Friday Jan 23, 2015
Greetings from Hwy 177 outside Del Rio, TX. It’s day 3 of our POWER trip journey including our departure from Atlanta last Wednesday. My name is Braden Burns and I’m from Rome, GA. I also go by Brandon, Branden, Barden and other creative derivations; however, I’ve been called far worse names so these are OK.
This is my first mission trip. I considered going several years ago; but my schedule just did not work-out, my heart wasn’t terribly motivated and, quite frankly, I was concerned about security in and around the US / Mexico border. When I committed to this trip, the Holy Spirit re-assured me [ and my family ] that everything would be OK.
I’d like to review the trip thus far: there are twelve of us from Rome + two more out of Atlanta. Arrived in San Antonio late afternoon on 1/21 and met the larger POWER group to mobilize for dinner and the road trip to Del Rio. Food and fellowship were great dining on chicken & cornbread at Acadiana. Had some time to practice my Spanish with Randall Chacon and Enrique Mejia ~ from Puerto Rico and Mexico respectively. Enrique is a young guy recently graduated from college in Mexico. He works for a company that deals with flight logistics and shipping. Very smart kid. We arrived in Del Rio around 10:30 and proceeded to unpack and receive an Operations Manual for the days ahead. Somehow I managed to skip-over one of my assigned roles as journalist for the trip. Adding insult to injury, I managed to miss one of the first meetings as well.
Thursday 1/22: breakfast around 6:30 and then a devotion from Bobby Biber. Talked about God continually building us up ~ a constant construction in progress. Ate with Doug & Kai Husen from CA.
Thursday AM jobs: Bill Rogers and I assigned to work with Max Arguello to help paint the main dorm & kitchen building at Faith Mission. Bill is a retired Agriculture Inspector from Oregon. Max and his son own & run their painting company in CA ( near San Diego?). Max clearly knows his trade. Bill and I fumbled with masking tape and plastic wrap trying to seal and cover-up doors, windows, light fixtures and anything else Max did not want painted. Max rigged-up the sprayer and made quick work on the 2nd story high-spots. He made quick work on the low areas and pretty much all the hard spots. Bill and I had a few turns trying to imitate Max’s work. I blame the high humidity, low temps and constant drizzle for our work….
Thursday PM jobs: they call it “Joy Tour” and I really did not know what to expect. After an excellent lunch in one of the missionary Churches in Acuna, we headed-out to a local grocery store and stocked-up on beans, rice and flour. I think we had 3 separate grocery carts loaded-down with goods. We had 2 separate vans and we drove into some of the poorer neighborhoods in Acuna. It felt like we were on the outskirts of the town. The weather was quite cold ~ close to 33 and windy. In many neighborhoods the people are walking in the street and generally quite visible. This particular location seemed to be a ghost town. We drove around looking for folks. At one point, we stopped the vans and prayed to God asking what we should do or where we should go. We continued through 3-4 blocks and then exited the vans and began walking the streets looking for residents. A timid face would appear from behind a cracked cinder-block wall. Perhaps 1 out of 5 homes had someone who answered the door. All the folks were invited to attend a gathering and hear a Message. By the time we returned to the 2 vans, there were at least 35-45 locals gathered including children, women and a few men. Pat from Faith Mission led the group in a few songs and then we had testimonies from Tim Raymo and Jonathon Bilima. It was quite something to witness after asking God’s direction less than an hour earlier.
We go looking for things and hope to achieve success on our own efforts with very little to show for it. We ask for God’s favor and grace and direction and he provides. We prayed with the locals, passed-out basic food supplies, clothing, hats, toys and lots of candy. One lady asked us to visit her relative around the block who was too sick to be able to leave the house. Several men visited and prayed over the family.
It was a great end to the day.