The longest Car Ride
...and their children to assist us in our search. After thirty minutes, Connor was nowhere to be found in the maze. So we took the search outside the maze and into the streets of Mexico. We had twelve security guards searching every corner of the mall for Connor. The police and American Consulate became involved as well as several taxi drivers. For hours we ran through the mall, around the streets, and through parking lots. The police had called every hotel in Cancun. The search was all in vain. We were convinced that Connor would never leave the mall, so we concentrated our efforts inside the mall. But after looking for so long, we began to loose hope. We even started looking in the ocean and through the various pools and ponds of the mall. I will never forget the look on my brother Ryan’s face as he searched through the waters hoping not to find the unthinkable horror of our brother’s body. All of us had been assigned areas in which we would search. The office of the Mayan Adventure became a base station, where we would communicate with the police and report any progress on the search. People and police were coming and going, with everyone periodically returning in hopes of good news. At this point three hours had past since we first lost Connor. Panic had started to set in with everyone. I prayed to the Lord, “Please keep my brother safe, I love him so much.” Then a miracle call came into the Mayan Adventure from a hotel saying they found a child matching Connors description. But we had to be cautious, as it still was not confirmed that it was indeed Connor. Only a physical inspection would confirm our prayers and hope. However, everyone was ecstatic and hope was restored almost immediately upon hearing this news. The manager of the maze hurried us to his car to take us to the hotel where the child had been spotted. The driver stated that the hotel is about a mile and a half away from the mall. The driver then doubted that a five year old could have walked this far, by himself, in such a busy town, at night, in Mexico. My heart sank and tears began to flow, but only briefly as my faith in God filled my spirit and I refused to believe anything other than they had found Connor. It was the longest car ride of my life. When we arrived at the hotel, we noticed that this hotel looked almost exactly like the one in which we were staying. It was with the most profound blessedness that we found Connor sitting in the lobby eating dinner with the family that had saved his life. My family sobbed with joy and thanked the Lord for his mercy. The emotions in my heart were overwhelming as I wept with joy and thanked the Lord for keeping my brother safe. The family that found Connor told us that he left the mall and crossed a four-lane freeway amongst fast moving busses and taxis, walked one mile and a half in the dark and they found him alone looking very lost and confused. He was still carrying the brochure from the Mayan Adventure. The family took him to the front desk to inform security and ask for help. It was at this time that the hotel called the Mayan Adventure to give us the good news. When we arrived, Connor looked very confused and he seemed oblivious to what just happened. To me, Connor seemed ...