A Message from Branden Dupree | Assistant to the Bishop | DEM | Advocacy Coordinator
Nov 15, 2024
AMEXTRA Semillas: Travels that Transform
7,400 feet above sea level, standing on the vibrant streets of Mexico City, surrounded by the sounds, colors and people of a place rich in culture and history, I find myself shoulder to shoulder with ten other participants from across our Church on a journey far deeper than international travel. AMEXTRA Semillas (SEEDS) is a unique immersion experience in collaboration with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and AMMPARO Migration Ministry that seeks to learn from communities in a different social, political and economic context, deepen individual discipleship and increase cross-cultural competence.
After a preparatory meeting with Rev. Dr. Ruben Duran of Christian Community and Leadership; Stephen Deal of AMMPARO; Rev. Moises Perez of El Seminario Luterano Augsburgo; Ms. Yareni Leyva and Veronica Vera & Elizabeth Sanchez Arjona of AMEXTRA, we are encouraged to brush up on our Spanish vocabulary and prepare for the week-long transformational experience.
AMEXTRA’s slogan is “Change your way of thinking to change your way of living.” Informed by Romans 12: 1-2, the weeklong immersion provided us with various up-close cultural and service opportunities to decolonize personal perceptions and assumptions of migrants, and offered education regarding the global impact that migration has on every community. The long and short of it is that migration is not recent, it is inherently human. Mexico is a specific corridor and in order to properly discern, extend and experience welcome, we need to understand that migration has many sides.
Our group opened our time together affirming our collective values and then we were off. Day Two, we planted ourselves in downtown Mexico to learn about its history, see El Templo Mayorm and its remaining Aztec ruins, and that afternoon we went to Lomas de San Isidro, a neighborhood on the outskirts of the city, to meet and participate in activities with the children at AMEXTRA’s community center. These children, so intelligent and beautiful and warm, shared their interests (music, Taki’s, Netflix!) and invited us to help prepare for the Dia De Los Muertos celebration.
Day Three, we were invited to visit a Microfinance project in the Chalco valley and hear testimonies of a few of the beneficiaries. For those not familiar, “Microfinanzas” play a vital role in Mexico as they provide financial services to individuals and small businesses that lack access to traditional banking. Of the 120 that exist, AMEXTRA owns three microfinance projects that compete with the large banks, utilizing a strategic alternate model. Through community access, lower interest rates and training, economic growth is fostered, poverty is actively reduced, gender equality is supported and invested in, resulting in sustainable professional and personal development. In the afternoon, we were blessed to enjoy a boat ride through the “floating gardens” of Xochimilco and learn of their vital ecological role in the city.
Day Four, we literally became students. We began the day learning of migration in Mexico from Eliza and Rev. Moises Perez, professors of the Bible and Migration, and that afternoon, were blessed to hear first-hand accounts of the migration experience at Casa Tochan and then have lunch with the men in residence. Fun fact, Lutheran Young Adults in Global Mission comprises many of the volunteers. As these men travel far and wide for a chance at life, their individual stories are testaments to the human spirit and the grace of God. We ended the day touring the grandiose Chapultepec Castle overlooking the entire city and in direct view of “El Angel,” the monument to independence.
I could live in Day Five forever. Surrounded by hundreds who journeyed to actively live their faith, we began the day exploring all the churches that make up the Basílica de Guadalupe. Over lunch we were invited to tour the Ciudad Universitaria—Central Campus of the National University—and learned a few cultural expressions to assist us. We ended the day in the idyllic Coyocán neighborhood, marveling at Frida Kahlo’s home and museum, historic La Casa Azul. I understood La Caza Azul to always be the place where Frida offered her entire self for reflection, and where she expressed her genuineness and prepared to go out into the world to embrace everything it has to offer. Amen and Amen.
All along the way, our group was invited into reflection and given space to process the experiences. I returned with more questions than answers, but also with a shifted perspective on global connectedness. The narratives we digest must be interrogated and our communal relationships must be affirmed. I return advocating for authentic welcome wherein we learn from our differences and value the lived reality of others—good and bad. Ultimately, I return with an ask; I ask that we become more open-hearted and -minded, and one seed at a time, continue this transformation. Dear ones, be rooted where you are and let us pray:
Oh God, we are living in a broken world of selfishness, greed and injustice. But you are here, working through your children to build community and alternative structures that strive to rebuild your original creation, a place where all are welcomed and nourished. May the small acts of hospitality I receive and offer be a pathway to a more just world. AMEN.