Southwest senior MDiv Ryan Lee had the opportunity to work at a shelter at St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church in the El Paso-Juarez area over this past summer, spending May 31st through July 1st in the area. He partnered with his sending diocese – the diocese of Central Gulf Coast – and the diocese of the Rio Grande to support his work in this shelter on the border.
“Our mission was to provide care and services to those who had recently arrived at the border,” Lee said. “We received families from countries such as Honduras, Cuba, Ecuador, Columbia, Bolivia, Argentina, Brasil, and Turkey (and others).”
Lee said the people who came to the shelter mostly just had the clothes on their backs and their documents. Their needs ranged from the practical to the spiritual.
“We cared for them while helping them to connect with other family members who were already living in the United States,” Lee said. “Those who had arrived had survived great hardship in their home countries, as well as experienced a great deal of trauma and suffering in their journeys.”
The stories Lee heard during his month working at this shelter impacted him greatly.
“I feel privileged to be able to care for such beautiful people and share God’s love with them” Lee said. “I look forward to continuing to work in support of this ministry in the future.”
