A Humbling Trip to Mexico
Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand more. (Luke 12:48b)
I had been the pastor at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Waterloo, Iowa, for a year when we took a mission trip to Mexicali, Mexico. The Presbyterian Church in Mexicali was a sister church to the congregation in Waterloo for several years. I corresponded with their pastor and looked forward to the visit and some hard work doing much-needed maintenance and security by inserting steel bars over the windows. We had also arranged to meet a PCUSA missionary who would give us a tour of the rural areas where our ministry support was also taking place.
Fifteen years earlier, I had worked in a poor neighborhood in southwest Chicago and thought I knew poverty. The parts of Mexico we experienced opened my eyes and heart to a new level of insecurity. As we drove past the border authorities into Mexican territory, we witnessed people covered with the worst imaginable deformities, each holding signs and begging. The lack of healthcare was glaring and heartbreaking. When we arrived at the church, we brought our belongings inside, and we wanted to go for a walk because we had been riding for hours. We learned it wasn’t safe because of attacks by persons or dogs. Most homes had at least one enormous dog. Each looked more vicious than the next. We learned there was almost no police presence, and people used angry dogs for protection.
We would get up in the morning and shower, and while it was hot and dry, the roads and yards were all curiously wet and puddled. When we inquired, they explained the sewer systems didn’t work, and everything backed up into the yards and road. The smell was pungent. We only realized the Mexicali church was in a middle-class neighborhood when we went to the rural areas. In the rural community we visited, the people lived in dirt huts with no running water or sewage. The indigenous people in that area tended to be tall and broad of body. The two women we visited with were busy opening boxes from Presbyterian Churches in South Korea. Inside were hundreds of used shoes. They were all for women with tiny feet. The shoes also had large, spiked heels. Not only did they not come close to fitting, but if you walked five steps in those shoes on the dirt roads, you’d break an ankle. We learned a lesson in meaningful mission giving.
I could go on with descriptions of despair for pages and not share all the horrific poverty. Yet, we regularly met kind, faithful people who made the best of rough situations. Two families at the Mexicali church had money and could live and worship within more hospitable surroundings. One family lived across the border in the US but crossed into Mexicali several times weekly to worship and live their faith in the church and neighborhood. Another man was an engineer for Rockwell’s plant in Mexicali and could live in a gated community, but they chose to live next to their church to make a difference. When I got home, I thanked God for the faithful commitment of the people in our sister church. I was also humbled and thought in a new way about what it means to be a person of faith for whom much has been given. Today, consider what you have and your responsibility in God’s name.