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May 30, 2001
If one part [of the body of Christ] suffers, every part
suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices
with it (I Corinthians 12:26).
Dear Sisters and Brothers:
I pray that you are experiencing the transforming grace of our
crucified and risen Lord in the midst of both the suffering and
joy of life! On behalf of Frontera de Cristo, I want to thank
you for your faithful partnership in the gospel.
Yesterday, a group of sisters and brothers from Tucson, Arizona,
were privileged to be invited into the home of Daniel Sifuentes
and his wife, Vicki, members of the Lily of the Valley Presbyterian
Church in Agua Prieta. Daniel welcomed us, saying "Es mi
privilegio a saludar y recibir en nuestra casa a mis hermanos
y hermanas en el nombre de Jesucristo." [It is my privilege
to greet and receive into our home my brothers and sisters in
the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.]
Daniel and Vicki live in a two-room rented apartment with three
other persons from the South of Mexico who have come up to work
in the factories in Agua Prieta. We soon discovered that Daniel
and Vicki had also received a family of three into their home
"as long as it takes for them to get on their feet."
Leaving their coffee farm because of a sharp decline in coffee
prices, Eduardo, Isidra, and Eduardo Jr. (2 years old) had journeyed
from Chiapas and had attempted to cross through the desert to
be reunited with family members who are working in Phoenix.
While our current border policy allows capital and material goods
to cross the border rather freely, poor families like Eduardo’s
have to try to avoid the growing number of border patrol agents
and run the gauntlet of the desert to reach and U.S., then look
for work in the chicken processing plants, the hospitality industry,
the fast food chains, or other parts of our economy that rely
on undocumented labor. According to the Mexican consulate in Douglas,
Arizona, in the last 18 months over 36 persons have died in the
Douglas area alone while attempting to arrive at jobs awaiting
them in the United States.
After over two days of walking in the desert, Eduardo and his
family ran out of water and food. Desperate to escape the scorching
sun and hunger and thirst of the desert, they made their way to
a road and were picked up by Border Patrol and returned to Agua
Prieta. Ironically, Border Patrol, the very agency that our government
uses to force human beings migrating away from populated areas
and into harsh deserts, became the agency that saved the lives
of Eduardo, Isidra and Eduardo Jr.
During the same week that Eduardo, Isidro, and Eduardo Jr. were
found alive in the desert, 14 men were found dead in the desert
near Yuma, Arizona. These men joined the more than 500 persons
who have died in our deserts all along our border. As Isidra broke
down in tears, she gave thanks to God for the gift of life and
health and at the same time asked God why so many of her fellow
Mexicans have died in the desert. We shared her tears of joy and
suffering, her tears of life and death.
Before leaving the holy space into which Daniel and Vicki had
welcomed Eduardo, Isidra and Eduardo Jr. and had welcomed us,
Eduardo asked us a very difficult question: "Why can you
all enter Mexican territory without a problem, but we have to
risk our lives to enter the United States?"
We all wished he had not confronted us with this obvious, but
troubling question.
As we were saying good-bye, Daniel once again expressed his gratitude
to God for the ability to join together as children of God and
to the group for blessing his family with a visit. Vicki said
to the group that whenever they were in Agua Prieta to come back
to their home, "Nuestra casa es su casa" ["Our
home is your home."]—she meant it.
Someone from the group responded that whenever the Mexicans present
in the room, none of which can enter the United States legally,
were in Tucson they had a home as well. Rosendo, another member
of the Lily of the Valley Church, asked the group: "Do you
really mean that? If we show up at your house, will you welcome
us?"
As we were passing through the broken screen door, I am sure
I heard Jesus say to Vicki and Daniel: "Come, you who are
blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared
for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and
you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave something
to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in…" (Matthew
25:34-36).
Eduardo, Isidra, and Eduardo Jr. were strangers, were hungry
and thirsty, and Daniel and Vicki invited them in. We are strangers,
and we hunger and thirst to see the reality of the gospel incarnated,
and Daniel and Vicki welcomed us in and invited us to incarnate,
to put flesh on the gospel.
A drop in coffee prices together with the harsh policies of the
U.S. government had forced Eduardo and his family to wander in
our deserts, and they invited us in to share in their lives. We
were invited to share not only in their joys and sufferings, but
also in the joys and sufferings of all those who are fleeing their
land seeking survival and a better life.
I give thanks to God that your support allows us to enter more
fully into the joys and sufferings of our borderlands and our
world. I give thanks to God that we are called to seek to witness
to the kingdom of God in the midst of the pain and suffering of
the world. I encourage you and your church to join us in entering
more fully into the suffering and joys of the world and seeking
"to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our
God."
Grace and Peace,
Mark S. Adams, (for) Frontera de Cristo
The 2001 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 248
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