Year: 2024

By Ken Jarvis, Area Media Specialist

“When I think about our ministry here I think about the reality that Jesus, Mary and Joseph were refugees after Jesus’s birth,” said Rt. Rev. Dr. David Read, Episcopal Bishop of West Texas. “They had to flee to Egypt to avoid Harod.” The ministry that the Bishop is referring to is the Plaza de Paz Respite Center in San Antonio.  

The Respite Center opened as a collaborative effort between the Diocese of West Texas and the Southwestern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. According to Flor Saldivar, Director of Immigration and Refugee Ministries with the Episcopal Diocese of West Texas, “Plaza de Paz was a small pastoral project founded in 2021 when many migrants were just being dropped off at random parts of the city, in parks and parking lots. People were suffering. They were sitting outside in the heat.” 

So in July of 2021 a small shelter, Plaza de Paz, was opened. It provides day-time welcoming services for families and individuals seeking asylum. The services provided include meals, assistance with travel arrangements, personal hygiene care, emergency housing, and transportation within Bexar County to the airport or bus station.

“The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was such a big part of making all of this happen,” Saldivar said. “On the first day the missionaries showed up and helped us establish the layout of the building. They helped us check people in and the sisters were playing with the children.” 

“We are so excited to be part of this interfaith ministry,” said Tish Rodriguez, San Antonio Regional Just Serve Coordinator for the Church of Jesus Christ. “Plaza de Paz is one of the premiere needs in our area. At first, people in our congregations started dropping things off, then they saw there was a bigger need. The need for showers and hygiene was huge.” 

Because the refugees didn’t have proper hygiene facilities the two faith groups got together and applied for a grant from the Church of Jesus Christ for a shower trailer. The grant was approved and at check for $87,000 was presented to the Plaza de Paz staff.   

In presenting the grant President James E. Mears, President of the San Antonio East Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ, said, “When we are baptized we make a covenant to morn with those who morn and comfort those who stand in need of comfort.” 

Addressing the Plaza de Paz staff Mears remarked, “I have been so impressed with what you do here and have seen the Christlike service that you provide. You are certainly providing comfort to those who have needs.”

Read summed up the mission of Plaza de Paz saying, “So that’s the model for why we do this ministry for migrants and asylum seekers. It’s because Jesus and His family were refugees. So, as we serve these people who come here, we are serving Christ Himself.”  

by Ken Jarvis, San Antonio Region Media Specialist

Joey Choi grew up on the island of O’ahu in Hawai’i. He was a big kid and enjoyed playing football.  In fact that’s what he thought he wanted to do after high school.  

He started his freshman year in high school on a positive note. He had a homeroom teacher who was very supportive of him. In fact, for a while, he thought he wanted to be a teacher and often helped his fellow students.  

In his senior year he struggled with a lot of high level courses. He talked a lot in class and his grades weren’t very good. “I barely had a C average,” Choi admitted. 

Then one day one of his teachers dropped a bomb. He looked Choi in the face and said, “Don’t go to college. You’ll never make it.”  For whatever reason what that teacher said struck home.  “For many years after that,” Choi recalled, “I was convinced that I was unable to go to college and succeed.”

Choi was always a very active Christian and a member of The  Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He went on a two-year mission to Korea and enjoyed the work and the people very much. After he came home, he was self-conscious when everyone asked him where he was going to go to college. His plans were simple; get a job and travel back to Korea as often as possible.  

Then Choi got married and later a cousin who was working in San Antonio convinced them to move here in 2020. “I still lacked confidence in myself but my wife, Kristi, changed all that.” With his wife’s encouragement he started looking for a way to go to college. He decided to earn a BYU-Idaho online degree through BYU-Pathway Worldwide .

Fast forward to today. He now is a graduate with a degree in marriage and family studies. Choi was very grateful to find a program that helped him get a higher education online and for such a reduced cost.  “I love [BYU-Pathway]! It’s set up to help people succeed.”  

But Choi didn’t stop there. He is now enrolled to get an online graduate degree in Marriage and Family Therapy, at Lamar University, in Beaumont, TX. He admits his father’s example influenced him to choose that field of study.

His father, Stewart Choi, is a well-known marriage and family therapist in Hawai’i. “For the longest time I was known as my dad’s son, and I hated that. I never wanted to be like my dad,” Choi admitted. “But I always wanted to help people and finally when I was in school and debating what I was going to do I realized that the best way I could help people and serve them was through counseling.” That was a humbling experience for Choi. “In the last year or two I’ve really learned to appreciate my Dad. To be frank, I just want to be like him.”  

In an address to the youth in Nairobi, Kenya, Russell M. Nelson, President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said, “In the Church, obtaining an education and getting knowledge are a religious responsibility. We educate our minds so that one day we can render service of worth to somebody else.”

With one college degree under his belt and well on his way to becoming a counselor what advice does Choi have for younger people? “It’s simple.  Just show up and care.”