Derek left for Acuna, Mexico on Tuesday, March 17, 2010

Derek left with Southwest Park Baptist Church on Tuesday, March 17th. He will be back on Saturday, March 20th. He called us when he arrived safely Tuesday evening. Please pray for him as he leads in VBS the next two days.

Mexico violence deters some, not all, mission trips


■ Travelers expect locals to help point out safe, unsafe areas


EMILY PETERS

peterse@reporternews.com / 325-676-6776

Beltway Park Baptist Church isn’t taking any more chances with the escalating violence in Mexico — at least for this spring break.

At Christmas time, Beltway’s high school aged youth were caught in crossfire during a mission trip to Reynosa, the border town near McAllen where the church has frequently sent teams to serve an orphanage in recent years.

As the Mexican military execut­ed an ambush against drug lords in an open shopping area, “the youth had to take cover in a restaurant,” said Keith Roberson, pastor over Beltway’s university student min­istries. “Everybody was OK and the Mexican military helped get them out of harm’s way. We hoped that might have been an isolated incident, but 2 to 3 weeks later we saw a couple more reports.”

That’s why in January, the church decided to change spring break plans to take a large number of university students to Reynosa.

Reynosa is listed in a warning released Monday by the U.S. State Department as one of the cities know to have “large firefights” between the military and drug car­tels armed with automatic weap­ons and grenades.

“We had a lot of parents who were happy we changed those plans,” Roberson said.

Sunday, the U.S. State De­partment issued a new warning against travel in some border towns after three people with ties to the U.S. consulate were gunned down by drug lords while leaving a child’s birthday party in Juarez.

However, some Abilene church­es are not concerned about their Mexico mission trips.

Today, about 50 members of Abilene’s Southwest Park Baptist Church will drive to Acuña, where the church has worked with a part­ner congregation for the past seven years. The church group includes members ranging from elementary students to those in the 70s who will help with construction, Bible school and big tent evangelistic services.

Acuña, located across from Del Rio, is not specifically listed as a dangerous city in the State Department’s warning, but it does mention parts of Acuña’s state of Coahuila.

Chris Raley, spiritual develop­ment and missions pastor at South­west Park, said the church has been in contact with a local pastor and camp director in Acuña who say the violence is not escalating in their area.

“We don’t go to the unsafe places,” Raley said. “It’s just like in Abilene, where there are places you wouldn’t go at night. Our local friends help take care of us and let us know where we need to be.

The locals tend to know a lot about what’s going on.”

And while the church sent a team to Juarez last year, he said that trip won’t be repeated.

“That’s a dangerous place,” he said.

But the change in plans hasn’t hampered the spirit of Beltway’s spring break efforts. This week, two charter buses are taking about 90 college students all over Abilene to share their faith in apartment complexes and different neighborhoods.

“It has really been a blessing for us to realize our mission right here in Abilene,” Roberson said.

New Year's Eve

The day before New Year's Eve. I was sledding up in the mountains outside of Denver. Nathan's brother lives in Conifer. My first and only run was awesome. I flew down the 200-250 feet snow covered mountain. My brother-in-law told everyone if you make it all the way to the creek then it is a good run. I made it all the way to the frozen creek sitting on my sled, but the last three bumps did me in. I think it was the second bump that I got a little air underneath me and came down very hard. I compressed my spine. Did not know until a week later that I had actually fractured my T-12 vertebrae.

Still made it to Wes Greer's wedding. Did not stay for the reception or get to enjoy all the fireworks that were shot from the tops of the buildings in downtown Denver through the evening. Heard them at midnight from our hotel, but our window faced the wrong direction. :(

I slowly made it back to work two weeks later after two MRIs. The first comment out of the tech's mouth after the second MRI was "Yep, you really did some damage on that sled." I am weaning from a brace now after being in it for a month. Found out when I got to the doctor's office the following Monday that I actually broke the T-5 vertebrae as well.

What a day!

Daniel and I went to the DPS for the fourth time today. This was my first time with Daniel, but he and his dad had been THREE times prior to today. The lines were unbelievable. Daniel and I got there at 7:30 a.m. and sat in the Tahoe until more people showed up. Boy did they show up. A suburban showed up and 5 people hopped out before Daniel went and got in line. He wound up being the the second person called to the counter though when we got in. The 5 people in front went right to the machines. They must have been with a class. Anyway, Daniel passed the test. We were all very happy for him. After school Nathan pulled out of the parking garage, pulled up beside a parking lot on Walnut, and told Daniel he could drive. Daniel got behind the steering wheel. Stopped at the STOP sign. Turned right onto North 1st. He was too far over in the second lane so he over corrected and you can see what happened. Daniel went from starting the day nervous, to excited, to fearful, and then to a basket case the rest of the evening. He experienced some whip lash so Nathan took him to the doctor. Yesterday they went out to the farm. When they got back into town they stopped off at Shotwell and started over. Daniel came in the door telling me that he drove and did not hit anything. :)