Stolen soles: Missionaries' donations confiscated

On Feb. 28, three local missionaries packed their van with 1,000 pairs of shoes they planned to give to needy residents of Guatemala City and hit the road. But the missionaries, their goods and their message never reached their destination.
Missionary Chester Hagans’ March 4 blog entry starts like this: “I should be in Guatemala City tonight with a family of missionaries unloading 1,000 pairs of new shoes given to me by ‘soles4souls’ for walking across Delaware, Maryland and Connecticut. But I am not. I am in Mission, Texas. The van I drove here in and 1,000 pairs of shoes were confiscated by the Mexican Government at the Brownsville/Matamoros International Bridge.”
The trouble began just after 19-year-old Hagans, his brother, R.C., and Harvest Evangelism mission director Blake Gilbreath crossed over the U.S.-Mexico border.
Chester and R.C. Hagans, 23, are the sons of Kim and the Rev. Rick Hagans, a local evangelist and founder and president of Harvest Evangelism, a local ministry that includes live-in programs His Place, Hosanna Home and Hope’s Inn, an emergency shelter. Harvest Evangelism works closely with Soles4Souls, an organization that receives donations from footwear companies and retailers, then facilitates the donation of those shoes to needy people all over the world.
That February afternoon, the Haganses and Gilbreath loaded their 2005 GMC passenger van with the footwear and left Opelika heading to the U.S.-Mexico border through Texas. But as they crossed the international border their trip took an unexpected detour.
“When we arrived at a checkpoint, we were informed that we needed certain paperwork,” Chester Hagans said.
So the group stopped to secure the proper paperwork. After paying for what they were told was all the necessary documentation declaring their cargo (shoes) and a decal for their vehicle, the group proceeded into Mexico.
“About two hours into Mexico, we were stopped at another checkpoint, and then were waved through by Mexican law enforcement to yet another checkpoint where the problems began. After about a half-hour wait at the checkpoint, we were told we had to leave all of our shoes at the checkpoint,” Chester Hagans said. “We knew about the
corruption in the Mexican
government and definitely didn’t want to leave the shoes. There was nothing we could do but wait and pray.”
Several hours later, a man Hagans describes as a “Federale” in his Web blog, pulled his vehicle into the path of their van, blocking it.
“He told us that we would stay there and he was going to take the van somewhere else,” Hagans said. “The Federale drove us and our van back to the border at Brownsville/Matamoros International Bridge.”
At that point, Hagans said, the group was detained until 2 a.m., then law enforcement told them to walk to a nearby motel and that they would “figure things out” in the morning.
“We ended up paying for two nights because we checked into the motel so late,” Hagans recalled.
Later that morning, Hagans said they were informed that they had to have a “witness” verify that law enforcement had actually returned their vehicle to them.
Hagans contacted a Mexican family friend to act as this witness that morning.
“That’s when we were informed that our van had been impounded and that we had to pay a $10,000 fine in U.S. currency that would increase each day that the fine went unpaid,” Hagans said. “We offered them all we had, but were turned down.”
Although Hagans said he and his brother don’t understand much Spanish — unlike Gilbreath who is fluent — what was going on was becoming clear in any language.
“Right before we left Mexico, I noticed that the banner ‘Soles4Souls’ gave us to hang up was in the van still, so I grabbed it and walked back in to the office that we were held in the night before and found someone to translate for me,” Hagans said. “I got him to tell the border guard that since he took all our shoes, the least he could do is put up the banner, because I promised the people that gave the shoes that the banner would be put up with the shoes.”
Although the trip didn’t go as planned, Hagans said the goal behind Harvest Evangelism’s ministry and Sole4Souls remains steadfast.
“They took our shoes, our van and at one point we didn’t even know how we’d get back home, but we always had our faith,” Hagans said.
His March 4 blog ends like this:
“We have contacted people in Washington DC, our International insurance, a Mexican lawyer and as of right now it looks like the Mexican Government confiscated my father’s ministry van and 1,000 pairs of shoes. They are just going go get away with it with no repercussions. If you know anyone who would be able to help us in any way please let me know. ... We were just trying to help people in Guatemala and some dirty cops saw what we had and just took it. That is not right, please help out if you can and if you can’t ask people you know if they could.”
Hagans is currently in Opelika with his brother, R.C., but will leave for an internship in Ireland later this week. Gilbreath has since returned to Mexico with the Rev. Rick Hagans on mission work.
For a link to Hagans’ blog, go to www.oanow.com.