Reynosa, Mexico – Day Three Connecting

Posted on February 27, 2024 by Jill English Johnston

Day Three, December 28, Thursday

We made much progress on day two. Four walls are standing and most of the wood has been painted. We’ve met the family and we’ve been encouraged to broaden our vision to not only build a home in the community, but to build relationships with the community.

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

I have an amazing time doing what I don’t want to do, or have the energy to do. I walk the roads of Colonia with Sara, Rolando, Elizabeth, and Denise as they—all knowing Spanish—talk to the neighbors. We see their faces, we learn their names, we hear their stories. Sara graciously translates for me. Every encounter slowly awakens my spirit. We pause at the entrance of a Baptist mission. A group of people sitting in the courtyard invite us in.

The mission houses fifteen migrants from different places, backgrounds, different histories. They generously offer us coffee and sweet cake, then show us around. They sleep on the pews of the church and each contribute to the day to day chores. Some are just passing through, some have been there a little longer. Each have plans, hopes, dreams.

We stand in a circle together holding hands in the courtyard, and as I listen to the prayers in Spanish, the peace of Jesus settles over me, a peace that has been eluding me throughout the holidays. Since September, truth be told. Somehow, in hands held with these strangers, God’s Spirit connects us and creates holy ground in that place.

I also walk around the community with Monica, Sara, and Denise as Monica hands out the dresses her sixth grade American Heritage Girls made for the little girls in the community. The dresses are bright and cute and the girls excitedly receive them.

Meanwhile, the rest of the team finish exterior walls, build the loft, install rafters, fabricate and install windows, and add trim. After the front door is installed a young artist from another group paints pink flowers on a blue background (as decided by Pilar who overrules the alien that Oscar wants).

Raquel, one of the neighbors we met on our walk, stops by with her tamales. Strategic Alliance built her home years ago and now she makes her living selling tamales and she always blesses the teams when they come. All work stops as we all feast.

By the end of the day, we have the makings of a house as well as new friends in the community. On the way back to the hotel, we stop for a quick trip into Soriana, the local superstore in Reynosa. We purchase all kinds of yummy goodies, including some candy for the neighborhood kids.

That evening—unlike last night when I didn’t want to hear the stories of those we’re with—the stories now bring me joy. We’re introduced to Jaimie Garcia, a major league baseball player from Reynosa. Every Christmas he comes back to his hometown and hosts a fiesta for the communities around the dump.

An answer to the question you might have. What makes a difference in coming to the border? To serve in a community like Colonia? From my experience today, and seeing families in the community excitedly finding those who have come again, those who may be sponsoring the children or built a house for them in previous trips, that’s what makes a difference. They’re greeted with squeals of delight, huge hugs, and joy. The difference is in the connections with people, seeing their faces, learning their names, making new friends, hearing their stories. Recognizing them as amazing image bearers of our God.

Do I hear the clicking of things moving into place, the shifting of understandings, paradigms, and convictions? Am I getting a glimpse of what Jesus expects of us? A peek into what it means to love like he loves? And a return to serving the least of these again.

Will you pray as I have been? “Open the eyes of your servant, Lord, that I might see. Speak, Lord for I am listening.” If you do, no telling where it might take you. But don’t worry. It will be sweeter, greater, and more full than you can even know. 

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.
Ephesians 3:18

Me? I want to learn Spanish. I want to talk to the women. To pray with them. To listen to them.To hear their stories first hand.

Grace & Peace

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Reynosa, Mexico – Day Two Getting Started

Posted on February 20, 2024 by Jill English Johnston

Day Two, December 27, Wednesday

We, along with our team from Journey Fellowship are with Strategic Alliance in Reynosa, Mexico. After a a few delays at a crowded mall parking lot stop and at the border crossing, we made it to the El Camino Hotel. I’m tired, but after a good night’s sleep, I feel better and grateful for the mission ahead. Adding to my anticipation is the realization that many of the 213 on our team are multiple, even generational, returnees. They come, and continue to come with their kids and grandkids, building relationships with the community of Colonia. And now, I, too, get to take part in doing the thing God created us to do, the thing that God has been forming in my heart.

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

While the roads in the city of Reynosa are fairly decent, with stoplights, orderly lanes and traffic flow, Colonia’s are not. Their streets are not maintained by the city and they consist of road base made from construction site debris. Navigating the huge holes and large random chunks of concrete make driving interesting to say the least, as well as a very jarring ride. Thankfully, for this trip, the recent weather has been beautiful, so mud is not an issue.

Colonia does not have access to public utilities and the homes are not built with installed wiring or plumbing. The people manage, however, to find ways to access electricity and I’m amazed at the crazy clusters of electrical wires that bring power into the community.

We show up to the job site, a small lot with an older, abandoned, and neglected Strategic Alliance house in the back corner. The “fence” around the property is a hodgepodge of plywood, metal, plastic, and whatever other materials could be found. A new concrete foundation has been poured and is stacked with piles of lumber, plywood, and metal that funding from our church purchased. Somehow, we’ll turn this pile into a home.

