Its been four years since several hundred Cuban refugees came to Ysleta Lutheran Mission Human Care (YLM) and experienced their lives changed by simple acts of kindness.

“We had nowhere to go when we were processed,” Ricardo, a Cuban who immigrated with his wife Irma, shared about their experience when they entered the United States through the Juarez/El Paso border on May 8^th, “It was one in the morning and we stood outside the processing center, and I’ve never experienced such a fear over the wide space before us, and I couldn’t think about what to do next.”

During this second week of May, in 2015, Rev Dr. Karl Heimer was contacted for help to offer shelter, food, and aide to the Cuban refugees coming into El Paso by the hundreds.  His wife shared how, during those weeks, he would go to the different border crossings at one or two in the morning to pick up newly processed Cubans.

“We went through a church in the downtown area,” Joaquin explained over dinner as he remembered the day he and his wife, Daniuska, came into El Paso on May 18^th; their processing took all day and it was after midnight when they were finally in the United States, “I had sixty dollars in my pocket, at most, and both my wife and I had nothing but the clothes we were wearing.  We spent the night at the Catholic church, then were transferred to another one.  A day later, we came to the mission where we found an abundance of kindness we had never experienced before.”

Through the help of the YLM staff, and volunteers from local churches such as San Pablo Lutheran Church and Zion Lutheran Church, several hundred Cubans were helped with the process of acquiring social security numbers, filling out food stamp and work permit applications, purchasing travel via plane or bus, and transportation to ESL classes, training sessions, and the bus station or airport.

“It was a hectic couple of months,” Maritza, San Pablo’s church secretary, shared after the Saturday morning distribution of food was complete, “We picked them up from the border entries, whether it was day or middle of the night.  We set schedules to go to the Social Security Administration office, helped them fill out forms, line by line.  Eventually, we had volunteers teaching ESL classes here at the YLM campus.  They were welcomed into our thrift shop to take clothes they needed, we gave them hygiene kits, helped them get acclimated to their new surroundings.”

For three months, hundreds of Cubans transitioned through YLM, majority of them heading off to other parts of the US, but there were several who stayed in El Paso.

“We liked the calmness here,” Joaquin, who works at San Pablo Lutheran and helps oversee the Saturday morning Drive-Thru Food Pantry, answered when asked why he and his wife stayed in El Paso, “Not to mention, there’s so much kindness and a sense of family…the people here, like Miguel and his wife Maritza, Pastor Heimer and his family—they became our family.”

Daiye, also part of the small group still living in El Paso, comes to help on Saturday mornings, along with Ricardo and Irma, Yasmani, and Joaquin and Daniuska:  “I remember how kind the people here at the mission were when my husband and I had nothing.  They did everything they could to help us, to give us encouragement and a sense of belonging.  To help them continue to show that level of kindness to the surrounding community, I cannot help but be part of it, because they helped us.”

It has been especially impacting for them to help during the COVID-19 pandemic, as they are intimately familiar to what it is like to go hungry.

“There’s no food in Cuba,” Ricardo explained, his wife agreeing with him, “We have empty shelves and it takes hours going from store to store to try to find one stick of butter.  We knew we had to get out if we wanted to be able to survive.  Now, we dedicate our time to help others survive during these hard times.”

For this reason, Ricardo and Irma come every Saturday, taking great pleasure in helping others who are currently experiencing what they once lived.  For them, this kindness still amazes them, and they will not forget how their own lives were changed four years ago.

“We saw Jesus in action through the people at the mission,” Irma stated with a smile, “It’s not just words, but actions, and here, we experienced God’s love in a way we had never encountered at home or in our travels.”

As mercy ministry continues at YLM, it is a joy to see kindness received being returned by these men and women who now call El Paso home, and YLM a place where lives are changed every day.