A library is blossoming in the Colorado Desert, bridging Spanish and English, children and parents, imagination and possibility. Thanks to generous donations, says missioner Rick Dixon, families in Mexicali, Mexico are gathering to read, learn, and dream together—finding in books a path to peace, justice, and a brighter future.
Well, here I am again. Sitting by myself in an empty classroom, projector and PowerPoint lesson ready to go. Last year, I barely had enough room to fit all of the students who came to my “summer” classes. But here I am, for the fourth straight day sitting in this room with no one to teach. It’s kinda great. Let me explain.
While missioner Rick Dixon in Mexicali, Mexico considered how the U.S. presidential election will affect asylum seekers, he was drawn to meditate on the words of German Lutheran pastor and anti-Nazi dissident Dietrich Bonhoeffer: “God is the beyond in the midst of our lives.”
“Mission is full of invitations and new opportunities to which I should respond with a yes, but I often find myself saying no instead. The instinct to regress to the familiar and comfortable is a strong pull. There’s a cost, though, to saying no and staying with what’s easy,” reflects El Salvador missioner Josh Wetmore. He considers what’s to be gained from saying yes.