In the other corner of the lot stands a crudely constructed shack that I assume is the outhouse. Inside, it has the round end of a cable spool covering a pit in the ground. Thankfully, we have access to the church bathrooms across the street. Unfortunately, Americans forget to NOT flush toilet paper and we have a continual problem of stopping up the toilets.

The construction crew gets to work and makes a quick inventory of all the supplies. The painting crew gets handed three five gallon paint buckets—greige, yellow, and purple. We’re told to paint every piece of wood, starting with the various sized and lengths of boards. We paint, paint, and paint some more.

Our family, Oscar, Pilar, and baby Christian stop by.and everyone pauses to meet them. Oscar pitches in and and helps paint.As soon as the boards are done, the construction crew assembles the walls. We make much progress and by the time we leave, we have the walls framed and the rafters constructed and waiting to be installed.

We’re commended at a little end-of-the-day pow-pow for our team work and everything we accomplished on the first day. However, what’s said next determines the events of my second day: We haven’t had much interaction with the community. We need to work, but widen our vision. We’re there to not only build a home, but also to build relationships.

I’m a bit apprehensive. I’m still mentally and emotionally exhausted. I have the strength to work, to complete the tasks I’m asked to do. But I don’t have the energy to expend on talking to strangers. Especially to those with whom I don’t know their language. I remember yesterday’s lesson. God’s word tells me “I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether I am full or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.” Philippians 4:12-13

I have help. It is through Christ that I can do these things. Paul encourages the church in Ephesus with the prayer, “May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.” Ephesians 3:19

The power I need will flow from the love of Christ. I can eagerly look forward to interacting with others when the time comes.

Are you apprehensive? Exhausted? Lacking energy or even strength. It is Jesus who enables us. It is his love that fills us with life and power.

Grace & Peace

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Reynosa, Mexico – Day One Departure

Posted on February 13, 2024 by Jill English Johnston

Day One December 26, Tuesday

The day has arrived. With many years in the making, and despite a hectic four months, we, along with a team of 10 others are embarking on the mission trip with Strategic Alliance and heading to the border.

We are Reynosa bound.

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

Jon and I wake, eat breakfast, load the truck with tools, supplies, and our backpacks and suitcases, and bid good-bye to our youngest. He had spent Christmas with us and is also leaving, heading back to Dallas. We drive to our church, Journey Fellowship to meet up with our pastor, Todd, and nine other volunteers going with us: Jeff, Cara, Elizabeth, Ian & Monica, Rolando & Sara. We’re introduced to Joe & Denise, winter Texans in New Braunfels from Minnesota who have been teamed up with us. We load everyone’s tools, supplies, and suitcases into a small trailer, pray together, then pile into the fifteen passenger van.

Our group is half men, half women.

The trip takes less than four hours and, after a brief stop for gas and lunch in Alice, Texas, we arrive at our meeting location at the McAllen La Plaza Mall. Thirteen teams with multiple vans and trailers, from Kansas, Missouri, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio overrun one of the parking lots. Many of us run into the crowded mall to use the restrooms. It takes longer than expected because the closest bathrooms are closed and we weave through people, people, and more people and finally find another set of restrooms. I am overwhelmed by the mass of humanity shopping the day after Christmas. Loud. Crowded. Bright lights. Reminds me of the cruise we had just returned from.

Our caravan of vans, trucks, and trailers finally leave around four and head for the border crossing at Hidalgo. There, due to the large quantity of tools and household in the trailers, we experience a long delay before we can cross.

We finally reach the El Camino Hotel in Reynosa—only 20 miles away—around six. Todd, despite the many helpful backseat drivers, does an amazing job navigating and parking our van and trailer in the walled parking area, filled with all the other vans and trailers. It’s a nice hotel, with tiled floors and stucco walls, an extremely comfortable king-sized bed, an upstairs conference room that we’ll use for worship, and a buffet style dining area. Jon says it reminds him very much of hotels he’d been to in Spain. The only down side: the dining area can’t quite accommodate all 213 of us at one time. Usually, by the time we make it through the line, seats open up. But not always.

I’m tired. Empty. Hungry. After dinner, we gather in the conference room for worship, a message, and instructions for the next day. I want to worship, but feel depleted. I’m grateful to be there, but I wish I wasn’t so exhausted.

How can I serve when I’m drained? What can I pour out if I’m showing up empty? I can’t. Not in my own strength. But God’s word tells me, “I lift my eyes to the hills – where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.” Psalm 121:1-2

I have help. The Lord made the heavens. He made the earth. He can certainly fill me, strengthen me. energize me, to do the work he’s called me to. Jesus says, “Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you. shall find; knock, and it will be opened unto you: For every one that asks receives; and the one that seeks. finds; and to the one that knocks, it shall be opened.” Matthew 7:7-8

So, I ask Jesus to somehow fill me. Because I’m finally at the border. Because I want to be a part of helping the least of these.

Are you tired, empty, exhausted, drained, empty? You have help. Just ask Jesus.

