Corpus Christi UM continues life of mission service

Valerie Borhauer sent to
teach for 2 years at
California school

By Rachel L. Toalson
Staff Writer
Mission work has always colored Valerie Borhauer’s life.
As a youth in Corpus Christi, she took part in Sea City Work Camp, a housing rehabilitation project used as a summer camp and service project for high school students.
She joined others from her home church, Grace UMC, Corpus Christi, on mission trips to help build houses for the poor in Mexico.
She served in soup kitchens.
And today, Borhauer is working at the David & Margaret Home, a residential care facility for adolescent girls, and the Joan Macy School, a specialized non-public school for girls.
Borhauer, 22, was placed in the two LaVerne, Calif., organizations by the General Board of Global Ministries.
Commissioned as a US-2 missionary July 30 along with seven other young adults, Borhauer is to serve for two years in United Methodist mission assignments in the United States.
The US-2 short-term missionary program has been in existence for about 55 years, said Lauren Green of the mission board staff in New York City. The US-2 program originally began as a way to recruit women into mission service. Borhauer’s class was the 54th commissioned.
Upon graduation from United Methodist-related Southwestern University in Georgetown, Borhauer said she became interested in the US-2 program because of its commitment to social justice. She said she’s always wanted to teach.
“It sounded like a neat thing to do,” Borhauer said. “I knew I was going to be teaching, and I thought this would be a good chance to move away and do something good.
“I know I can help by teaching and get the Word out there. But it’s a lot easier to do through the church, where I know I have people who will back me up and believe in me.”
Borhauer then began the “strenuous” application process.
Once her application to the mission board was accepted, she traveled to New York City for an interview weekend. Accepted applicants sit through three interviews.
“We’re discerning whether they’re appropriate,” Green said.
Applicants must be young adults between 20 and 30, have a bachelor’s degree or equivalent life experience, have a commitment to social justice, and accept that they are a representative of The United Methodist Church, Green added.
The US-2 missionary program is competitive, and class sizes vary every year.
Because US-2 missionaries are fully commissioned, Green said there is no difference between them and the missionaries who feed the starving children of Africa—except their location.
Once accepted into the program, US-2 missionaries undergo extensive training in New York. Afterwards, the mission board assigns them to faith-based organizations all around the United States.
The sites are responsible for providing the short-term missionaries with standards of living appropriate with their area of service, Green said.
About a month ago, Borhauer stepped into her position as a school liaison/education assistant for the David & Margaret Home and the Joan Macy School.
The organizations are not connected, though they are run from the same location, said Maricela Duran, principal of the Joan Macy School.
The school is similar to what Texans might know as a charter school, Duran said, though teachers and employees work to help students transition into a more traditional school setting.
Residents who are ready for the transition attend local public and continuation schools either part time, in conjunction with their Joan Macy studies, or full time, she said.
Borhauer helps residents educationally by providing the supervision they need to stay in public school and helping them better connect with their teachers.
She is in charge of curriculum and teaches small group lessons at the David & Margaret Home’s emergency shelter, where adolescent girls stay when they are pending placement into a foster home or a more stable environment.
Borhauer’s work at the home is a social service, Duran said. Some girls are wards of the court. Others are placed in the home on probation because they have committed some crime.
“I teach the girls,” Borhauer said. “So many of them think this is so hard. I just try to make it easier and let them know they can do this.”
Duran said Borhauer has already proved her capabilities in the short time she’s been serving.
“She’s incredibly competent and giving,” Duran said. “And she’s been very organized. She has a true motivation to serve. She’ll bring great things to her position.
“We’re very delighted to have her. She’s been incredible to work with.”
Borhauer said she’s enjoyed her time thus far, though she hasn’t had much opportunity to explore California. She’s living in an apartment at the David & Margaret Home and rarely sees anything but its four walls and those of her offices.
She said she’s noticed the traffic, though.
“I grew up in Corpus, where there’s no traffic at all,” she said, chuckling.
The landscape is very different, Borhauer added—both beautiful and foreign.
She said she regularly keeps in touch with the other US-2 missionaries so they can share ideas and support each other during their time away from families and the familiarity of home.
“We have to keep in touch because we’re the only ones who really know what we’re all going through,” Borhauer said.
She said her parents have remained supportive. They’ve already made the drive once from Texas to California for a short visit.
“They really like this,” Borhauer said. “They might not like it that I’m so far away, but they want me to do what I’m called to do.”
Borhauer still is unsure whether she will become a foreign missionary at the end of her two years. It is only one possibility.
But she said she was born to teach and knows she would miss it terribly if she chose to do anything else.
For more information about the US-2 program, visit www.gbgm-umc.org.