Nightmares of Border Crossings

Border towns are unique in their Mexican side. A car can pass, unchecked, into a Mexican town. However, only one road leads into Mexico, and at 21 kilometers outside the city, another border sits ... ingeniously called the "21K Mark." Nogales is our border town that we pass through. We have heard of missionaries being detained at the border, but we had never experienced it...until now. On Tuesday night, we packed our belongings in Tucson, and drive to the border, arriving on the Mexican side of Nogales just before 9:00pm. We applied for our personal visas at the 21K Mark without a cinch, laughing and joking with the patrol officer over our terror stories of working in the states and the obstacles we encountered.

We headed on to make copies of our visas, passports, driving licences, and vehicle registrations. Again, a cinch. The whole process took less than thirty minutes.ç

Then, we reached the vehicle visa application. This was time-consuming, but seemed to go well. There were no lines, and we were one of three people applying at such a late hour. It came time to pay for the vehicle visas, and Joshua handed them the credit card. The man processed the new van...and then handed the card back to Josh. "And for you, sir?" he asked with an outstretch hand. Josh gave me a funny look, then handed the man our card again. The man pushed it back under the window. "That is the name of a woman, sir," he stated, pointing to my name under the "Webb of Ministry" name. Josh smiled, and looked at me. "It's just my wife." The man didn't smile back. "Please give me a credit card with your name on it, sir."

We froze. We had never come to Mexico with two cars before. This was a new experience, and we had forgotten that in the last visas, we had to put the truck in my name, because the card was in my name. Dumbfounded, we stood speechless. "If you don't have a card, sir, then I can't let you pass. You can ride with her in her van, but your truck cannot go through this gate."

We covered every option possible, from paying with cash, to entering through another city. The answer was the same. The truck and trailor couldn't pass.

Finally, a man walked into the office, and hearing the desperate conversation, said, "Why not offer them a Sonora-only pass?" It was the perfect solution! We would pass through the border, but would need to stop midway through the state of Sonora and purchase permit that would allow us to drive only in this state. Unfortunately, we won't be able to take the truck across state lines ... though the van can cross without any problems.

You may ask, "Why such a strict law about credit cards and cars passing through?" Well, Mexico has a tendency to attract the not-so-modest of criminals, and they are popular for taking a car down on a tourist visa and selling it. Since a tourist visa is $25, while the cost to import a car is $300-$400, it causes many to want to bypass the laws. By requiring a credit card, Mexico can actually put a hold on someone's credit card who doesn't bring the car back through the border in six months. It's a frustrating but smart solution.

We finally finished with that station, and returned to our cars to drive through the border. Being trustworthy and honest Americans, we went through the declaration line to pay our due taxes on the donations were were bringing, where a border patrol officer inspected our manifest. 've never had problems with border patrollers before, but this man was obviously new, and by-the-book. "Clothes and computers, mam, can't pass." Joshua and I, near tears now, begged for our passage. We were denied. "Go back to America," he said. "We don't accept used items in Mexico." This made Joshua angry. "Fine,"Joshua said, " they are not donations to help people. They are merchandise that we intend to sell for a low cost." The man looked haugtily at Joshua. "Then you will need a vendor visa. Can you show me your permit to vend clothing?"

Joshua and I returned to our separate cars. The man informed us of a cheap just outside the border. We passed it up, knowing that a hotel outide the border would be crawling with scavengers. Instead, we found a well-lit motel with a caged entrance and 24-hr patrol, and paid for the night. The Lord blessed us in this, for as we tried to pay with the card, the woman told us that she only accepted Cash. I reached into my wallet, dismayed, and slipped my hand over a few peso bills - the exact money needed to pay for the hotel!

We slept restlessly without a word. The next morning we drvoe shakily to the border. We knew we would either be blessed to cross in the non-declaration line, or be forced to give over our 22 boxes and 11 bags of clothing to a patrol officer. We drove into the inspection area...no one stopped us! We both received green lights, and immediately, put the pedal to the medal!

Praise the Lord, that we were able to get through the border without paying taxes ... a tremendous blessing ... and that through that all, he provided our needs!