Day Five: Phoenix

Most of us braved the 103 degrees to walk the labyrinth outside of Trinity Cathedral in Phoenix during our visit to this church.

Quote of the day:  “The migrants are the heroes here, the strangers in our midst who are angel in disguise.” (Gene LaFavre, No Mas Muertes, making reference to Hebrews 13:2

We started off the day in our hotel in Tucson. We then drove to Phoenix for our last day in Arizona. We visited Gene LaFavre, the founder of No Mas Muertes (No More Deaths). Our guide Ricky is a volunteer with No Mas Muertes, and introduced us to Gene. No Mas Muertes is a humanitarian aid organization that takes trips into the desert and leaves water for the migrants. The program was started because a group of people, including Gene, were upset about the amount of migrant deaths in the desert. They started three organizations, No Mas Muertes being the last one. The program was started in 2004. Gene is in his late 80’s and is still going out doing water drops! Gene talked about some of his encounters with migrants and their outstanding stories. He told us about a women with her two kids that had prayed to god for an angel and the next day Gene and two other volunteers showed up. She said that God had sent her three angels to bring her water. Gene said that he likes to think of the migrants as the real angels.

We then had lunch at a fusion sandwich restaurant. The restaurant was two blocks away from the Episcopal cathedral, Trinity. We toured the worship space and altar. There were some beautiful stain glass windows. We finished with dinner at La Piazza and ice cream at Novel. We are staying at a hostel tonight to finish the year in a place with a feeling of community and togetherness.

We look forward to getting home to our families and friends, but we will miss Las Fronteras, with its beautiful landscapes and beautiful, heroic people.