Over Memorial Day weekend, First Baptist Austin made a second annual trip to work alongside Primera Iglesia Bautista Piedras Negras and their ministry to migrants waiting to cross the border. We provided a day of fun for the almost 40 children staying in their two shelters, and worked to rehab and improve the main shelter downtown by installing fans, doing some light plumbing projects, and a fresh coat of paint. On Sunday First Austin members cooked lunch for the 250+ worshipers at First Piedras Negras to thank them for their incredible ministry of hospitality. Of the many memorable moments, these two will stick with me.

A group from Second Baptist Church in Lubbock drove six hours south to Piedras Negras in early August. They had been there before. Three years ago they built and delivered 75 bunk beds to this shelter, run by Pastor Israel Rodríguez and his church, Primera Iglesia Bautista. This time they were coming with their trucks loaded with picnic tables.

Pastor Israel Rodríguez-Segura received shock after shock when he heard the news about 15,000 migrants, mostly Haitians, camping under the international bridge between Ciudad Acuña, Mexico, and Del Rio, Texas. The number of migrants shocked him, as did reports of their squalid conditions, as well as the fact government officials had closed the bridge.

Los cristianos fieles siembran la semilla del evangelio que produce almas nacidas en el reino de los cielos, incluso en el pedregoso suelo de los caminos migratorios.

El domingo pasado, la Primera Iglesia Bautista de Piedras Negras, México, llevó a cabo su primer servicio bautismal desde el inicio de la pandemia del COVID-19, y fue una celebración infundida por la inmigración.

Even on the rocky soil of migration pathways, faithful Christians sow gospel seeds that yield bountiful blessings—souls born into the kingdom of heaven.

This past Sunday, Primera Iglesia Bautista of Piedras Negras, Mexico, conducted its first post-COVID baptismal service, and it was an immigration-infused celebration.

Despite ever-changing conditions, disappointments and even setbacks, pastors Carlos Navarro and Israel Rodríguez offer unchanging Christian love to refugees along their sections of the U.S.-Mexico border.

Navarro leads Iglesia Bautista West Brownsville near the southern tip of Texas, just across the Rio Grande from Matamoros, Mexico. Rodríguez pastors Primera Iglesia Bautista in Piedras Negras, across the river 320 miles northwest, on the Mexican side of the border.

Based on his family background, Israel Rodríguez Segura seemed destined for the pastorate. Not necessarily so, but a decision he made as a rebellious teenager turned his life back toward God and made a long and faithful ministry possible.

Second Baptist Church in Lubbock, Texas, built 20 bunkbeds for immigrants and refugees in Piedras Negras, Mexico. The group in Lubbock prepared the pieces ahead of time and then delivered them last weekend. Together with their new friends at Primera Iglesia Baptista, they assembled the beds.

Several weeks ago, we publicized the need for comfortable sleeping arrangements for the masses of people arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border. Our partner churches south of the border are housing immigrants while they wait until they are allowed to enter the United States.

Members from Second Baptist Church of Lubbock, Texas, answered the call to help refugees and immigrants at the border. They got together to build 17 bunk beds, which they will deliver to Piedras Negras, Mexico, at the end of this month.