The day was too beautiful to worry about a little water.
Missionaries from the University’s Baptist Collegiate Ministry were performing puppet shows and hosting Bible studies for local children of Nueva Rosita, Mexico, and the BCM medical team was administering medical assistance to families. Families who had never had their picture taken were gathering together for family portraits.
It was a perfect Sunday afternoon during Spring Break.
“When the pastor of the Second Baptist Church took me aside and nonchalantly told me that our team would have to stay at the First Baptist Church for the night, I wasn’t worried at all,” said Parker Jenkins, a BCM city leader and training and development sophomore.
Fifteen minutes later, the laid-back mood abruptly changed.
“Vamos! Vamos!”
The pastor began shouting in rapid Spanish that the missionaries had to leave immediately, said Ashley Thurston, a BCM medical team leader and biochemistry sophomore.
According to an Associated Press report, heavy rains caused flash floods that devastated the border town of Piedras Negras. As of April 7, the floods had killed 33 people and at least 12 more were reported missing at the time of the report.
Thurston said that downpours had caused a dam to break an unyielding barrage of flash floods up the Alamo River, which runs north to Nueva Rosita.
Second Baptist, which is located a few hundred yards from the river, had to evacuate.
As they were leaving, the missionaries stopped, amazed at the sight of the advancing water cresting over the hills, but soon realized that the main road was flooded and blocking their escape.
“We saw local people just take off and start running,” Jenkins said. “They knew what was going on, but we had no idea how serious it was.”
The missionaries ran to the back of the church with water rushing right behind them, and continued across the dry river bed behind the church.
“We left at the perfect time and got all our supplies up to the second floor of the church,” Jenkins said.
The missionaries began running across the river bed as the water began to fill it.
The church sent vans and trucks to pick up the fleeing missionaries. Then they were able to observe the amount of destruction that the floods — the worst in 50 years — had caused in such a short time.
“Fortunately, we had a missionary who had served in Bangladesh, which floods a lot, and he specializes in helping flood victims clean up,” Thurston said. “He went to the shelters and met with the governor, who gave us permission to be the first rescue team into the city.”
BCM coordinator Steve Masters gave the student missionaries money for food supplies, and they distributed more than 200 sandwiches.
They also gave out clothes, food and packages of toiletries, cleaned flooded houses and buildings and collected more than $1,000 for additional aid, Jenkins said.
“It was really unbelievable to see that some people who didn’t have much to begin with had lost everything,” Jenkins said. “Some houses were completely underwater, and some houses just collapsed by the flood’s strong current. It’s a sight I’ll never forget.”
The Chapel on the Campus also sent missionaries to Mexico. The group worked with a medical team near Piedras Negras.
Michael Goebel, a biological sciences senior who went to Mexico with the Chapel’s college group, The Refuge, said he was deeply affected by the casualties and damage.
Goebel witnessed 300 people lined up on a riverbed, looking down on the ruins of the homes they had lost.
“It’s so heartbreaking,” Goebel said. “Even if that happened here [in America], you’d have money to rebuild. They didn’t have resources to rebuild. You realize how lucky you are.”
The Chapel’s missionaries drove to the city and brought food, water and medical supplies.
Goebel said the experience was surreal and it did not occur to him that the people had nothing.
“There’s a purpose [for why] we were there — God put us there,” Jenkins said. “The fact that we came when we did, it happened early in the week and that we were able to help, makes me certain that those things didn’t happen just by chance.”
Thurston said that the missionaries made the biggest impact on the people when they took on tasks with a willing spirit and enjoyed working together.
“One man stopped one of the missionaries and demanded to know what [the missionary] had that made him want to help out,” Thurston said. “The missionary explained through a translator his purpose and how he had devoted his life to Christ, and the man immediately gave his life over to Christ.”