But I was filled with joy, because of this adventure that we got through.

And even though we didn't have water for a shower (it has been out since Sunday morning and is supposed to be out for a week more), I get so excited that life is happening.

Our motto this year has been, "Turn off the TV and started living our own adventures!" Considering we have lived through a flood, a power outage, a water crisis, and now a flat tire at night in Tijuana, so far, we couldn't be more happy that God has put us where we are at this time in our lives!