Good evening! I have been wanting to write this for a few days now, but haven't had time or access to the internet. Well, just to give everyone an idea of what I've been doing....here it is. Yesterday around 8 a.m. Samantha, Issac, and I drove down the to Mission, Texas. When we got here to where we are staying we met two of the mission coordinators who work for Buckner here in the Valley. They took us to this Mexican restaurant called Ponchos. It was the most authentic Mexican restaurant I had been too, and very delisioso! After dinner we decided to take a little tour to the "fake" border...(as close as you can go to the border). It was originally my idea...I was thinking it would have like huge walls with large towers and lights..you know...what you would see in a movie. Instead it was just a little sand dune like hill with a few spot lights along the strip and fences that were put up in random areas. The funny thing was that there was a Border Patrol Officer close by, and when we came back down from the hill he dramatically sped over to where we were coming back to our cars and asked us what we were up to. I felt really bad and like we were getting them in trouble...but they said as long as you don't run from them you are in good shape, lol. The officer was nice after we explained we were just sight seers, and went back to his job of sitting in his SUV watching the wall. lol. The real border was a little beyond the wall and across the river (FYI).
This area we are staying in is not what I had expected. It is a large city with a lot of things to do, two hospitals, many restaurants, businesses, shopping centers, etc. The place where Buckner does their work here in the Valley is closer to the Colonias (where we will be working daily). The Colonias are about 20 minutes from where we are staying. Once you get out of the cities of Mcallen and Mission you start seeing more poverty. As we were driving to the Colonias this morning there was a lot of trash on the sides of the highway and there wasn't really much at all to see. It was like we were in a totally different area, yet so close to the city. Gabriel and Andrew (2 of our mission coordinators) had us meet some of the people who are living in the Colonias. First we came across a women who was telling Andrew that she new of a man that needed antibiotics. Whenever we drove through people waved and new who we were (that we were from Buckner). Gabriel said that they kind of view them as Jesus. Ricardo told us today that most of the adults living here never even completed elementary school. Some are documented citizens and some aren't. A lot of them work, most are married, and each of the families we visited had at least two children. What matters is that they need to find a better way of life, and Buckner wants to help them do that by the Community Transformation Center that just opened. It is a place where social workers can work with families, doctors come in and volunteer their time, free breakfast and dinner are served through the summer, and a just a lot of things that help these people find a more successful way of life. Buckner does A LOT of stuff in each of their sites through the world, and here in the Colonias. Their main thing is to prevent families from separating and children from getting lost in the world. It would be easy to give these people money and then make ourselves assume that we helped someone and did our good deed for the day. But it is more than that. We can't just give them money and expect them to improve their way of life. It is something they must work on also, to feel more accomplished and to not be so dependent on others. Buckner also has a Foster home in the area that houses kids from the Colonias. There is really so much to say about this but I will try to keep it from dragging on. The second family we met (the father was not there-maybe he was working?) was when I cried. The women was so happy to see us and she had two sons and a daughter that she was holding. Her daughters name was Kimberly, she was probably a year old or less. She was the most beautiful little girl I had ever seen. the mom was excited because people were going to begin construction on a bathroom for her family. They had an RV and they built on half of a house to make room for their children. They had been using the bathroom in the RV for three years now. The two boys were shy but I could tell they were happy that we were there and looking forward to a bathroom as well. One was 9 and one was 7. The fact that the mother was so happy and in good spirits while her children were just listening to us talk just made me so sad. This is how they have lived for at least three years. They had a little black dog that looked like a terrier mix and a pit bull. I was trying not to let myself get so upset over these animals but I think they just added to the hopelessness and sadness I was feeling. The tiny black dog was so mangy looking and it was skinny to where I could see its ribs. I thought of my dog Jackson and how spoiled he is, as well as myself. While I was there at the Colonias I was realizing that I cling on to the material things of this world way too much. I have more than I need, and I always have, which is a great blessing from God. But, how comfortable do I get and how much more independent from God do I get whenever I don't need him for anything? I'm not saying that I need to be poor to have a closer relationship with God. But that I need to be out there helping others because God has blessed me with so much. I need to be grateful for what I have and the house that I have. It seems like such a little thing to build a family a bathroom, but to them it means a lot of things. This is just one example of how Buckner is brining hope to the families in the Colonias through the love of Jesus Christ. Tomorrow we will be going to Ricardo's church an hour from here. He is the supervisor of the Colonias Mission of Buckner. We just met him today and he is such a great guy. I can see his passion for the Lord and the hope he wants to give to these people living in poverty. It is a bilingual church, so I am excited to experience that. On Monday I will start working with a mission coordinator named Rebecca. She and I will work together through the month I am here. We will be serving the children breakfast and lunch at the Community Transformation Center. That is all that I know of for sure that I will be doing, but anything else could happen. There is a lot of stuff going on here and i'm sure I will get into some other stuff. I can't wait to get started! All in all, I am feeling great, things are going well, it is very hot here but I'm getting used to it. My team is great and the staff here are very very friendly, welcoming, and helpful. They all have such a love for these people and most importantly for the Lord. Oh I wanted to mention that this reminds me of the mission trip my church (Mill Creek Baptist) went on to Rainy Mountain Oklahoma when I was Elementary school. It brings back a lot of good memories. I haven't seen any armidillios yet or prairie dogs though! I have seen a gazelle and a bison in someone's yard by the road, which was interesting to say the least, lol. I will try to write again when I have time probably on Monday. I'm so excited to meet all the wonderful people working down here and more of the families and children in the Colonias!
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