Another delay & A harrowing drive

We were making great time, sure to make our destination near Veracruz.. UNTIL Grady noticed that our trailer was making a loud clanging noise. It turned out that the main bolt on one of our leaf springs had broken. The horrible roads in Mexico had caused so much damage that we had no option but to get it fixed.. on a late Saturday afternoon..? Once again, the Lord provided in such an amazing way! 1 mile from where we first figured out the issue was a fabricator/welder/mechanic that was open 24 hrs/7 days a week.

                                       

    They got right to work, removing the tire and the damaged leaf spring..

                          
                              
They went to work pounding out the leaf spring and reshaping the main spring while they sent a worker off to purchase a new bolt. The bolt that came back was a bit larger than the original one- no problem though.. they just heated the metal with a torch and pounded out a larger hole with an awl.

                           
 The shop had a dug out garage/shop  basement area where vehicles could drive up onto so that they could work on the underside of the cars.. kinda like a Jiffy Lube.. The saying 'necessity is the mother of all invention' came to mind. Reflecting on it later we were all marveling at how well these men knew their trade. Zero technology, fancy tools or google searches! :-) We were so grateful our children got to watch the whole process.
                         

 

After they had bored out a new bolt hole they fabricated 2 brackets to hold the leaf assembly together

                                      
                                             

A vendor stopped by-selling corn slathered in mayonnaise, homemade chili sauce and topped with quesa cheese. It was delicious!

 

We all enjoyed making new friends and practice our Spanish. Stephanie was amazing at translating and communicating. She made friends with one of the mechanics young wife. She was able to connect really well with her and speak to her a little about the Lord. The Kings came prepared and have a lot of Spanish tracts to hand out. We pray that the seeds Stephanie was able to plant will grow in that young woman's heart

 

Joshua and Jonna were able to enjoy a yummy coconut they found. The mama of the house helped them crack it. 

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The repair took over 2 hours. Unfortunately that really set us back. We had a chance to stop for the  night at around 10:30 pm but we decided against it because Orlando didnt know for sure if the area was safe or not. We opted for his recommended hotel but that meant driving until 11:30 pm on horrible,dark and windy mountain roads- having a few near collisions and some extremely tense moments. At one point,on a particularly deserted stretch of the drive a blacked out suburban got between Jeremy and us . We were behind and weren't sure if we were going to be stopped and robbed but thankfully the suburban only stayed there a few minutes and then passed. Whew! Suffice it to say, we were extremely relieved when we  saw large spotlight-type flashlights motioning us in to a huge sandy parking lot by a small, dimly lit hotel. Orlando had apparently alerted them of our arrival. The owners were so kind- even making carne asada  tacos for 16 at 12:30 am!!

We thank the Lord for his provision & protection!