Dear Friends,

I’m going to tell you a story of a woman of incredible faith and strength who had a major impact on our lives and the lives of those in her community. It’s also a story that exemplifies nearly every aspect of the lives of people along the U.S./Mexico border—economic issues, women’s strife, family ties, and immigration issues.

Conchita Ramos now lives in a marginal community in Mexico along the Rio Grande River within site of the tall buildings of Laredo, Texas, on the other side of the river. She shares her four-room cinderblock house with her adult son, one of her daughters, her daughter’s husband and their two children. But it wasn’t always this comfortable.

Conchita was born in rural Chiapas to campesino family. This means that they lived in the country, usually sharecropping or working for a large farm. She was one of many who shared a thatched-roof, wall-less dwelling in the lush green that is southern Mexico. It is a land of mostly indigenous people with their own cultures.

One day a missionary from the Presbyterian Church came through the area. She listened to him preach and returned to listen again. Aided by a third-hand, battery-operated transistor radio, she learned more about this Jesus Christ, and after one radio broadcast, she accepted Christ. Through the next few months, she was able to lead many in her family to Christianity. Although unable to read or write, she memorized as much Scripture and as many hymns as she could hear.

Eventually she married and gave birth to four children. With each pregnancy, as the time to deliver would approach, she would carry a clean towel and a machete to the fields with her. The machete was to cut the cord with and the towel was for the baby. This was the normal and accepted way.

Unfortunately, as the war in Chiapas began, decades before it reached CNN, her husband began to go into town to drink with the locals. He rapidly became an abusive alcoholic. Mercifully, he left the family and wasn’t heard from for a long time.

Soon Conchita began to dream of a future for her children that did not include starvation. It included paved streets, homes, electricity, grocery stores, and water that flowed into the house from a pipe! It was a place called the U.S., where everyone was rich. She had seen the pictures and knew it was true. It was 1,500 miles away and expensive to get there.

Leaving her four children with her parents, she left for Mexico City. There she worked cleaning houses and saving all she could while sending home money for her children’s food. She returned a year later to Chiapas to find her children malnourished. Years later she discovered her money had bought food, but not for her children.

Fast-forwarding a bit, she and the children arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border. They stayed in a room off the Presbyterian Church in a city called Nuevo Laredo in Mexico. There they cleaned the church in exchange for their two rooms, while Conchita began again to clean the homes of the rich in Nuevo Laredo. They relied often on the generosity of others in the church. She was surprised to discover she couldn’t cross into the U.S. Her request for a permit to enable her to visit the U.S. border zone (14 miles) to shop for one day was denied by the U.S. Consulate.

Meanwhile, her husband, hearing of his wife’s new life, reappeared. For a while, all was calm. A fifth child, Elisa, was born to the couple. They managed to find a small plot of land outside the city on a piece of property that had been opened for the peasants to live on. It was dry, barren, dusty, and had no water, sewage, or electricity. But it was available. Better yet, a Presbyterian mission was beginning there. Conchita felt the call to live there and assist wherever led. After building a room from scrap plywood, securing a used barrel from a local factory for water, and digging an outhouse, they were "home." The water truck came along every week and brought water that usually came untreated from the Rio Grande. Mission groups came and helped to build a church. The mission pastor and his wife at the little church began programs in nutrition and evangelism, and her husband began to drink again.

The beatings became regular. Conchita prayed for strength and God’s will; she also prayed her husband would leave. One morning after a particularly vicious attack the night before, he came at her again. This time, with a strength she says could have only come from God, she picked up a frying pan, looked him straight in the eye, and said "No." Miraculously, he stopped in mid-swing. "Pack my clothes," he ordered. The children were whisked off to church and when they returned their father was gone for good. Peace again descended in the Ramos household. Conchita became a prayer warrior and quiet strength for those around her. God seemed to have planted a number of wisdom seeds within her, and they blossomed to fruit. She led devotion and organization of the women’s craft meeting each week. This later led to the bulletin jewelry program. Her children were growing up and devout in their faith. She finally secured a "mica," the card issued by the United States to certain individuals who own businesses or other difficult requirements, to be able to cross into the U.S. up to 14 miles for up to 72 hours. With this card, four bus rides, and a short walk, she was able to cross into the U.S. each day. This card did not permit her to work in the U.S. Already terribly intimidated by the U.S. officials, she was also mortified to tell them she was crossing to shop—it would have been a lie. So, she generally managed to buy something daily to avoid the lie. Her days became and still are, 14 hours of work, 6 days a week. Still she asks for Bibles to distribute to those with whom she rides on the buses. She has accompanied the pastor to every home in the colonia where she lives (over 350) to quietly share the good news in her conversational way. She has held prayers vigils with the sick and dying. Her home is fondly dubbed "the Ramos Hotel" by me, because more times than not, that little home is being shared with a traveler or three, a family member, or church guest. Even those who don’t speak Spanish are welcome! And whether staying for a few nights or only for a warm tortilla and coffee, you are likely to leave only after having been blessed by prayer.

Today, her children are grown. The youngest, Elisa, will finish seminary this month. Although she will be unable to be ordained in Mexico because she’s a woman, she will be sent to small remote areas, or small churches, to preach and be a "missionary." She will not receive a commensurate salary.

