Bear Valley,,,Building it UP!

This last April Bear Valley Community Church of Tehachappi Ca made their way down to answer the Call! This is special group as we have had a long standing partnership with them and we have seen many lives from within the group grow and prosper. Those that were once youth and now grown and have taken up leadership positions, are married, starting families… Even Youth Pastor Brandon Kerby was once a high schooler on their Spring Break Missions trips—amazing.

This year Brandon along with his Wife Abby brought a group of students that had focus and fun on their minds as they entered into to their week of service. Their project was answering the need to help La Casa De Esperanza grow and expand and to fill a big need. One of the visions for the Casa is to have a Elementary school on their grounds. This is a long term goal in establishing this school, but, it has come to their attention that the need is coming faster than they had thought. With the threat of their local school closing it’s doors there in a need to provide an area for Class rooms, and two possible class rooms would be where we presently have out Shop. To make room for classrooms means moving the Shop, but where do you move a shop to when you don’t have,,,,A Shop!! Which is a much needed place as the shop holds the tools and equipment to keep the Casa operating.

The Team got to work right away on the 24’x24′ Shop that would have a nice 10’x10′ door opening and a 12′ ceiling. It seemed pretty straight forward, but working at 2′ higher than we usually work meant being a lot more careful and moving at a slower pace. We had a great bunch of hands that poured a lot of hard work into the new building. One thing that was special is how they had some of the boys and girls of the Casa come over and participate. Dennis, one of the Dad’s in the group brought a box of work gloves and safety classes. We handed out the gloves and glasses to the kids and they became instant Construction Workers, so much that every morning when we drove in they were up, dressed and waiting for us,,,with their safety glasses on. In 4 days a slab was poured, walls stood up, a roof attached, and most of it stucco’d and it looks Great! There will come a day when we’ll be in the shop working on the vans, fixing weed eaters, or searching materials to fix what ever is broken, but we’ll do it with the back ground of the Kids playing at School.