October 1996-Adult Servant Trip
ST. MATTHEW VOLUNTEERS RETURN FROM MISSION ADVENTURE
IN MEXICO
BARRINGTON--Twenty-eight quilts. Difficult border
crossings. Children praying beside a dusty street. Those a just
a few of the memories sixteen members of St. Matthew Lutheran Church
brought back from their servant trip to El Paso, Texas. The team
returned October 19 after eight days of assisting the staff at Ysleta
Lutheran Mission in serving the physical and spiritual needs in
poverty-stricken areas on both sides of the Rio Grande.
Members of the congregation sewed twenty-eight
quilt tops which the team took to Texas. These were finished into
quilts which will be used when the Lutheran orphanage opens at Anapra,
Mexico. Anapra is a shantytown on the western edge of Juarez.
The team's second project was the construction
of a roof for a clinic building in Anapra. It was also the team's
biggest challenge. Roof trusses could not be imported into Mexico
so they had to be constructed by the team. On three occasions Mexican
customs officials refused to allow the building materials to cross
the border. Finally the materials were allowed in, but only in small
amounts.
Despite the frustration of many border crossings,
by Friday afternoon twenty-six roof trusses had been built, lifted
into place, and secured to the clinic building. The completion of
the roof had to be left to other volunteers. One of the most moving
experiences of the trip was a Sunday afternoon visit to the new
Lutheran congregation which is forming in Zaragosa, Mexico. Zaragosa
is a community on the eastern edge of Juarez.
Sunday worship services meet outside in a yard.
Nearly 100 children attend Sunday School classes sheltered by a
tarp. They learn their Bible stories and say their prayers on the
edge of a dusty Zaragosa street. "One of the indelible memories
of this trip are the faces of the children," related the Rev.
Gerald Schalk, associate pastor at St. Matthew and the team's co-leader.
"We watched them as they prayed in Zaragosa, as they came for
the hot lunch program in Anapra, and as they watched us work on
the clinic building. While they are surrounded by poverty, you can
see in them their love for Jesus, their hope for a better tomorrow,
and their appreciation for the little help we could bring them."
