A long Awaited Day!

Last week we had some special guest here from Salt Creek Baptist church of Dallas Oregon. This group was lead by a great friend, that was at one time the Youth Pastor of our home church in the States. Pastor Russ was very confident and excited to be down here in Mexico with his group of 19 youth and parents that were ready to get started on their building project, and working with children through Vacation Bible School.

This group was going to be doing three major projects at Casa Esperanza which is a home for battered women. The main project was the construction of a 16×16 housing unit, and then they also were going to pour a concrete sidewalk, and install some security light.

This house project was a special project as it was to mark the end house for one of the rows of homes that have been built. On most of the other homes we simply stucco the sides and then add another house on to the previous, but this time we finally got to wrap the end house, which for me was exciting. All I could do is to think back about 5 years ago when we built the first house and at that time I was thinking “Man,,,we have a long way to go”. For Casa Esperanza it means one more home for a Mom who is at Casa Esperanza, or a Mother who is in deep trouble or wondering the streets looking for help.

We had a small team that started out the week by installing Solar Powered security lights. Currently there is only one light and I guess it gets very dark out there, so the ladies love the fact that now they have some lit walkways. Electricity is very expensive and we need to find an alternative solution to providing lighting, but without taking a bite out of their pocket book. There is still a need to have even more lights hooked up and if you would like to donate a security light to Casa Esperanza just follow this link to Home Security Store.  If you are indeed interested I can give you an address to ship them to and we’ll get them installed.

Then there was about 6 Cubic Meters of concrete that needed to be poured. As of now, the women need to tromp through the dirt and when it rains it of course turns to MUD, sticky mud too. But now both sides of the homes have sidewalks and again it make such a big difference for the Mom’s and I’m sure it will slowly cut down on the amount of cleaning they need to do. It was great having James there who was one of the parents on the trip and he was a huge help in prepping the forms and helping with the concrete finishing.  Still, there are many Cubic Meters of Concrete to be poured and hopefully some day the Moms will be able to walk on concrete sidewalks no matter where they walk!

The first day of VBS there was about 100 people that showed up, but then the next day, Tuesday, the numbers dropped to about 60-70. Debbie had to explain that on the first day there’s more because many come thinking that there is going to be a “hand-out” of food or clothing. Debbie explained that the Migrant children that showed up are those that are indeed interested and hungry for more that just a hand out. Many of the children come from the migrant farms and it’s hard to think that some of them do not speak Spanish as they only know their native tounge which coud be a dialect of Mixteco or Trikie Indian. This can make translation a very difficult task. It takes some time, patients, and a loving heart to be able to try to sit down sing some songs, do some crafts, play games, and then to get them all to sit down to listen to a bible story. It is a whirlwind of activity!

On the last day we finished up projects, cleaned up, and then Russ and his crew cooked up a mass amount of Hot Dogs to share with the Mom’s and their children, and well yea, I had a few as well. The last bit of business to tend to was the presentation of the new home, hand over another set of keys, and to pray for Terry, Adriana, and all of the Mom’s and children at Casa Esperanza.

Casa Esperanza is a very special place and it holds a special place in mine and Deb’s heart and we thank all of our brothers and sisters for coming down and giving of themselves in a big way!!!

Presenting the Keys to the New Home to Terry.

One of the many beautiful faces, it make it all worth it!

Russ, Dennis, and Mike--Sort of a Canyon Lake Comm. Reunion

Ahh yes, nothing better than a Coka a Cola out of a glass bottle!

Yea!!! Finally, we made it to the end of the houseing section--Two homes left to go. BTW, good job on the Stuccoing!

Big Mike and the crew await the call for another Truss to be lifted up.