Grace & Peace

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Reynosa, Mexico – How it Came About

Posted on February 6, 2024 by Jill English Johnston

Second. The How.

How it came about.

Amid election turmoil, the pandemic, and racial violence, I reflected on societal conflicts and sought understanding from diverse perspectives. A Tres Dias weekend brought my husband and I unexpected and much needed healing and connected us with a diverse and love-in-action community. The  immigrant work of the San Antonio Mennonite Church, a podcast by Returning to Joy, and the activism of Women of Welcome—a group addressing immigration issues—reinforced my desire to care for the marginalized.

My husband and our pastor went to Haiti a third time in 2022; unfortunately probably the last time for a while due to political unrest in the country. While we had not given up on supporting the ongoing ministry in Haiti, we also didn’t want a hiatus in helping the least of these.

In the wake of our pastor’s disappointment at not being able to return to the people he had grown to love, the Lord connected him to an organization in New Braunfels called Strategic Alliance that has been pouring into an impoverished community in the Texas/Mexico border city of Reynosa. Our pastor joined a trip to see the work they were doing. He came back energized and excited because he encountered a Haitian migrant community and potential for engaging in an accessible mission need in a meaningful way. As soon as he announced the plan to organize a group for our church to go, I knew this was it. I was in. I was finally going to the border.

Then, in September of 2023, I received an invitation to attend an evening with Shared Tables, getting to know your San Antonio neighbors. The pastor from the San Antonio Mennonite Church I mentioned in my last post, John Garland, spoke about his experiences with immigrants and migrants. My heart continued to stir. I waited with eager expectation as plans and dates solidified for our trip to Reynosa.

And in the posts to come, as I have felt prompted to share, is my experience.

Let’s just say the four months leading up to the trip were insanely busy—impacted by an unexpected and emotional family situation, filled with travel and holidays, and gave very little time for rest and recovery.

We traveled from the soggy, cool northeastern states in October to the chilly Colorado mountains in November to the warm, balmy Caribbean in December. In a space of three months we packed, unpacked, and repacked three different climate wardrobes. At Christmas, we packed again—this time with work clothes, tools and painting supplies.

On Tuesday, December 26th, our team of 12 from our church, Journey Fellowship, head out to Reynosa, Mexico with Strategic Alliance to build homes for the least of these.

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Reynosa, Mexico – Then 2020

Posted on January 30, 2024 by Jill English Johnston

I continue to answer the why in “why I wanted to go on a mission trip to Reynosa, Mexico” in the third of my not-so-brief background leading up to the trip.

After moving to Texas following our retirement, I focused my time to writing, church and community involvement, and learning about prayer. Despite the whirlwind pursuits, interests, and activities, I missed not being involved with the least fortunate. A potential opportunity arose with a prayer group for mothers in a women’s correctional facility, but unfortunately nothing materialized. Podcasts became another source of learning and my interests expanded to include migrants and immigrants amid divisive political issues. I  desired to make a difference with some sort of meaningful action.

Then 2020 happened. Between the election, the pandemic, and racial violence, our country seemed like it lost its mind. My husband went to Haiti again—this time our youngest went with him—and when they returned the world was shutting down. As people fought over masks, business closings, and eventually vaccines, I couldn’t help but wonder, aren’t we supposed to care for the least of these? Aren’t the elderly, the sick, and minimum wage workers among them as well?

Having never learned or seen conflict dealt with in a healthy way, I tend to retreat when it happens, and I try to avoid confrontations if I can. It’s not a very productive way to live, but I prefer it to the attacks, hostility, and violence that conflict often lead to.  Instead, as I processed the insanity around me, I tried to listen and learn from those who looked different, lived differently, and thought differently than me. To my delight, I discovered followers of Jesus, readers of Scriptures who wrestle with the same thing I do: are we really concerned with the least of these like Jesus tells us to be?

A few things followed. my husband and I attended a Tres Dias weekend, an adult ecumenical weekend which concentrates on the person and teachings of Jesus Christ. The experience brought some amazing healing and restoration that neither one of us knew we needed. We were introduced to a diverse community of believers working and serving together in a beautiful way. We immediately signed up to serve the following spring.

At Tres Dias, I met a family from the San Antonio Mennonite Church. Not long after, I listened to a podcast by a young friend of mine (with whom I was honored to sit and grieve with over the Black Lives Matter backlash and participate with the Pray on MLK event). As the host of Returning to Joy, she interviewed the pastor of the Mennonite Church which, unbeknownst to me, has been ministering to immigrants and refugees in downtown San Antonio.

Then I discovered Women of Welcome, a Christian community pursuing compassion and extending Christ-like welcome toward immigrants, refuges, and asylum seekers. The organization focuses on dispelling myths and fears about this group of the least of these. They provide instructive, reliable, and effective information about the immigration situation with the goal to educate people and impact positive, dignifying solutions. Finally, a group of women exploring the questions I had been asking. What about the least of these, the foreigners coming to our country?

These are the many reasons of why I wanted to go to the border and brings me to 2023.

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