A Letter from Brooklyn Stephens

Note: Today you will read from the heart of a dear friend of Abara, Brooklyn. She wrote her letter, about Border Encounters, from the lens of her personal Christian faith. Her words testify to the life-transforming effect that the “BE experience” can have. Click here to learn more about signing up for a Border Encounter, as an individual or as a group.

 

Dear friends,

My name is Brooklyn Stephens, and I have had the gift of attending multiple Border Encounters with Abara. Each has been transformative in my life.

In 2019, I was deeply confused and heartbroken by the stories I had heard on the news about family separations at our southern border. I knew that God was inviting me to step closer and understand more, so when an opportunity came up to journey with the organization “We Choose Welcome” to a Border Encounter, I signed up to go immediately.

Before I came on a Border Encounter, I had friends with immigration stories  and had heard about the border on the news, but I didn’t understand the complexity of the immigration system in the United States, and much less the ways that God was at work on the edges of our country. Little did I know that the prompting of God to go on a Border Encounter with Abara would end up lighting a fire in my soul for my immigrant neighbors, and a desire to advocate for just and compassionate policies for refugees and asylum seekers.

I have seen how Border Encounters unfold and unravel worlds and safe narratives into a far more beautiful story. After my first encounter, I wrote this poem to describe how I was feeling. In a world concerned with doing, the positioning of listening and presence as priorities throughout Border Encounters is transformative. It is only when we finally sit still and listen that we can truly come face to face with people who have migrated.

My life has expanded beyond what I could have ever imagined because I have had the opportunity to see the work of God in El Paso and Juárez and in so many people there. I now work as the Community Engagement Coordinator for We Choose Welcome and get to invite others to participate in the fullness and beauty of loving our neighbors (Mark 12:34) and to go on Border Encounters with Abara just like I did.

The reverberations in my life of going on a Border Encounter are too many to name and trace. Imagine the unique impacts on each life that comes to the border! Our God is mysterious and the plans of God are beyond my understanding.

What I do know is that God is at work, bringing restoration and dignity to all nations, tribes, and tongues. In 2019, a Border Encounter with Abara marked a shift in my view of the world and how I move in it. The same is true for any person who walks on the sacred soil of the margins—who sits at the crossroads of the historic La Hacienda. The land cries out, and if we are still enough to hear it, we will join in—join in by sharing our stories of hope and pain, advocating for our neighbors, and cultivating beloved communities wherever our feet land.

In Hope,

Brooklyn Stephens

December 2024