During his junior year at Santa Clara University in California, Noah Westfall learned about the need for volunteers to assist new immigrants preparing for U.S. citizenship exams through the Immigration and Citizenship Program in Santa Clara County.
Three Border Patrol agents answered pointed questions about their work during a near two-hour session last week with a delegation from the Presbyterian Mission Agency.
One day after hearing last week about the border experiences of three Border Patrol agents, the Presbyterian Mission Agency delegation learning about issues along the U.S.-Mexican border and in Guatemala heard a different take from the Moderator of the 1992 General Assembly.
With Presbyterians among its earliest and most passionate customers, the Café Justo coffee cooperative just across the border from Douglas, Arizona, grows, roasts, packages, markets, sells and ships nearly 60,000 pounds of coffee annually.
On Thursday, President Trump travels to the southern border of the U.S. to make his case for a $5 billion border wall to protect the country from an invasion of migrants. Mission co-worker Mark Adams has lived on the border since 1998. He believes that Christians are called to see the migrant issue very differently.
Coffee is a major agricultural product of Mexico, the beverage of choice among millions of people in the U.S., and a link in a mission partnership that transforms people in both countries.
About 10 years ago, even weeds wouldn’t grow on the land that was given to DouglaPrieta Trabaja, a grassroots community group that promotes food security. But the group’s members dreamed big. They dreamed of converting the barren land in the Mexican border town of Agua Prieta into a food jungle. And with lots of hard work, tons of different types of manure, and loads of compost, laughter, tears and prayer, they are producing more vegetables than their families can eat. And they are blessing their community not only with fresh vegetables, but also with an example of faith and perseverance.
