After returning from our trip to Reynosa, our team had a chance to talk about our experiences at our church, Journey Fellowship, both at the Women’s Monthly Gathering on a Tuesday night and during both of our services on Sunday morning.

For the first blog in this series, visit Reynosa, Mexico: An Introduction.

Monica is one of the leaders of seventy girls in the American Heritage Girls Troop that meets at Journey Fellowship. Their twenty middle school girls were working on a badge that required sewing so they sewed fourteen dresses for little girls. Monica packed the dresses and took them down to Reynosa. On the second day of our trip, some of the women walked from our team around the community, met the neighbors, and asked if they wanted a dress for their daughters. The girls were shown the dresses in the their size and allowed to choose a one. We had five dresses left at the end of our walk and Monica didn’t want to take any home—she really wanted to bless more girls. We came upon a house and a beautiful little girl came out and we gave her a dress. The mother asked Sarah about a specific size and we handed her a dress. Then another little girl came out of the house and the mother asked if we had her size. We did, and we gave the little girl a dress. And another little girl—they just kept pouring out of the house—and we gave her dress. We had just one dress left, so we took it back to the build site. Sarah and Rolando went down to the little shop in the Colonia and met a man and his daughter and brought them back. She was was the perfect size for the very last dress.

Throughout our remaining days, we saw so many smiling little girls running around the community in their bright, colorful, new dresses.

Joe and Denis Harding come to New Braunfels from Minnesota every winter to get away from the cold. Last year they found out about Strategic Alliance and wanted to go, but then some things happened that caused concerns about safety and their daughter encouraged them not to. The following year they tried again and joined up with our team from Journey Fellowship. As a retired man, many might think that Joe is just going to take it easy. But as he read the Bible and he noticed Caleb who didn’t take it easy—he kept going. Caleb was eighty, working hard, and serving the Lord. Joe, at seventy-one, decided was not too old and that God still wanted to use him. But he wondered how God would use him because he didn’t have any construction skills. But that didn’t matter to God. Joe grew up in a shoe repair shop and at eleven years old started shining shoes. In Reynosa, God connected him with forty-year-old Jorge who lived in the dump and shined shoes in the city plaza. During their conversation, Joe prayed with Jorge. The next day Jorge came back wanting some more of that prayer and Joe prayed with him again. Joe realized that God is as concerned about each one of us as much as he is about others. When God calls us, when we hear his voice, we need to listen.

Joe spent a lot of time across the street at the Colonia church because he likes to clean windows . There were a large number of small windows in that little church and he cleaned every one of them inside and out. Even when little faces and fingers scrunched up against the glass to peek inside, Joe cleaned the windows. As the different teams built houses, Joe made sure that that the church was taken care of. When you listen, and when you decide to serve, God will use what you have. It’s beautiful to watch God use all the different abilities that we all bring.

Todd Clayton recounted the story of when we we thought we were running out of paint. We only had so much and went through five gallons of yellow. We were getting low and Todd was quite worried. He informed Cristiana from Strategic Alliance, wanting to know how we get more paint. “You don’t, she said. Todd was ready to go to Home Depot (there is one in Reynosa). Christiana said we should have been diluting the paint with water from the start, to stretch it. She instructed us to start diluting it. We did, but there wasn’t much paint left to stretch. Todd decided that there was something magic (or maybe miraculous) in that bucket because just about the time we poured what we thought was the very last of it out, we’d come back to the bucket and—you guessed it—there was just enough to pour some more. That probably happened three or four times. We thought we were dead out of paint, but God gave us just enough. It was was like watching the multiplication of loaves and the fishes in real time. God does that. When we have a fear, he will often answer with peace and provision, giving exactly what we need in the circumstances we’re in. What a faith builder to be able to watch that happen in real time.

Elizabeth, the comic relief of our group, added to the paint story. We put a paintbrush in her hand on the first day and she painted, painted, and painted some more. She said, “they kept bringing us more paint, more paint and we’re like, ‘oh we’re not done yet.’ I kept hearing people say, ‘we’re almost out of paint, we’re almost out of paint’ and I was like,’ oh good, I’ll stop’ and and all of a sudden they had more paint and I was like, ‘oh man.’ So we kept painting and painting and and it was amazing.

For Elizabeth, the trip was such a blessing because she had gone on a mission trip when she was in her young teens and now in her fifties, she thought she was too old to go (really? Fifties? I’m thinking that’s NOT old at all). She was willing and God used her. She’s thankful for those who gave so she could go and be able to make a difference in people’s lives. She’s hooked and plans to go again, God willing. She had a bad knee and worried that she might fall—the rough roads in the Colonia are no joke—but everybody watched over her. She painted, she walked about Colonia talking to the neighbors, she learned how to use power tools, and she filled hundreds of bags with food at fiesta. And she counts it all joy.

Sara and Rolando met a local storeowner when they walked down the rocky road to purchase drinks and chips at the “tiendita”—a very Mexican cultural thing to do, a way to connect with the community. Angel Miguel’s store was about eight houses down from the house we were building. Angel told of his gratitude that Strategic Allegiance had built him a house many years prior. His store, a large cinder block building—bigger than the house that had been built for him—serves as the local store for the community, as well as his family’s current home. The store stood in sharp contrast to another neighbor’s home. Sara and Rolando met Manuel while he kept warm beside a fire on the side of the road on a chilly morning. He was also grateful for the house Strategic Alliance had built for him years ago. He, like many of the locals, works at the nearby garbage dump, salvaging what he can salvage, in order to sell or use for his family. His house was now in disrepair and he respectfully welcomed any further help that he could receive.

During one of their daily trips to the store, Rolando mentioned his observation to Angel, that he and many others in the community received a gift, a house. But unlike some in the village, Angel used his as a springboard to grow a business and provide for his family. Other recipients seem to struggle in the same way they did when they first received the gift. Rolando boldly asked the storeowner an important question. “What is the difference?” Angel asked Rolando a question. “Have you read the Bible story of the talents?” Rolando knew the story of Jesus’ parable in Matthew 25:14-29 “It’s the same way here,” Angel told him. “Some receive a gift and it completely changes their life. Others receive a gift and it does not change them as much.” He said that when the house was built for him he knew it was a blessing from God and it gave him a way to make his and his family’s life better. He embraced business opportunities and he valued work. He believed when others doubted. His faith in the Lord brought him to where he is today. As our team drove back home, Sara marveled at how a makeshift group of twelve Christians could do so much for a few people in such little time. She left feeling blessed, knowing that the house we built and future homes that we hope to build will help some people get by for a time and give them a fighting chance in life. And it could also completely transform their lives!

Many of us on the team lacked construction skills, and Joe jokingly commented that he can measure forty times, cut, and still mess up. We wondered how we were going to be able to do what we’ve never done this before. God blessed us with with many skills. We had those, like Jeff—who raised his family coming to Reynosa— and those from Journey Fellowship like Jeff, Ian, and Cara who brought the knowledge we needed to build the house. When we entered into the job site not knowing what we were getting into, God started something beautiful, almost like a symphony orchestra, each one excitedly did our part, found somewhere to serve, tackled a task needing done. We built the house, and we made some friends along the way.

To see the full discussion of our stories at Journey Fellowship on February 4th, 2024, visit: Sending of Jesus.