Quick Update

We have built every week this month so far and we are about to start the final build of this month today. I just wanted to say thank you to all we have built with and also to everyone who has been praying for us this month. Expect a lengthy report next week, but for now...going to meet the group and cross the border in about an hour. Love you all...

Til the whole world hears,

Justin

His House Christian Fellowship Build

This year I wasn't able to lead the build with the His House Christian Fellowship group, but they let me lead worship for them on Sunday morning. This is a video of us singing while you can see the crew building houses with with my ministry. Awesome video Kurt!

Lamar Christian Church Build 2010

Last week, Julie and I had the pleasure of building with Lamar Christian Church. This group has built with Casas Por Cristo for the last 12 years! It is pretty cool when we can serve with a group of people who have the same passion for the ministry of Casas Por Cristo as we do. This build was also special because I was able to train a new staff member(Tony) on the building project. But first...lets meet the family.

Holding the bible is Angelica Garcia Valles. Her and her four children are the proud new owners of their new house. Two of her children are in this picture; Saul who is 14 and Leslie who is 7. Her youngest son Daniel who is 4 and her oldest son Edgar who is 16 are not pictured. Next to them is her sister and her Aunt who were with her all week as she received this blessing from God.

Their story is very interesting and requires prayer from us as we read this. Angelica's husband was shot and killed last August. He was involved with the drug cartels. This tragedy caused Angelica to become very depressed. Her and her family had been attending church and pursuing God but because of the tragedy, Angelica lost hope in God and stopped attending church. This last week was a big week for her. Partnering with her Pastor(Manuel Delfin), we were able to minister to her and her family as we built her new home. The pastor was with her before and during the build process counseling her that God still loves her and her family. We communicated with her that God building her family a new home was proof that God is still pursuing her and her family's hearts.

Angelica's youngest son spent the week with her mother. Her oldest son, however, was following in his dad's footsteps and was hooked on drugs and getting involved with the Cartels. Please pray for this family, that Angelica's son would be miraculously taken out of his current drug situation and that the family would again find hope and love in Jesus Christ.

These two guy on the end were a riot to build with. The man with the glasses name is Norm but they called him "Judge" because he was a Judge for many years. The closest man is Sam. Both of these guys had amazing personalities that made every moment never dull. Serving with them was a pleasure for both Tony, Julie, and I.

It took us exactly three days to build the house with 14 of us. Building with this group made the building process go a lot easier because they were both experienced with the project and were experienced in building from their personal life. Angelica's family also worked with us the whole week and really showed us how excited and eager they were to be inside their new home. Her whole family was living in a little two room house. Before her husband's death, their family made $80.00 a week. Since her husbands death, Angelica was selling things at a market to help make up for the meager income they were making. This house is going to put her family years ahead financially.

For everyone who prayed for Tony and I as we went through the training process, I think it really went well. Tony seemed to observe and understand everything we went over and I made a few mistakes that he was able to learn from and I was humbled by. Overall, I'm confident that Tony is going to do well when he leads a house by himself.

After the build, we got face to face with Angelica and her family in her new home. The Pastor spoke about the greatness of God and finding Christ again after tragedy and a falling away. We exchanged words of appreciation for each other, our appreciation for Angelica and her family, and their appreciation for the tremendous blessing we had given them. We communicated that it is nothing that we did but this gift was from God, physical proof that God loved her and her family. Ray, the associate pastor from Lamar Christian, said it best. He handed the bible to Angelica and said, "It is our hope that we are in heaven with you and your family." This brought tears to Angelica and when the keys to her new house were given to her, Angelica's daughter Leslie started to cry tears of Joy. We leave this family with hope for their future on earth and into eternity.

Thank you to Lamar Christian Church for building with us and your faithfulness in building with this ministry over the years. I hope to see you for many more years to come. I also want to say thank you to everyone who supports Julie and I in prayer and financially. Because of you, all of this is possible. Love you all...

          Justin and Julie