The Beginnings

My origin story of traveling in Mexico; I wrote this as a facebook post ages ago and just found it.

In 2000 I was a brand-new teacher and wanted to volunteer somewhere in the summer. I called my college pastor who was well connected and said I wanted to volunteer somewhere, I sort of spoke Spanish, and I didn’t want to do something where you volunteer and never see them again but where I could develop a relationship. Very idealistic, but I was barely 25.

He connected me to a friend who found a friend who knew of two orphanages in Mexico that could use a teacher to help in the summer. Did I want to go to the one run by Mexicans or Americans?
So I ended up flying to south Texas in July (that is a terrible idea) and meeting someone I didn’t know who drove me across the border to Reynosa, Mexico to go to an orphanage.

Reynosa is not a tourist spot, to put it mildly. If you’ve heard of it, it’s because of drug violence. It’s very industrial and the climate is... well, it’s basically South Texas.

The lonely planet I had before said “few Americans go to the state of Tamaulipas.” The current edition ignores the state completely.

No photo description available.
Anyway, I found a second family here. It’s more of a group home than an orphanage as the kids don’t get adopted out but neither term shows how it’s really a family. The kids all call the director mamá, and some of them have grown up there and now live there and work or help.

The other thing that many of my FB friends will find surprising is that they’re evangelical Christians. Before you unfriend me, it’s different in Mexico. For one thing, they believe that climate change is real, and caused by humans, and that we have a responsibility to take care of the earth God gave us. They cannot understand why American “Christians” don’t see that. They are also appalled at how we treat the poor. Etc.

Anyway, this is my second family and I love them and you would too. In the meantime, if you ever need someone to pray for you, whether you believe in prayer or not, just let me know and they will
Anyway, this is my second family and I love them and you would too. Hopefully Sara will get a visa again and be able to visit me and I’ll have a party.In the meantime, if you ever need someone to pray for you, whether you believe in prayer or not, just let me know and they will pray for you, for years.
pray for you, for years.

And that is how Mexico became the country of my heart, why I have a mami mexicana, and why I’m comfortable hanging out in a very very non touristy, industrial, sometimes narco-infested, sometimes under martial law, part of Mexico.


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