Clinton and I made the haul back to Puerto Barrios/Livingston yesterday to find our friend Justine.
We were up and waiting outside for our shuttle at 3:45 am yesterday morning and were in the van and on our way by 4:25. We made it to Guatemala City, and once again got there just before the bus to Puerto Barrios was scheduled to leave, so no waiting in the bus station at 5:30 in the morning.
GOD HOOKUP #1!
We arrived in Puerto Barrios at like 11 or 11:30 am I think, safe and sound. We found our way to the boat dock soon after and found out that we missed the slow, but cheap boat to Livingston by like a half hour. STINK! We were pretty sure that it would be back at 1, so we went to the Pollo Campero to eat and kill some time.
And just another little tidbit…I was wiped out of cash even before we left. I used what I had left to help buy our tickets out there, and to buy some team food while the other guys were at the lake. And I forgot to talk to Brienna that night about getting reimbursed w/ team money. So I had like Q37 I think. like $5. and Q20 of that was from Ginnie to put towards food for Justine, so thus kind of untouchable. Clinton had like Q200 cash. So…kind of a tight budget for a trip with a lot of transportation requirements.
Anyway, back at the boat dock, the slow/cheap boat wasn’t coming back until 5, so we had to hop on a smaller, faster, but more expensive, boat for Livingston. And it was quite windy and thus choppy waters. (Reminded me of my days of being a salmon fisheman:) So that boat was Q60. It was actually a fun little ride, and got us there an hour quicker than the slow boat woulda. And that saved time acted as
GOD HOOKUP #2!
We arrived in Livingston, and headed straight for Justine’s little house on the opposite beach. We prayed on our way (we prayed a few times before this too) that God orchestrate the events of the day and that he would show us:
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Where Justine was. -
That we would find Pastor Salvador. (one of the pastors that went with us to give her the bible that one day. he’s the one that really took charge of the situation and had lots of compassion, and that God intentionally put in our path that day. That was in the past, but was definately worthy of a
GOD HOOKUP! -
That
we would find Polo Martinez. An american educated, but a native Livingston guy (who was supposedly prominent and well known and that ran a feeding center and stuff) that Josh & Clinton had originally met. We wanted to find him to tell him about Justine and get him involved and to establish contact with him again because he knows English and would hopefully act as our future contact there with getting any future updates.
Justine wasn’t home. I was actually glad about this because it likely meant she was in a hospital somewhere. We found Pastor Salvador,
GOD HOOKUP #3, and talked to him a little bit. And through our broken spanish and his no english, we established that she was indeed in a hospital in Puerto Barrios.
Pastor Salvador and I
GOD HOOKUP #4…that we were even able to understand enough of him to understand where she was! Seriously!
GOD HOOKUP #5…
SHE’S IN A HOSPITAL! HUGE PRAISE DUDE!!!!!!!!!!!!
We walked around the garifuna section of town for at least an hour looking for Polo and asking people if they knew him. He’s not as prominent or well-known as he thinks he is: no one seemed to know him and we never found him. So that was kind of the first sucky thing that happened. Oh well.
We decided to head back to Puerto Barrios, since she was apparently over there and was our main objective for the trip. On our way back to the boat dock, we decided to try an ATM to get some cash. We had tried one in PB, but didn’t get anything out of it. And let me just point out that not one ATM has worked for me in this country. I’ve tried probably at least a dozen, and none work for me. So sometime in the morning I prayed that God would make an ATM work for me. So, we tried this one in Livingston, and as it was processing I prayed one more time that God would give me some ATM money for once. AND bam dude….it spit me out some cash! Totally made my day!!!
GOD HOOKUP #6!
(for an ATM finally working, and for giving us both some cash for our way back home)
(finding out Justine was in a hospital probably shoulda made my day too…but to be honest, i was more happy about the ATM finally working.
We got to the boat dock at like 3:30 or 4 I think, and a guy told us all the boats to PB were done for the day. WHAT!?
We went to a ticket office thing and got tickets for another fast/more expensive boat. (the cheap boat was indeed done for the day) No more boats to PB….shoot!
We got back to PB…took a taxi to the hospital (it was few miles away), and it turns out the hospital has a big plaque out front with a Japan flag on it, and is apparently funded by the Japanese Government. That was kind of a cool little sign thingy for me.
I’m writing a novel here, so i’m gonna write a little more to the point…but we asked at the hospital for a while to not much avail. A receptionist/information guy had a Justine on his list, and through some translation phone calls to our friend Nancy in Antigua, he agreed to leave his little office thing and walk us into the hospital and took us in room after room to see if any of them was Justine.
GOD HOOKUP #7,
that this guy was SO HELPFUL and accomodating to us!
We never found her though.
We sat there in front of the hospital for probably 15 minutes in silence. We were a exhausted and disappointed. We prayed and waited for God to tell us what to do. We tried calling Salvador again. And another English speaking friend in PB…but got nothing.
We ate at McDonald’s (because it’s cheap and takes VISA) and finally were able to get a hold of Salvador. And through Nancy again, we learned that that hospital will hold people for 20 days unless the patient needs more help than they can give. If that’s the case, they send them to Guatemala City.
We decided there wasn’t much else we could do…and went and bought bus tickets back to GC.
We waited in the bus station for 6 and a half hours until the next bus @ 1am. The mosquitoes sucked in there.
We made it back safely to Antigua a little before 7 this morning.
GOD HOOKUP #8…the taxi we took from GC to Antigua, our driver made a random/suspicious call on the pay phone before we left, and we were suspicious that he was calling a buddy to set-up a robbery on the way. But all was well.
All together…it was a mere 26/27 hours trip.
If you feel led…please continue to pray for Justine from time to time. Who knows where exactly she is and how she is doing. Pray that she is still getting medical attention and that God will continue to put Godly people in her path to walk with her.
Thank you Clinton for going with me and having cash! 🙂 and Thank you Nancy for your translation that was a huge help!!!!
From what I could see at her house when we first got there and looked around for her…the Bible we gave her wasn’t there. So praise God that she probably has it with her as possibly her only possession…
PRAISE GOD INFINITELY FOR THAT!
