My Reflections of my South Texas Border trip. There are so many memories of my border experience last week, however I want to share the essence of my journey to McAllen, Texas. Its about the children, young moms, and older brothers that are risking their lives in order to have a chance at simply SAVING their lives!!!!! When the young immigrants walked into the Sacred Heart Fellowship Hall in McAllen, Texas, the applause and welcome were genuine from all of the volunteers assembled! We stopped whatever we were doing to cheer their arrivals! The new arrivals looked a little forlorn, having gotten off buses with only the clothes they were wearing! Little kids holding their mommies hands. Older children staying close to moms, or older siblings, and appeared a little scared or shocked. Only God knows what all they had experienced prior to reaching this point of their journey. They were escorted in small groups of 20-25 for a briefing. Following the brief orientation and meeting with a counselor where their bus ticket itineraries were explained and time schedules printed on large brown envelopes. Once travel arrangements completed, an announcement for a sponsor for that family was requested. I had the privilege of being a sponsor. What a blessing that was for me! I had the assistance of two wonderful teenagers and invited one of my St. James parishioners, Michele to work with me to help this family of four (a mom and three precious children - ages 2, 5, and 10). The little children so reminded me of my little grandbabies, Jeremiah, Jasmine, and Preston. They quickly became members of MY family and had a SPECIAL place in MY heart!!!!! I immediately felt love for them and their mother!!!!!! First, there were the greetings and introductions. Not being bilingual, and quickly using up my simple phrases of Spanish I did know, I depended on my facial expressions, and hand movements to communicate. THUMBS- UP!!!!! I moved through the language barrier pretty well. We communicated!!! LOVE & CARING HAVE NO BARRIER!!!!!! I quickly escorted them to the dining area to get a bowl(s) of hot homemade chicken soup! It not only looked delicious, the aroma was heavenly!!! They were also served bread or crackers, bottled water, and offered fresh fruit. As they ate, our team started the transformation by getting all the sizes from tops to shoes for each member of the family. While they ate, we selected clothing items. The Fellowship Hall had areas for shoes, baby toiletries, womens toiletries, underclothing, backpacks, lots of tables labeled boys, girls, ladies, men, grouped by sizes. I started with new shoes for the children. The two youngest children had on sneakers with foil like paper laces. I found a sharp pair of brightly colored royal blue high tops trimmed in bright green trim and laces for our little five yr. old. His face LIT UP as I placed the shoes on his little feet! He jumped up and down, then made a couple of quick moves, showing off his brand new sneakers to his mom and big brother! Next to the little princess, a pretty new pair of purple sneakers! Reminded me of my little granddaughter, Jasmines favorite color and she broke out in a big smile! Now, to big brother, I thought of my Jeremiah & what he would like...why of course, BASKETBALL SHOES!!!! Classic black high tops!!!!! He loved them and had the biggest smile on his face!!!!! Upon seeing how happy the children were, their mom had a broke into a big smile and started to tear up. My fellow St. James partner, Michele was busy outfitting mom in comfortable shoes and nice clothing too. The teenagers were shopping for cute outfits for our little princess (Nicole). Now, I started on clothing for big brother. I brought several pairs of pants to him, he immediately went for the bright yellow/gold jersey BASKETBALL shorts! How did I know he would like those? Lol!!!! He also selected jeans. Now, I needed to find a neat shirt for those BB shorts ...BINGO!!!!!! After all the clothes (three sets for each child, two sets for mom, underwear, socks, hygiene products, and backpacks for all) were selected it was a walk outside to the mobile showers trailer for families to be able to shower and put on a set of their new clothing. As their sponsor, my team and I awaited for them to exit the trailer... that was a priceless moment! They looked fantastic!!!!! Our little princess had on a navy blue and white dress with a sailor collar! The teens had selected her dress and combed her hair into two long ponytails. She had a pretty white bow, but something was missing. So, I went back to the childrens clothing area and found a long piece of RED RIBBON and had it cut in half, and tied them on those ponytails! PERFECT!!!!!! Next stop, Michele and I took our family to the clinic trailer. As sponsor, I was to stay with them every step of the way, even through the visit with the doctor! After check ups, it was time to find a place for them to rest. I picked up our little princess and held the little hand of our little boy (oh my God, to hold and touch their little hands - the love I felt, I cant fully describe, but it was wonderful!) along with big brother walking with me, as mom was being helped by Michele, we headed off to find a place to rest. There were barrack-like tents (air conditioned, thank goodness) with a row of cots on each side, with dividers hung to give some separation if wanted or to pin back to keep an area enjoined for a family unit. Michele, secured clean linens and pillows from the Fellowship Hall for our family. We made their cots up as we would have welcomed them in our homes (with turn down service) after all they would NOT be leaving this area until 11:15 PM that night on a bus to Houston before transferring to other buses in reaching their final destination in the northeastern part of the country. The last stop, I took mom and the little ones to the Legal-Aid tent to meet with a lawyer. They received vital information regarding how to legally navigate their journey from this point forward. While they were there, I rushed back inside to get three red cloth shopping bags that had been filled by volunteers with bottles of water, juice boxes, fresh fruit, snack packs of various crackers, and little treats. Then a quick stop by the kitchen to get refrigerated packaged sandwiches, that had been lovingly made by another group of volunteers, and placed in their red traveling bags. The evening ended with tearful goodbyes, hugs, and I shared blessings with the family. I dont know what trials and tribulations lie ahead for this family and others that we helped, but what I know is that my life has been impacted forever by The Trip to THE BORDER!!!!! Im thankful for the opportunity to serve my sisters, brothers, and children on the border. I hope and pray they will continue to see and feel the love shown to them in McAllen. I hope they are shown the humanity and hospitality that is us...Americans!!!!!! In closing, I was frequently reminded of the words in a favorite song during my time on the border. Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on me... Melt me....Mold me, Fill me....Use me. I am very appreciative of Rev. Lisa Saunders for heeding Gods message placed on her heart, for her to organize this mission trip. Thanks also to the coordination by our parishioner, Lizzie Cain Clark, the generous contributions of the St. James Episcopal family, the depth of giving from the greater Austin Area, the enormous giving from people outside the city, and state of Texas. Most importantly, I thank my Heavenly Father for letting me know that Hes NOT finished with me yet! He let me see my areas of growth in this process, and how I can continue to serve others through Him.
Posted on: Fri, 08 Aug 2014 15:54:16 +0000
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