El Paso/Juarez Day 2 Part 1

Day two, first full not-travel day, began with morning devotions and breakfast. Then we headed a few blocks away from the Columban Mission Center, the house where we are staying, to the Fifth Federal District Court.

Here we went through security and were led into a court room. Two young men were sentenced for drug crimes and illegal entry into the US. First, the compassion of the officials and the judge as they took into consideration the circumstances that put the young men in the position to commit crimes. There is no longer a hard and fast punishment for a particular crime, but there are recommended punishments that flex to fit each case appropriately. It is so easy to assume that all who commit crimes like these, carrying drugs across the border illegally, etc. are just "bad people" or simply made stupid decisions on their own and deserve to be put away. But there is so much more to each story that we rarely hear. There are those who do these things so they are not killed or to keep their family safe from dangerous people. We tend to ignore the circumstances that are beyond a person's control that might lead to such a crime. It was moving to see the judge's compassion and hope for each young man's future, while not letting them "off the hook" without punishment.

After observing the first two young men receive their sentences, we moved to another court room where we had the opportunity to see a portion of a trial for a couple more young men who had been caught. We walked in on the second day of the trial and I didn't catch all the details of what was happening, but what we saw was a mother testifying on behalf of her son. The emotion in the room was palpable as the son wiped tears at seeing his mother for the first time since his arrest, at seeing her tears for him, at her love as she stood up to testify on his behalf.

SANTA CATALINA WOMEN'S COOPERATIVE

We climbed back in the van and headed across the bridge into Juarez, Mexico where we first stopped at the Santa Catalina Women's Cooperative. What a powerful visit this was! These women were working with cloth, making things like table runners, purses and tortilla warmers. We were welcomed with incredible hospitality. The ladies shared hot chocolate and rolls with us as we talked about the Cooperative and what it meant for their lives. The ladies shared how their husbands make such small wages they cannot afford for their children to go to school. Working at the Cooperative brings in a little money for their children's education. They shared how they learned to sew, how they learned skills they would never have otherwise learned and developed gifts they otherwise would not have had the opportunity to develop. One brave lady shared how the cooperative had helped her find her voice. She once was too afraid to speak and she learned to speak up, to stand up for herself. It gave her a voice in the world. They sent us off with a beautiful and enthusiastic blessing. (I hope to get the words and a translation of this beautiful blessing to share!) It is once again an experience of being blessed so richly by those who have so little.

BIBLIOTECA BUEN PASTOR

Lunch happened at a little stand on the side of the road, a little spicy for this Scandinavian girl, but it was good. For seven people, the meal with bottled pop cost about $16 (USD). Our next stop was at the Biblioteca Buen Pastor (Library of the Good Shepherd) where we chatted with a lady who has boldly taken on the challenges of children not getting a good education. She, with the help of Father Bill, provides a place for the children to study and to get tutoring. They also provide scholarships for many children, early years through college. Her pride in the students and the twelve who graduated last Saturday, was bubbling out!

Day 2, Part 2 coming soon!
Pax.

Immigration Study Day 1

After racing off immediately after worship yesterday (which was fabulous, including a baptism and my flubbered up prayers of the people), we arrived at Luther Seminary for the night. Some team building conversations left my brain working in overdrive as we headed to bed for a very short night.

A bit after 4:00 this morning, we hauled ourselves up and out the door for a miserable, snowy, slick drive the airport (thank you to the Luther Sem student who braved the roads with us!) where we successfully navigated security only to sit on the plane for over 2 hours watching the snowplows doing some impressive quadrille movements around us. I went back to sleep. Somewhere in there we took off.

Thankful for the what was initially a 3 hour layover in Phoenix, we still had time to grab some lunch before catching the last leg into El Paso where it is warm and sunny. By this time having had no coffee since before worship yesterday, little sleep and a long day of travel, a couple of us went straight to Starbucks before we found baggage claim.

Father Bob met us and shuttled us to the Columban Mission Center where we found our rooms. Three of us women are in a room containing 6 beds on wheels. We are planning for bed races tonight. The others have their own rooms.

Oscar Romero mural

The effort to live sustainably is awesome. The dish water goes to the plants, not down the drain. We recycle. We compost. The solar panels on the house will come up again later in the week. Father Bob presented a PowerPoint which included a cool link that showed exactly the power usage of the house. We could watch it go up and down as he turned lights on and off. It makes me cringe to turn lights on at all after seeing that.

We chatted a bit, had some chips and amazing salsa, and climbed back in the van. Father Bob drove us to a gorgeous overlook called Murchison Park where we got some good pictures of the view over the cities of El Paso and Juarez.

After supper, we took a stroll to the international bridge, El Paso PND (Paso del Norte). How different it is from the north border we are used to in North Dakota! It costs $.50 per person to cross each way.

That is all for day 1.
Pax.

For Love of Old Peoples

I could wait another two months and make it a full two years since my last blog post. Meh, we'll see if this makes it up or not.

Just an update for those who follow from a distance. The girls and I are now living in Hoople, ND where I have been serving as pastor of Zion Lutheran in Rural Hoople since mid-August of last year. The time has flown by. It doesn't seem like we should be approaching a year coming up this summer.

"The girls" now consist of the ponies, Shiney and Zoe, now 21 and 12 years, respectively. Kitty, Madelaine ManyToes Hemingway, just turned 6 a week ago. Geraldine (Boadicea Geraldine), an Australian Shepherd pup joined us in July of last summer, and is now 11 months old. So the five of us have been tootling around North Eastern North Dakota, exploring and finding what there is to find in this new state and the occasional trek up to Canada.

The congregation of Rural Hoople--yes, one must differentiate between rural and urban Hoople, as there is another ELCA congregation in Urban Hoople. You know, because the little Tater Town has a population of 240. Anyway, Zion is about 4 miles south of Hoople, 10 miles northwest of Grafton, and 6 miles northeast of Park River. An hour from Grand Forks. An hour from Canada. Two hours from Winnipeg. My closest neighbor is just over a mile away.

It's all a new adventure for us, which is not new, for adventure is what we do. All 5 of us. This is Geraldine's first adventure. The rest of us have years of experience at this calling to adventure. And speaking of callings, I have always been drawn to the care of the elderly. From early in life I've had some amazing friends who were in their last years of life, human and animal. Between years of college I found myself fulfilled by my 3rd shift job at an assisted living home in Concord, Ohio. And now, we have welcomed an older pup into our family. Her name is Dandelion and she found herself in an animal shelter in Fargo. Who wants to take a 9 year old yellow lab with hip dysplasia, among other things? I do. I saw her picture and my heart melted me to tears.

It's scary. I'm afraid. Not of caring for another being, but of falling in love with her and having such a short time with her, a few years at best. And yet, this is something I can do for her. She deserves a loving family in which to live out her days. I can provide that. The heartbreak will be worth it.

Pax.