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Calexico Camp 49
Then, one day the opportunity came to use a youth camp in the pine forests near Calexico. Leaving behind the wayside peach and apple trees laden with blossom, our group of youngsters motored up into the magnificent snow capped mountains. We had great plans for camping, fishing and climbing out of doors in the beautiful Calexico "Big Redwood Tree" Park. Swirling snow and blustery winds that night left an impenetrable white wall of ice and snow around the cabin.
The peaceful picture postcard scene outside contrasted sharply with the twenty-five boisterous young people who charged around inside that confined little cabin. With such a demand for amusement we had soon worked through our supply of films and decided to ask the young people which they would like to see again. "How about a western or a "Mounties" film?" we asked. In unison they yelled back, "No, we want the one about Jesus," to my surprise!
I had grown to love these Mexican teenagers. In the little town of Calexico, Tom Packard, our lay reader, and I had set up a "rescue shop" in Tom's apartment. It helped boys who had escaped from the poverty in Mexico and crossed into the US. In the twin town of Mexicali, dark skinned peasants squatted in makeshift tin and plywood shacks by the riverside awaiting the slightest opportunity to get across the border. How strange that the twin towns of Calexico and Mexicali, representing California's plenty on the one hand and Mexico's poverty on the other should have intertwined names in this way!
"You've Gotta have a Glory"
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