After a large breakfast at 6:45 a.m. cooked by the Mission Adventures (MA) staff, the First Baptist Church piled into the van and mini-bus that they drove from Missouri and started the 11 hour drive from Colorado Springs to El Paso, TX. I left with another MA leader at 2 p.m. that day after waiting for a passport to arrive in the mail and for the group's permits to get notarized. Unfortunately, our Jeep's transmission began to leak near Las Vegas, New Mexico, and we did not get to El Paso until the following day when other staff picked us up, leaving the Jeep in Albuquerque to get fixed.

The Missouri group also had some car troubles on the way down. Their green mini-bus broke down in New Mexico as well. While Martin, the youth leader, looked for the part he needed to fix the mini-bus, the rest of the group rested in a nearby church. The people at the church were very hospitable to the stranded youth group, baking cookies for them while they waited.

Martin could not find a the part he needed, but he found a way to keep the bus moving, so the group continued to drive the rest of the way to El Paso. At around 2 a.m., they arrived at their hotel in El Paso, and rested until lunch. They then crossed the border and unloaded into a single, large room where they would be staying in Jua'rez. The pink-tiled room sits above a corner store whose owners would cook Mexican breakfasts and dinners for the group and sandwiches for their lunches.

Saturday afternoon, the group went to a family-oriented carnival in Jua'rez and did their dramas, then prayer-walked around the downtown area before spending their first night in Mexico.