Plymouth Magazine-Spring26-DIGITAL - Flipbook - Page 14
Reflections from the Common Ground
on the Border Conference
By Ted Brimeyer (he/him)
It was a seemingly off-hand September
conversation in the hallway outside
Waveland that sparked last month’s
delegation of Plymouth Teens to the
Common Ground on the Border
Conference in Sahuarita, Arizona. Linda
Dorsey mentioned the eye opening
experience she and her husband George
shared just a few years prior. It was clear
there was enthusiasm and energy for travel
and learning of this sort as hands shot up
in the Youth Room during Wednesday
night’s dinner asking who might have
interest in attending such an event. The
next month, the Plymouth Foundation
generously awarded a grant to help fund
the majority of this project, and six
teenagers were selected by competitive
application to embark on this journey.
To prepare, attendees selected from over
twenty interest sessions and field trips
to attend throughout the conference.
The teens were asked to all sign up for
sessions different than their peers to
maximize our group learning. In our
predeparture meeting with travelers and
families, Dixie and William Hoekman
and Carol and Mike Peterson, part of
the most recent group of Plymouth
folks to attend this event, helped us to
understand the weight of the content
with which we would be engaging.
We were blessed with smooth logistics
(a single 30-minute flight delay), perfect
weather (sunny and low 70s), the beauty
of God’s creation (including a short sideexcursion to Saguaro National Park and
“A” Mountain) and a wholly trustworthy,
responsible, punctual, joyful group. Our
full days started early and ended late, yet
the only complaints heard were when
I took a speed bump just a little too
fast in the 15-passenger van. There’s so
much to reflect on, but I was particularly
inspired by the instant community we
found in our fellow conference attendees.
Whether it was our new teenage friends
from a Waldorf School in New York
State, the approachable, down-to-earth
locals sponsoring the conference, our
Minnesotan brethren watching the
brutality of the enforcement surge
unfold in their home state, or the former
Plymouth members who had relocated
to Fort Collins, we were surrounded by
hundreds (truly) of our fellow Americans
(El Salvadoran, Guatemalan, Honduran,
Columbian, Mexican, and United States)
who wanted to learn, who believed that
we can do better.
One month later, we are filled with
gratitude for the support of this
congregation to broaden and deepen our
understanding of the complex situation
that is the Southern US/Mexico Border.
I am inspired by the engagement of
our young people and their ability to
empathize with the plight that refugees
face. We have returned home energized
and motivated to impact change to
support a more humane, welcoming
border here in Des Moines.
Pastor
14 Erin Marth blesses the group’s trip during worship on Sunday, January 11.
