Trust in the Midst of Change

As I ended my shift last Thursday at The Migrant Resource Center (MRC), I gathered my belongings, said goodbye to the person who came to take the next shift, and walked out of the building and through the door in the fence that surrounds the building to head home for the day. As I closed the door behind me and began to walk towards the Port of Entry, I heard a little voice call out to me: “Where are you going?” 

I turned around and saw Diego*, the six-year-old boy, who comes to MRC every day and with whom I have spent my shifts at MRC with for the past four months. He walked along the inside of the fence to where I was standing. 

“I’m going to my house,” I told him, “but I will see you next week! See you soon!” 

“Okay, goodbye”, he said, waving to me as I began to walk away. 

When I went to MRC for my next shift on Monday, I found out that his family decided over the weekend to leave Agua Prieta. As heartbroken as I was that the family had left town and I did not have the chance to say goodbye, I remembered a lesson I had to learn in the first few months of my mission on the Border: the only constant here is change.

Over the last 9 months of being in Douglas and on the Border, I have seen how things can change drastically in a week. The changing policies of the U.S./Mexico Border can oftentimes have an almost immediate effect on the people seeking asylum in the United States. With policies changing so quickly, it is not uncommon for people to arrive or leave mere days after a policy is put forth – this means that people are coming and going almost constantly. Oftentimes, the volunteers at CRM change as well, as many will come to volunteer for a few weeks or even for the summer and then head back to their homes. I began to recognize my engagement with a constant cycle of welcome and goodbye with the people arriving and leaving and having to sit with my feelings around not always having the opportunity to get closure in my relationships with people when they leave.

In reflecting on my relationship with Diego and the last time I saw him, I realized there is a bigger lesson that God has tried to teach me over and over again: to do what is mine to do and to trust God with the rest. The best I can do is love and care for the people I encounter while they are here. When they leave, I need to remember that God is present with them and he will care for them just as he cares for me. 

I realized last month that it is time to once again begin the goodbye phase of the cycle, but this time is different because the person who is leaving is me. As I prepare to move to El Paso, I have been working to remind myself to do what I can and trust God with the rest. Just as I trust that God will care for the people who have left, including Diego and his family, I have to trust that he will care for me in the same way. I am learning to trust myself to do what I can to help myself during my transition and also trust that God will be with me as I forge a new path in this season of my mission.

Questions for Reflection: How do you react to changes in your life? How can you increase your trust in God during seasons of change?

*This individual’s name has been changed for privacy reasons.