Saturday, October 17, 1998

Youth minister recalls trip to Del Rio

By LORETTA FULTON

Senior Staff Writer

Imagine the surprise when Eddie Castaneda's youth group from Abilene turned out to be the biggest one arriving in Del Rio to assist residents who suffered extensive flood damage in August.

On Friday, Oct. 2, Castaneda loaded his church van with 10 youths ages 13-17 and two other adults besides himself for the weekend trip. When they arrived everyone was amazed.

"We had the largest youth group there," Castaneda said of his Iglesia Bautista Ambler youngsters. "It was a testimony of how the youth could participate."

And, as is usually the case, the experience turned out to be one in which the youths received every bit as much as they gave.

"It was really a blessing, and the kids loved it," Castaneda said.

The youths weren't the only ones blessed. For Castaneda the trip was an opportunity to return to his previous home and let people get a glimpse of the man he has become.

"It was a blessing for me to go back and assist Del Rio personally since I became a Christian," Castaneda said.

Castaneda ran a grocery store in the border city for eight years before moving to Abilene to be youth minister at Iglesia Bautista Ambler, also known as Ambler Baptist.

When he heard that Primera Iglesia Bautista in Del Rio was organizing Baptist churches, in conjunction with the Baptist General Convention of Texas, Castaneda knew what he had to do.

"I would have gone anyway without the youths as a testimony," he said.

But as soon as parents and youths at the church learned of Castaneda's plans, they decided to join him.

"I started pushing that and everything fell into place," he said.

Nine people died in the Aug. 23-24 flooding that was fueled by rain from remnants of Tropical Storm Charley.

Castaneda's youth group discovered when they arrived more than a month later that plenty of work remained to be done. The Abilene force was ready. The youths knew they were in for a weekend of tough work, but they also knew that it was as much a mission trip as if they had traveled to a foreign land.

"I considered it a mission trip, and the kids considered it a mission trip -- we just didn't have to leave the country or take 12 different shots," Castaneda said.

A month after the flooding, many homes still had mud caked on the floors and watersoaked sheetrock waiting to be ripped out. It was a task the young folks especially were up to.

"We went in there as a demolition group," Castaneda said.

Armed with hammers, the youngsters attacked the walls like they were the enemy -- some even practiced karate kicks on the sagging sheetrock.

"They really looked like they knew what they were doing," Castaneda said.

The Abilene group worked on two houses, both belonging to people who desperately needed their assistance.

"We were able to help out this lady who had absolutely no way of repairing her home," Castaneda said.

In the second home, the group encountered two ladies who were assisting their parents. For them, the Abilenians were a prayer answered.

"We saw you down the street, and we were just praying you would come down here," one lady said.

People in Del Rio won't soon forget the kindnesses shown them by Abilenians. In addition to Castaneda's groups, three members of Primera Iglesia Bautista on Treadaway went down on Oct.4, and several Hispanic Baptist churches in Abilene had already sent a van load of food to the strapped city.

The work that Castaneda's youth group did may have even greater returns than those already experienced. The people they assisted were handpicked by the pastor of Primera Iglesia Bautista in Del Rio.

He had visited the people in their homes before the flooding and considered them prospects for his church, Castaneda said. When disaster struck, the minister seized it as a means of showing God's love.

He wasn't disappointed by what God sent him from Abilene.

"We let them know what we were about," Castaneda said.