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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Reynosa, Mexico – In Texas

Posted on January 23, 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 my not-so-brief background leading up to the trip.

 

 

After growing up in rural Pennsylvania, where my surroundings were predominantly White, my military career exposed me to diverse cultures and expanded my perspectives. When Hurricane Katrina’s aftermath thrust my family into racial and socio-economic disparities and challenged our preconceptions, I delved into understanding systemic issues. Retiring in Central Texas, my ministry shifted, emphasizing the importance of continuous learning in embracing diversity and addressing societal challenges.

The first in the Reynosa, Mexico blog series can be found HERE

In Texas, as my youngest son finished high school and my husband used his military benefits to attend college, I returned to my lifelong passion of writing. Writing groups, workshops, instructional books on the craft of writing, and conferences filled my hours as much as our church activities and bible studies. Prayer also worked its way into one of my top passions and I discovered I loved teaching about prayer and Scripture as much as I loved learning and writing. Which meant, of course, that I started reading and seeking the mysterious and sometimes elusive concept of prayer.

You can find a list of the books HERE.

As the years flew by, we remained caught up in a whirlwind of the retired, empty-nester life filled with graduations, weddings, grandbabies, travel, and aging parents. I so appreciated time to write, develop new friendships, serve in and with the church, and love my neighbors. But somewhere within the depths of my heart, I missed the other two: loving one’s enemies and caring for the least of these.

Every so often I’d think a door was opening, a connection or relationship was happening that would engage me once again. But often it passed by or dissipated. One of the connections occurred when I was involved with Moms in Prayer, an international organization that prays for our children and their schools. An acquaintance was interested in starting a prayer group for moms in the nearby women’s correctional facility, which piqued my interest because prisoners are one of the-least-of-these mentioned in Scripture. But it was a slow going effort, COVID happened, and we eventually lost touch. (Verses below are taken from the NIV)

  • The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners. (Isaiah 61:1)
  • “The Lord looked down from his sanctuary on high, from heaven he viewed the earth, to hear the groans of the prisoners and release those condemned to death.”(Psalm 102:19-20)
  • He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets prisoners free, the Lord gives sight to the blind, the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down, the Lord loves the righteous. (Psalm 146:7-8)
  • I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.(Matthew 25:36)

During this time I discovered podcasts and they became a huge part of my learning experience. I was introduced to Marty and Brent on Bema Discipleship, Tim and John on the Bible Project, and Phil, Skye, Christian and Kaitlyn on the Holy Post. Other podcasts sprung from links and recommendations: Jen Hatmaker and For the Love and Jordyn Rayner and Mere Christians.

Then the world started going a little more crazy than it already was. Elections and politics began impacting relationships with family, friends, neighbors. The border wall and immigration became a hot topic. I found myself disheartened by the evangelical church’s reaction. There had to be a better way. These (migrants, immigrants, refugees, asylum seekers) were people. People with names and stories, hopes and dreams, needs and desires. People loved by God. I expanded my list of the-least-of-these to include the foreigner that Scripture so often calls us to also care for. (Verses below are taken from the NIV)

  • “Do not mistreat or oppress a foreigner, for you were foreigners in Egypt. (Exodus 22:21)
  • “Do not oppress a foreigner; you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt. “Six days do your work, but on the seventh day do not work, so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and so that the slave born in your household and the foreigner living among you may be refreshed. (Exodus 23:9.12)
  • Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the Lord your God. (Leviticus 19:10)
  • The Lord watches over the foreigner and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked. (Psalm 146:9)
  • This is what the Lord says: Do what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of the oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place. (Jeremiah 22:3)

In 2019, Jon had the opportunity to go to Haiti on a mission trip with our church and he went again with our youngest in March of 2020. I loved that he went because it was an amazing experience for him, but I did not feel prompted to go. Instead, my eye was still on the border and the immigration issues, controversy. and quandary. But what could I do? We had moved in 2017 further from San Antonio and further from the hub of immigrants coming into the country. I didn’t know what or who to believe about the matter, what was fact, what was fear, what was truth, what was political distortion. I didn’t come across many people with attitudes, opinions, and beliefs aligned with how Jesus calls us to love like he loves. And I didn’t speak Spanish.

