Much of our life and ministry
on the border revolves around how we can be a resource to the
church on both sides of the border in responding faithfully to
the immigration crisis. The impact of immigration has reached
all the way to my small hometown. Since I left Clover six years
ago for the border, the Spanish-speaking population in the county
has increased by over 500 percent.
In the short time we have been here, we have gotten close to
the new migrant community, many of whom had crossed through Agua
Prieta on their way here. Miriam volunteers in the ESL program
several days a week at the local elementary school where Cindy
is in third grade. We also participate with churches in the community
that have ministries with the Spanish-speaking population.
Last night, the First Baptist Church of Clover, with whom Miriam
has been providing pastoral support for the women in their ESL
classes, had a Thanksgiving celebration for the students and teachers
in the ESL class. They asked me to lead the devotional time and
to include an explanation of the history of Thanksgiving.
Through my experiences on the border over the last six years,
God has revealed to me deeper meanings of most holidays and did
so once again as I reflected on the assignment the Baptist Church
gave me and experienced the Thanksgiving feast of folks from Mexico,
El Salvador, and the United States last night.
The popular history of “the first Thanksgiving” is
that a group of migrants far from home in a strange land join
together with the natives of the land for a harvest feast. Despite
the myriad of differences that existed between them—language,
culture, ethnicity, even religion—the natives and the aliens
sat at table together, not as enemies but as friends, giving thanks
to the Creator. Natives loving and welcoming the stranger, trusting
in God’s abundance rather than in the fear of scarcity—sounds
very much like the mandates that God gives us through Scripture.
Celebrating Thanksgiving in the Clover Baptist Church with those
who were strangers to me before August—both the Baptists
from Clover and the ESL students from Mexico and El Salvador—embodied
more fully not only the spirit of “the first Thanksgiving”
but the reality that “Jesus Christ is our peace, who has
made the two one and has destroyed the barrier the dividing wall
of hostility . […] Consequently, we are no longer foreigners
and aliens but fellow citizens with God’s people and members
of God’s household” (Ephesians 2:14,19).
We are extremely grateful to God for your congregation and for
your support of us through your prayers, your encouraging letters,
and your Direct Mission Support through Worldwide Ministries Division
of the PC(USA). We hope that you will be able to come and visit
us on the border during the next three years.
Peace,
Miriam, Mark, Cindy and Anna Flor
The 2004 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p.138
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