I took this picture on Christmas Eve outside of our apartment while thinking about the coming build week. Beautiful. Many people ask us why we don't go back to Michigan for the Christmas Season. Since working here, we have yet to be home for Christmas. As many of you know, the busiest times for building are during school breaks. Christmas break is no exception. Many families and workers take that time off with their family to be able to do missions trips with organizations like ours. So every year, between Christmas and New Years Day, there are usually a high volume of groups that come to build a house with our ministry.
The high volume of volunteers is one big reason we stay here to build, but perhaps the biggest reason that we choose to remain here to build over the holidays,is to be a part of giving such an amazing gift to a family during the Holiday season. For some reason, that act of gift giving is magnified in emotion during holidays. Maybe it's the spirit in the air, maybe it's psychological, maybe it's the time sacrifice on our part; but building a house for a family while everyone else is vacationing is spectacular.
This holiday season, we built with a group from Cornerstone Christian Church, located in Illinois. This is the second straight holiday season we have built with them and the third time we were privileged to partner with them in house building. Many from that group are quickly becoming like family.
This year we built for Juan and Celia Mendez Rojas and their 5 children and grandchildren. The interesting thing about this family was that our ministry had already built them a house. Unfortunately, back in 2006, the house that had been built was destroyed in catastrophic and out-of-characteristic floods that hit the area. They re-applied to receive a home and this week they finally received a new home...again. When I had heard of the story about the floods, I immediately wondered what God was doing. As a group, we discussed the possibility that God needed them to hear the Gospel a second time and that maybe the flood was an act of God's mercy rather than an act of evil. Maybe what evil meant for evil, God intended for good. Whatever the case was, whatever God was doing, we made it a point to take advantage of the circumstances.
We started building the Tuesday after Christmas and were able to finish the house on Friday. Weather conditions were pretty rough but God gave us a spirit of gratitude to be a part of what He was doing. A bad sandstorm was followed by two days of cold wet snow. The conditions only made us think about the family; How they had been living in a two room cinderblock structure that was small and un-insulated. It made us think how they have been physically suffering for years.
We dedicated the house to the family on Friday afternoon. They received a new Bible and keys to their new home. Most importantly, they received the gospel message of Jesus Christ. This family already professed faith in Jesus Christ but you never know where they are really at inside. The dedication brought tears to their eyes and they were in agreement to the truth in the message that was given to them. It is our hope that the new, fully insulated, three room house stands as a monument of God's love to them that was built by His people.
That night, the church we stayed at had a New Years Eve service. The Mexican Pastor's name of the church is Gedeon Solis. Every year he accommodates the American volunteer group into the service by making it bilingual and participatory for the volunteers. Several of the volunteers were able to give testimonies about the trip and about their personal lives in front of the Mexican church congregation. The group also sang a song entitled, "How Great Is Our God", led by yours truly.
Thanks for your prayers to anyone who prayed for us. If you would, would you say a quick prayer for the family? Ask God to continue to go after their hearts and seal them in salvation. If you could also pray for the group we built with, that God would continue to sanctify them into missional living. It is our hope that the experience they had here transforms their lives in the truth of living the Gospel to those around them. Love you All!