The oldest, Mary, is a registered nurse and works in the Laredos Unidos Clinic. She, like her mom, offers holistic care to the patients, attending to their emotional and spiritual needs. In dealing with a particularly difficult personality within the staff, she was encouraged by her mom to witness the Christian life in her actions at all times. Through Mary’s perseverance and prayer for this most challenging person, God wrought a most positive change!

All but one of Conchita’s children finished high school or got an advanced degree, a fact that is amazing, considering that the average education of Mexico is sixth grade! The cost of grammar school is about $125 each year. The cost for education beyond that is over $200. The average worker in a U.S.-owned factory along the border makes $50 a week. The cost of living in Nuevo Laredo is 80% of that of the third most expensive city in the United Sates: Laredo, Texas. You do the math.

Throughout all, Conchita prays and relies on God with a simple but steel-strong faith. This means to her that she is unafraid of the earthly things that threaten her safety and health. She trusts that whatever happens God will enable her to carry on. While Conchita Ramos is my hero, her life and witness are not unique. Most in this little community are witnesses in word to God, His love and His son. All have endured these or other hardships without the advantage of options or power to change their circumstances.

This true story brings out many but not all of the issues of life on the border—issues present in much of the Two-Thirds World—both good and bad.

The increasingly heavy burden of rural poverty is causing people to leave the communities, customs, and cultures familiar to generations. They go to the border where they mistakenly believe it is easy to cross into a land of milk and honey. Or possibly to work in a maquilla. Low wages paid by these factories are seen as a king’s ransom to those from the southern countries who don’t realize the high cost of living along the border in Mexico. The tightening of the border from California to Texas, plus millions of dollars worth of high-tech equipment, force many to cross into the U.S. via the desert. Being unfamiliar to the geography and bolstered by the tales of unscrupulous coyotes, they cross. Over 1,000 have died. Most find themselves stuck at the border, without work or place to stay, far from the family to whom they were going to send money. The enormous number of people creates an environment of many different cultures and customs from all over Mexico crammed into places without the infrastructure to support the population. Ministries like Laredos Unidos meet people and try to work with them in their present and future needs. But the root of this is so much bigger.

Crops grown by large multinational farms replace small farms or subsistence farmers. Small businesses and craftspeople lose out to multinational corporations. Countries mired in unpayable debt woo foreign businesses with incentives that provide low-paying jobs, but operate to the overall detriment of both the employees and the host country. In many places, globalization affects our church partners and all God’s people negatively. The drive for resources, low costs, high profits, and maximum return on investment is for the most part not accompanied by justice, compassion, or stewardship of the earth and its people. Jesus came to proclaim God’s justice, especially for the poor. He tended the needs of both rich and poor, but he spoke most often about how people got, used, and valued their money. I am convinced that money and its sidekicks— power and gluttonous consumption—are the current that the enemy uses to carry individuals to trust in something other than God, and societies to embark in ways of economic and political injustice.

Our own churches live in easy ignorance of a system of globalization that we perceive serves our interest and in the naïve belief that what is good for us is good for the world. We personalize the process of globalization as if our own actions and lifestyles were not complicit in its power.

Wholeness of life is for all, and it can only come to fruition in the comprehensive responsibility we all share to societies and individuals. Believing that to "preserve our way of life," however good it may be, is justification for policies that oppress and kill others is not God’s justice. Closing our ears, or not taking the time or effort to be aware of our complicity in it all, is to be as guilty as those who knowingly exploit others. Part of the good news is that the kingdom of God is for all people and it cannot be separated by race, economic status, or nationality. We are called to live this as we proclaim it. How?

Take a look around. Are there people around you who are marginalized? Are there people who are being exploited? Who is their voice? Who speaks for the strangers in our midst? Jesus said, "I was a stranger and you invited me in…. whatever you did for the one of these brothers of mine, you did from me" (paraphrased).

Do we seek knowledge about our investments, or just the bottom line? What are the policies of the companies in whom we invest? Do we use our voice as investors to demand fairness? What do we as a part of the body of Christ’s bride, the church, do to uncover exploitation and speak out for the oppressed? The Lord admonishes through the prophet Zechariah words just as appropriate for today.

And the word of the Lord came again to Zechariah: This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. In your hearts do not think evil of each other.’ But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and stopped up their ears. They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or the words that the Lord had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So, the Lord was very angry.–Zechariah 7: 8-13

Do we feel satisfied because we tithe and, as the greatest nation in the world, are very generous with our wealth? Do we close our ears to our complicity in the plight of other nations? In Luke, Jesus admonishes the Pharisees, "Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God."

This may all be very hard to hear. In no way do I mean that all of free trade and globalization is bad. Nor do I mean to point a finger or inflict guilt. I am, however, called to speak for those who are not given the opportunity to address power and to encourage the loving, caring people in Christ’s church to awareness of the reality of another part of our body in Christ, be it here or away.

This is my challenge:

Be as humble as Conchita, but as wise as well.
Seek, listen, look and have courage to rely on God and act as He directs you.

Yours,

Trel and Dennis Lowe

The 2002 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 248