The following story was written by Lee Berger about the Crossing Borders mission trip summer 2019.
Fifteen missionaries of all ages completed their 8-day mission trip across the Mexican border on June 30, 2019. In its 14th year of ministry, the group was able to come alongside a variety of indigenous pastors, children’s home directors, parachurch ministers and other servants to share the love of Christ through words and actions.
There were a number of “firsts” on this trip. Normally crossing the river border in our vans can take between 45 minutes and 3 hours each way. The daily crossings on this trip were amazingly rapid, with one crossing only taking 12 minutes—what a blessing!
One of our ministry partners had recently purchased a new piece of land to begin developing as a ministerial training center, a Christian school for neighborhood children, housing for mission teams, and more. Our Crossing Borders team was honored to be part of the groundbreaking and the first day of physically clearing the land of trash and brush.
For the first time, we visited a holding center for immigrants seeking to enter the U.S., with people from Cuba, Central and South America, Africa and other regions. Their stories of sacrifice to seek a better life were amazing and heart-touching.
We have assisted a Mexican pastor for many years with various outreach projects, but this was the first time we attended his Sunday morning church service. We were asked in advance to provide a special time of Bible lessons, craft projects, and fun songs for the church youth—which we gladly did! We were blessed to share a meal prepared by his members and to enjoy a time of good fellowship across cultures.
There were many more activities and special conversations during the week, each one provided by God to start or build meaningful relationships. Everyone stayed safe and well, and many people were blessed with physical necessities and encouragement that comes only from the
heart of Jesus Christ. Thank you for your prayers and other support for this mission ministry of GCI.
God willing, we will be heading back to Mexico December 6-9. We are in need of “shoebox gifts.” Last winter our gift box totals dropped to about 800. We could use at least 1200 boxes to be able to bless the children God places in our path. If you could gather gift boxes from your neighborhood, church, club, family or any other group, they would be hand-presented
by our Crossing Borders missionaries to many needy children, along with a gospel message and lots of personal love.
See details at: https://cbmission.org/shoebox.html
Without going into all the politics where, for better or for worse, the talk of physical walls is permanently in the news…it is refreshing to see that no walls impede our hearts from reaching out to the needy and those experiencing tremendous hardship. I was once also a Cuban refugee seeking a home in the USA. I well remember as a child the hardships and endless bureaucratic red tape my mother, sister and I had to go through before we were allowed to move from Spain to the “promised land“ (Miami, Florida). My personal journey was, of course, nothing in comparison to the plight of so many today.
Thank you Lee and team!
Every blessing,
Santiago