Change

Howdy y'all. We are mission trippin' again. This time in Del Rio, Texas.

All of the First Methodist Houston readers of this blog (which I am assuming accounts for about 99.9%) know that there is a background story to our specific mission location. Normally, we stay in Del Rio, but go across the river/international border to Ciudad Acuna, a Mexican border city of about 250,000 people, for our mission and outreach.

We are staying AND working in Del Rio this year, however, and if you're thinking you have a pretty good idea why ... well, you're right. The drug violence you have heard so much about in places like Juarez and Nuevo Laredo is beginning to find its way to smaller, formerly-sleepy border towns. We heard enough frightening reports of drug cartel activity in Acuna to cause us to pull the plug on our usual trip.

Of course, a big change like that sort-of left us scrambling. Fortunately, the church that hosts us - First Baptist Del Rio - has a core value reflected in the tagline "gateway to missions." They have gone above and beyond to line up meaningful, needed work for us on this side of the Rio Grande. Today we hosted VBS for about 25 neighborhood kids, painted a church, sorted clothes, cleaned a yard and refurbished a wheelchair ramp.

Interestingly, change seems to be emerging as a mini theme for this trip. Our church has stayed at FBC for quite a few years, to the point that the Acuna/Del Rio veterans know the "drill" really well. When we arrived yesterday, the girls went to their usual "dorms" and the guys went to theirs. Except - the church had switched the places. Then, we worshipped in a new spot last night. It was pretty humorous, actually, to hear comments like "that's not the way we usually do it" coming from teenagers.

That's kind of an exaggeration, though, as for the most part they have embraced all of the changes that have been a part of this trip. One of the awesome things about a mission trip is that there are always some veterans, like the ones I mentioned earlier, and there are always some rookies. On this trip, we have three youth who are on a mission trip with this church for the first time, and we have two that are on their first mission trip altogether. For them, there are no changes, as they have not experienced anything else. As I scan the group and watch them share in some pre-dinner snacks and fellowship, it's clear that the group is already meshing into one, regardless of prior experience. They are sharing this unique trip and finding much life and reward in responding to the needs on this side of the border.

Paul calls this "one" that we are meshing into the "Body of Christ." Describing this body, he writes in Galatians, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."

On this trip, we are headed to the place where there is neither veteran nor rookie, neither those who have experienced Acuna nor those who haven't, for we are all one in Christ Jesus.

And that is a very cool thing.