Who Was Helped?

When this project was first assigned I was overjoyed. I have been a Pastor for five years now and helping people is my main mission in life. I worked in four different churches all over the west coast (Best Coast) and in a variety of positions from youth to associate. When I started reading over the assignment I knew instantly what I wanted to do and what I was going to be able to share with the class when I had done it. The assignment was simply titled help society project, finally a project I could get an A+ on. I was laid off from my job in December and since then I have been struggling to find what I want to do and who I am. Was I only a pastor or could I do something else? This project helped me in so many ways I know years from now I will still remember the help society project and how it helped focus my life and my relationship with God. I choose to go to Mexico to build houses during spring break.

The group I was going to be working with was AMOR ministries out of San Diego. My brother Matthew had been going down during the month of March for a couple years now and every time he came back he was recharged and excited about life and his passion for helping people was restored. My Dad had also decided to go with us. My Dad and I were going for one week and my brother was going for two weeks. As my brother started to explain the mission we would be doing it was even more exciting to me. We were there to help the team of students that had also given up their spring break to build houses. We were not there to build the house or tell them what to do we were there to encourage and motivate them along the way. We would be staying in tents and during the build we would use no power tools. This was going to be a great trip. It was coming at a great time when I needed to step out of my area and really focus on serving others and serving God. I was really looking forward to this and I knew God had some amazing things to show me but I was blown away with how amazing the trip really was.

I was excited as I drove from Reno to Sacramento to meet my Dad and then as we drove south to San Diego. We got to the base in San Diego on Saturday and had all day training on what our role was and what we would be doing. Saturday afternoon we went into Mexico to set up camp and get ready for the week. As we drove into Mexico the thing I noticed right away was the roads and sidewalks, we are spoiled to have roads that we don’t have to avoid small potholes that could swallow up animals. I also noticed the buildings some in a good order some just looked like they sprung up out of nothing with one wall taller then another. When we got to camp I saw that it wasn’t much one building which was the gift shop and two huge rows of portal potties. We set our tents near big containers full of all the tools and supplies we would be using that week. Saturday night was a calm relaxing time before we got up on Sunday morning and headed back to San Diego to meet our group.

We went into San Diego not super early; we stopped at star bucks and waited at the office for a while till our group got there. When the group got in I introduced myself and away we went. We got settled in and I had dinner with my group and we talked about what was going to go on that week and the things that they were worried about and closed our time with prayer for the group and for the family we would be building a house for.

Monday morning, we had trouble finding our build site but finally did and relieved that the father hadn’t taken down some of the old house yet. So quickly we figured out that this was going to be a very customhouse build using some of the existing foundation and walls. Our team got right to work on what we needed to get done for the first day and it was great to see them all working together to accomplish a common goal.

The family we would be building a house for had five kids all girls. They had a three-year-old eight-year-old triplets and a twelve year old. They lived in a small shack with no water inside no bathroom and no kitchen. We were building them a house ten feet by twenty feet that would keep them warm and provide shelter during hard weather. They would have separate rooms and a small kitchen to prepare meals. When I saw the family my heart was over joyed with the amazing way we were going to change their lives.

We worked hard all week to finish this house by Thursday and we did, on Thursday we finished the stucco and had a dedication ceremony. During the ceremony the lead builder prayed a blessing over the family and house and thru a translator the family thanked us for coming, everyone was crying because it was an amazing feeling to have provided a house for this family that had nothing and were living in a small shack. I gave all the family members a hug and thanked them for allowing me to build them a home. My brother and Dad were on different builds but that had an equally amazing experience as mine. My Dad had a hard time not working on the house but he was good at starting things then letting the students finish that part up. I am blessed to have such an amazing Dad for him to even want to serve is great but my dad has such a servants heart it’s always great to spend time with him and see how unique he is and how different he sees the world around him. I hope to be able to spend more time with him serving and sharing Gods love. Last year he was able to go on a mission trip to San Francisco with me and my middle school group and they loved him and he loved serving along side me. I wish their were more people out there like him helping and living life glorifing God. During his time in Mexico my Dad learned how to not be in charge but to help assist others in building. My brother who has been going for three years now in March had a great group as well. His group was newer to the building process so he was able to get in more and build. It was so encouraging to see him serve and to just be down in Mexico with us. I am very glad I went down to experience that.

Thru out the week I was able to pray and really look at what we were doing for this family and the message of hope we were giving them and showing them that we Americans do care about them and do want to make a difference. They have so little but they appreciate what they do have. The girls were sharing their stickers with our group and whatever they had they wanted to show us. It was great to also see all these students that had given up their spring breaks to come down to Mexico and help others. When some of their friends were going to Cobo or on vacation they set that time aside to serve.

My week down in Mexico was amazing; I learned so much about building, about Mexico, and about myself. I relieved that even though I am not working at a church right now as a pastor I was still a pastor. I have a calling on my life to help people all around me, whether it’s at the grocery store or it’s in Mexico I can show others that God loves them and he uses people to help his people. In the Bible there is a great verse that I always look to for focus it says this Matthew 25:40 the King will say, 'I'm telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.' So whenever I see someone in need or someone that is hurting I think about how that is the face of Jesus and it motivates me to help them in anyway that I can. The big decision weighing on heart of whether to move my family back to California closer to my parents was a little clearer now. In seeing how much love the Mexican family we built a house for had for each other it made me want to show my parents and my daughters that family was important and that made the decision easier for me. God open my eyes to many things in Mexico and I know it will impact my life for many years to come.