When 8-year-old Eduardo Quintero stepped foot on U.S. soil for the first time, he started a new life, one that would take him 1,000 miles away from Mexico. But 15 years later, Eduardo returned to the border — and he’s here to stay.

Eduardo is an electrician. He started his fifth year of studies in early 2023, but it isn’t his job that’s calling him to leave Georgia, the state he’s called home since his childhood. Instead, it’s his past, a migrant community and a ministry that’s been serving along the U.S.-Mexico border for over 30 years.

Eduardo and his wife, Caroline, have chosen to build their life along the border — a place that is special to each of them for unique reasons. They plan to serve the local community through Iglesia Misionera Cristo Vive, a church whose mission is to share the Gospel with the majority immigrant population of San Juan, TX.

This population is one that Eduardo knows well — and identifies with. He was once in their shoes.

Eduardo was born in Celaya, a city in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato. The area is known for its history of mining, and Eduardo’s father worked in a steel factory. Despite the danger of the work, he was paid well and able to support his family of four. But in 2005, he lost his job and had to seek out a new way to provide for his wife and sons.

“Everybody at that time thought the American Dream was to have more money,” Eduardo says. “... He knew there was more opportunity in the U.S.”

Eduardo’s father made the dangerous trip north, set on finding a stable income and secure life for his family. But along with the financial baggage he carried, he had a more personal reason for journeying in the intense Mexican heat and leaving his home behind: He wanted to save his marriage.

Eduardo’s parents had been struggling in their relationship before his father left home. He was drinking, and the couple was drifting apart. The emotional distance had only grown deeper by the time he made it to the U.S. and started preparing for his family’s arrival. But looking back, Eduardo can see that his father’s decision to head up north was the best thing for their family’s future.

“The one thing I recognize that kept our family together was his decision to bring us here,” Eduardo says.

Before his journey, Eduardo’s father made sure their house was paid off, and he prepared for it to be sold after his wife and sons left home. He saved up everything he earned from his new American job to pay for a “comfortable” crossing for Eduardo, his younger brother and their mom. By the time Eduardo reunited with his father in Texas, Eduardo had been traveling for weeks, was two years older and couldn’t recognize his father. But the life his father had prepared for their family was a promise of hope for their future.

“We were never left without food. Not even one day,” Eduardo says.

Eduardo can see how God provided for his family in their new home. It wasn’t easy being a family of immigrants living in the rural American South. The Quinteros faced different types of threats — from Eduardo’s father’s ever-present fear of losing his job to other documented Americans to threatening letters from neighbors telling them to leave — but despite their challenges, the family stayed strong. They began to go to church, and on a Sunday one month later, the four Quinteros got baptized together.

The border between the U.S. and Mexico represents an important part of Eduardo and his family’s story — of the risks they took for each other and for their future. But had it not been for his wife, Eduardo may not have ever gone back.

Caroline first visited the border in January 2020, just months before the pandemic started and Title 42 prohibited anyone from entering the U.S. through the southern border. As the missions intern for her church, Caroline was invited to meet with a couple of ministries to cultivate partnerships between their organizations and her church — and one of those groups was Iglesia Misionera Cristo Vive.

During that trip, Caroline witnessed Pastor Hugo Moya and his wife, Eunice, minister to over 100 migrants on the same ground that Eduardo and his family traversed years before. The Moyas’ dedication to the community and self-sacrificial approach to service drew Caroline further into their ministry, leading her to take three more trips to South Texas over the next two years. Iglesia Misionera Cristo Vive offered something that she hadn’t been seeing in other ministries: a sound understanding of the Gospel and an authentic sense of humility.

“They’ve served as a pillar of hope for me in the Church,” Caroline says.

By the time Caroline and Eduardo got married in 2021, she was eager to experience life at the border with her husband by her side — and to watch as he revisited the land that marked the start of his life as an American.

“I was getting to share a place I really loved with someone I really loved,” Caroline says.

On that first trip, Eduardo found himself serving individuals who made the same difficult decision his dad had made to risk everything for a chance at something better. Among the children in dusty shoes and parents with weary faces, Eduardo saw his own family’s story.

“That week was very transformative for me because although I didn’t have expectations, I felt full,” Eduardo says.

A year later, Caroline and Eduardo returned to South Texas and spent the summer on staff with Border Perspective, which partners with Iglesia Misionera Cristo Vive to educate individuals on immigration by welcoming them at the border. But this time, they came with a feeling that they would soon call the border home.

“God was growing our hearts to be down there long term,” Caroline says, and as their friendships with church members grew stronger and the hot and humid Texas climate felt more bearable, that feeling was confirmed. By the end of the summer, Caroline and Eduardo knew that they’d be spending winter in a new home there.

By choosing to move to South Texas, Eduardo and Caroline were not exactly following the path of least resistance. Their decision required leaving behind their families, their jobs and the only state they’ve called home. There have been moments of doubt and times where they hesitated, but the couple couldn’t ignore the desire God had planted in their hearts.

“One of the most threatening things to a believer, to a Christian, is to become comfortable,” Eduardo says. “While I was in Texas, I realized how comfortable I had gotten here in Georgia.”

December of 2022 was Eduardo and Caroline’s last month in their home state before heading to South Texas. As they gradually sold their belongings and prepared for the 1,000 mile road trip west, the couple reflected on the life they’d built in Georgia and anticipated the new one they’d start in Texas — knowing that as they move forward, God is developing their vision for the future.

“If we have any impact,” Caroline says, “[I hope] that it be not just at the border, but that it impacts everyone here at home.”

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