Tijuana-Not Fun.

Ok so I drove to tijuana-MEXICO yesterday. Yes i left the country for a few hours. Let me explain before you scream " WHAT!!!!"

I came out of the shower yesterday morning with the intent of getting ready for church. My friend Elizabeth was downstairs waiting for me. I get dressed, come down and ask if she is alright. She is in a different stake than me. So she tells me this crazy story about a Mexican employee of her uncle that lives in utah. She had a baby(super darling, named Cathy) and the baby was going to be baptized in a little village in Mexico where her family lives. Rosa, the mommy, had an expired visa and could not leave the USA. that is awesome-not! if you live our friggin country you better get yourself legal! So Uncle Mike says " hey, i will take baby cathy to mexico for you and hand her off. So passports were ordered and hers came but his didn't. So he couldn't fly into Tijuana as planned. So I say Ok and get in the car. We race down to LAX to pick up the baby and uncle mike. Before I leave Jeremy tells me not to go crossing the border. I had no idea what to expect when i got down there or where to park and take a cab or what. So we are driving and I see passing me by a sign that says " last exit before entering mexico." We waved to it, already stuck in line to cross out of the Red, White, and Blue and into unknown, terrifying territory. Once you are in the lanes you can't get out. You can't back up...nothing. So I am starting to giggle nervously, hands shaking, rubbing my face, saying " oh my gosh oh my gosh what now!!" We had to find an airport since Tia Julia couldn't cross the border to meet us. Either way we were stuck going into Mexico. Of course we had no idea where anything was and they don't follow any traffic rules. Apparently you are suppose to get insurance on your car since anything can happen. I did not know this and I was innocently driving through round abouts hoping i wouldn't get hit. After much praying and reading the map and signs we made it to the airport. Yes there were Federali and machine guns and regular people at the airport. We of course had to get out and go potty, which was surprising super clean. no chickens or livestock in the airport. so we had to circle a million times until all was settled and then we had to get back in line to cross back to the USofA. I was terrified at this point. We use all our Jesus points yesterday just trying to get home. The line moved pretty fast and only took about 30 minutes but the vendors were insane just all up in your face selling food and crappy toys or souvenirs. I was the only one with a passport. Did you know you need a passport now? And it was expired. I was hoping that we would not get stopped and locked up in jail. So we get to the station and she checks our papers. She sees mine and doesn't care that it was expired but my friend and her uncle had to have explainations about who they were, who was getting divorced what was the maiden name, what was the nature of our business.......etc. The story was crazy but i did the explaining about the baptism and she was ok with that. I guess that is common. so we safely passed through to the great land of America waiting on the other side of the road. wow that was a long story but the anxiety was so high I could slice the air with a knife. I was a nervous wreck and I almost cried. but I held myself together pretty good and I can safely say that I will never do that again. we did get a warning that we could not come back to Mexico without passports. I wanted say that I would never be coming back to Mexico ever. I had ever worst case scenerio running through my mind even though the car never park and we were always moving with the doors locked. Jeremy was shocked that I disobeyed him but it was the only way to get this baby safely to her family. Now I look like a baby Mule, trafficking baby slaves across the border. Well I am done doing that kind of service. I couldn't wait to see my girls and jeremy again. Well I feel safe and sound and it feels like it happened a lifetime ago instead of yesterday.