More than 40 Texans on Mission volunteers joined staff in the lower Rio Grande Valley Dec. 12-18 to celebrate “Christmas in the Rio Grande Valley” through a variety of ministries intended to “share Christ with everyone that we encountered,” said TXM Missions and Discipleship Director Sabrina Pinales.
“We served at multiple locations alongside different local churches,” she explained, adding the trip featured a variety of ministry activities. “We had toy and blanket distributions, medical clinics, dental visits, provided hygiene kits to families and blankets to keep them warm.”
The team of volunteers included a medical/dental team from Watermark Church in Dallas, GoNow student missionaries and students from the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor.
Trip leader Ryan Welch, TXM Missions and Discipleship Coordinator, said the trip sought to meet both the spiritual and physical needs of families in the area during Christmas.
“We strive to meet the spiritual needs, but with all of the trips we do, we want to look for those opportunities to meet physical needs too,” he said. “In this economy, there are great needs and that's very clear every time we go down to the Valley to serve the people in South Texas.”
Welch said the group met physical needs by providing toys, blankets, medical clinics and providing teacher appreciation lunches and gifts, as well as building beds.
“In many, many cases, a lot of children don't have beds,” Welch said. “They're sleeping on the floor. So we had students go into the homes, assemble these beds and pray with these families.”
In addition to serving hundreds of families, the team also served the families of around 75 local pastors and their families.
“Often, the pastors are the ones giving back to their communities, and they do that with such a heart they often can't provide for their own families. So we prioritize them as well, doing a specific distribution, for them and their families.”