Building Day 1

Today was a great day as the team headed out for the first day of a 2-day build. We hit the ground running and started framing the walls and painting right off the bat. (They often put wood up with wet paint and so everyone gets pretty covered and paint.) I help build trusses and stand the walls. Sam was on the painting crew.

We met our family Genesis, Luis, and little Zoie. She's probably four or 5 years old. We worked with a entirely Mexican build crew that ran the show. They were awesome! Pointing us in the right direction, teaching us how to do things we didn't know how to do and being very patient with our mistakes. Samantha was a champ on the painting crew and must have painted 200 boards and walls. There was a lot going on!

By midday it started to get pretty hot, but a cool ocean breeze kept it tolerable. Regardless, standing in the hot Mexican sun definitely started to drain us as the day carried on. We were able to get all the walls up and two walls up inside, so both of the bedrooms are separated and the main living area is ready. All of the wiring is done and the drywall is mostly up. They're putting trim up as we ended the day. The roof has the first layer of tar paper down and tomorrow we shingle and do a ton of trim work. Today we are also able to get the windows in.

It's amazing how effective and efficient this crew is to build these little homes, but seeing what our family lived in before this is really cool. What an upgrade! Even though, it would basically just be a really nice garden shed for most of us in the United States. For them though you can see the joy on their face and the excitement. It not only means a lot, it changes a lot.

I came into this trip a little cynical about these home build projects, but as the day wore on, I could see that they are a magnificent way into the lives of people by being a very tangible blessing to them.

This is probably my eighth or 9th home building mission trip, but today I remembered why we do it. The Homes of Hope team is so good with the families, and the Lord is talked about over and over. They never said "we are building you a home," they said "we are showing you the love of Jesus by building you this home."

I like that.

Today we are all sunbeaten and dead tired as we get ready for dinner. But we come back to a beautiful complex and awesome showers and a huge meal. Just another sign of how blessed we are.Read more