But I knew I wanted to do something.

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Reynosa, Mexico – An Introduction

Posted on January 16, 2024 by Jill English Johnston

  This is us. Our team from Journey Fellowship on mission to Reynosa, Mexico with Strategic Alliance during the week between Christmas and New Year, 2023. Shown are friends I was blessed to get to know better during our six days together, the house we built for the family. Our new family: Oscar, Pilar, and Christian.

 

But to get here, you need to know.

  1. Why did I want to go
  2. How it came about

First. The why.

A not-so-brief background.

  My history. From 1968-1986, I grew up in a blue-collar, working-class family living on a dirt road in rural Pennsylvania. I attended a county school filled with kids from the nearby college town as well as from the surrounding farming community. Most everyone was Anglo, of European descent: German, Czech, Polish, to name a few. Our schools, communities, and churches were predominately White. If I had to guess, my graduating class of about 230 had less than two percent Black, Asian, or mixed race.

  1986 to 2010 encompassed my military career, taking me to places like the Philippines, Japan, Guam, Thailand, and Hong Kong, Singapore. Cultures and languages that were vastly different than mine. With Black and Latino roommates and Black, Filipino, Asian, and Latino co-workers, I now had new friends from all over the States with diverse backgrounds, ethnicities, and various shades of skin, hair, and eye color. After I married and kids came along, we had babysitters from all over the world: Philippines, Mexico, England, New Zealand, and Japan. Our kids went to schools in Corpus Christi, Japan, Guam, Mississippi, California, and Texas, where they were as often the minority as not.

  Up to this point in my life, I had a curiosity about the different cultures, races, and backgrounds I experienced, but only in passing and mostly as they brushed up against my expectations, misconceptions, and prejudices. Raising kids and work demanded most of my attention, although I sought to raise them to treat everyone with dignity and respect.

  In 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast of Mississippi where we lived. The aftermath opened the doors for us to work and minister to people who lived on the edges, those in poverty, and people who rarely had a safety net and had to survive by working “the system.” Suddenly our family and church were immersed in new relationships across racial and socio-economic boundaries.

  We saw the ugly truth of racism, broken systems, and the culture of poverty. As we opened our church doors to kids who now lived in a FEMA trailer park nearby, I was filled with compassion towards the families who fell through the cracks, who didn’t own a home that had been damaged or destroyed, but rather in apartments or rentals that had been. People who didn’t have insurance or qualify for loans, grants, or rebuilding assistance. People whose minimum wage jobs were gone, whose cars had been flooded and who no longer had reliable transportation or any transportation for that matter. In an unexpected situation, we opened our home to a young man who had been recently released from prison, and for several years he became one of our family as we helped him find a job, expunge his record, and obtain a driver’s license. 

  In the midst of it all, started reading—because that’s what I do—and asking questions, wanting to hear the stories of those now within my sphere. How did they get to the place they were at? What help was available to them? What were churches doing in response? Did the local, state, and federal government provide adequate support? I consumed books on poverty, race, and homelessness. I felt like I was learning, stretching, doing a tiny bit of what Jesus calls us to do: to love one’s neighbor, love one’s enemies, and care for the least of these: widows, orphans, poor, prisoners. (Verses below are taken from the NIV)

  • Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress (James 1:17)
  • Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless. (Isaiah 10:1-2)
  • Do not deny justice to your poor people in their lawsuits. Do not oppress a foreigner; you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners because you were foreigners in Egypt. (Exodus 23:6,9)
  • Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked. (Psalm 82:3-4)
  • But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed. (Luke 14:13-14)
  • But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, (Matthew 5:43)
  • Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ (Matthew 22:37-39)

You can find a list of the books I read HERE.

  After we retired from the military in 2008 and 2010, we moved to Central Texas. Something shifted during the move and as we settled in our new home in the suburbs and military town of Schertz/San Antonio and became involved in our new church, I knew our ministry was shifting also. Thankfully, the Lord placed us in a church that—when I looked around—I knew I wanted to be because many of those I worshipped with didn’t look like me. Even though I had stepped away from working with the least of these, with new friends from all over the States with diverse backgrounds, ethnicities, and various shades of skin, hair, and eye color, I knew I still had much to learn in this new place.

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