One of the various CCE trips held by Asbury is the Border Trip, an opportunity that takes students to the Mexico-United States border. The trip is held every other year, with the course credit PS 353 attached.
Led by Dr. Hardin and his wife, this year’s group was made up of 10 students. Each day looked different, with the group visiting ministries that helped house migrants, a school, a men’s and a women’s rehab facility and multiple churches.
Students learned about the organizations and how they assisted migrants from day to day. This included hearing their stories and building relationships with those within.
“I loved getting to meet Sister Isabelle and Josue, a 13-year-old boy who had lived at the shelter with his mother for over a year and a half. He and his mother were originally from Honduras. He radiated joy and just wanted to play games and have fun. When I got tired, he even brought me a chair to sit on and water to drink. This shows that even though he was going through a very hard time, he still eagerly wanted to show love to his neighbor,” said August Price, a member of the trip.
The class covers a wide variety of topics, such as border patrol, immigration policy and ethics. It acts as a way to have a better understanding of the people and their stories. The trip serves as a more immersive way to apply these concepts.
Immigration is something that has constantly been in the news recently, with ICE raids and deportations being hot-button issues over the past year. When asked about the way this trip affected her views, Bethany McMullen, another member of the trip, said, “I think there’s a really strong dissonance with people in America’s understanding of how immigration works versus actually seeing how the immigration system has affected someone. There is a lack of empathy in a lot of narratives, especially with ICE, because ICE is oftentimes the main bad guy in a lot of their stories.”
What also surprised McMullen was the far-reaching impact that these issues have on everyone in these areas. “Most people we came into contact with had been deported at some point. Even just like talking with a random person on the street, so many people had been deported,” said McMullen.
While the content of the trip is difficult to swallow, it is uniquely important for Asbury’s CCE programs. “It makes it a lot heavier for me just because I knew people were being hurt by these systems, but now I actually have stories and faces to put to them,” said McMullen. This trip, as well as many of the study abroad trips sponsored by Asbury, takes modern issues and puts them in the context of a biblical worldview. “As Christians who want to model ourselves after Christ, we must embrace the marginalized and persecuted. Our love must extend to these neighbors who are suffering and in need of our help,” said Price.
