Debriefing

This post was written on Saturday, June 30th

By Sarah Elderkin

Hi there!

I’m awake far later than I intended to be, but the fellowship here is so wonderful that I couldn’t get myself to stop the wonderful conversations about our lives, our problems, our solutions, and our faith. It’s amazing to see how much closer we all are than we were at the beginning of the trip. I feel so blessed to be surrounded by great people. All week, I have felt that God brought me on this trip for a reason, and tonight we had the chance to do some debriefing and let out our emotions. Through conversation, it was easier to see where God revealed himself, and we were able to build upon each other.

I am currently so tired that I’m slightly delirious, seeing as it is 3:14am and I am half listening to some very entertaining conversations. The love I feel for everyone here, both our team and the families in Tijuana, is so unbelievably awesome. I am blown away by the rush of emotions as well as the way that each of us grew.

I can’t wait to be back in Seattle in approximately 8 hours. This trip has been one of the most amazing experiences of my life, and I praise God for this opportunity.

I miss everyone at home, and love you all!

Sarah Elderkin

Reflecting

This post was written on Saturday, June 30th

By Haley Parcher

Hello all!

It is currently 2:00am and the whole group has to leave by 5:15am for the airport. At this point, most of the team (myself included) has decided to stay up instead of getting 2-3 hours of sleep. We have been reflecting on this past week and talking about all the amazing things that have happened. We decided to share about our favorite moment from the trip. When it came to be my turn, I honestly didn’t even know what to say. We have had so many incredible moments throughout this trip. I decided that my favorite moment was today when we finished the houses and gave the house keys to the families. We went back to the work site to finish up the last details of the house and say goodbye to the families. When it came time to give the keys to the family, we circled up and prayed. We thanked God for the amazing things He has done this week and prayed that the family can feel comfortable and safe in their new home. Part way through the prayer, the parents of the family (Timiteo and Silvia) started crying. They were feeling overwhelmed with emotions, especially gratitude. This brought most of the team to tears. Even the children of this family (Manuel and Andres) began to cry. It was a very special moment for all of us. We felt a sense of accomplishment for finishing the house but we also felt very sad about leaving the family. After we gave Timiteo and Silvia the keys, I went up on the hill to look at the beautiful houses. I began to think about the things we had done throughout the week. When we arrived at the work site the first day, we had a big empty work site. When we left, we had three beautiful homes. We even added a cross to the front and back of the house as a reminder that none of this could have been done without God on our side. Over the course of the week, we had high moments, low moments, scary moments, exciting moments, sad moments and happy moments. But at the end, we had three COMPLETE houses and three very happy and grateful families. We didn’t just give these people a house, we gave them a home. We gave them a place to make memories with their family and friends. Most importantly, we gave them a place where they will be safe. These children will get to grow up in a beautiful safe house rather than renting a tiny unsafe apartment in the middle of the city.

                I feel incredibly blessed to have had this amazing experience with my group. God kept us safe, positive and strong throughout this entire trip and I couldn’t have asked for anything more. This trip was one of the most difficult yet one of the most valuable experiences of my entire life.

                There are a lot of problems with homelessness and poverty in Tijuana, that’s why we came down here. As much as our team would love to, we can’t fix every problem in Tijuana. But what we did do is change the lives of three families forever. These families now have a home that will probably stay in the family more many more generations to come and that is something for every single member of the team to be proud of.

All my love,

Haley 

The final day

This post was written on Saturday, June 30th.

By Calvin Antonetty

Hiiiii Everyone!

It’s Calvin again and this is my last blog post! It is currently 1:00am and we have to be awake at 4:30am to start leaving for the airport by 5:15am later today…soooo excuse me for any typos!

Today was our last day in Mexico and we went HAM CRAY FATTY STYLE (in Vince’s words)!!! We made it to the worksite early and just finished those houses, like, the houses didn’t even know what was coming!! Finishing involved tar guns, roof nails, white trimming, and complicated doors. I can’t even begin to describe how hard everyone worked today! All the groups had their own special little systems and tactics to getting the job du-dun-done! By the end of the work day, most people had tar stains on their pants, arms, and hands…OH and a nice hint of white paint!

Something AMAZING happened within the first five minutes of our arrival. (Grab the Kleenex, you might shed a tear or two) Papa Adrian pulled me aside and told me that his son (Adrian) is working on his first communion and that they go to the cathedral every Sunday. Everytime they go, Papa Adrian buys a new rosary or a new bracelet. Adrian Jr. decided he wanted to give his rosaries and bracelets to our team (orange team!!!!!). Now think about it. Little Adrian is 9 years old and here he is giving away these precious rosaries and bracelets to people he has only known for six days. In case you’re not familiar with the catholic logistics, to get your first communion, you have to sit through an hour or two of Sunday school every week and study the bible in depth. It’s not easy work AT ALL. I remember being that age and working for my first communion for so long. So all day we have all been wearing these amazing rosaries and bracelets and trying not to cry.

Leaving that work site was a melting pot of emotions. Excited that we finished the houses, in love with our new families, deep pain because we are leaving and may not ever see them again, relaxed because things were only gonna get easier, and confused as to why it couldn’t have taken us a month to finish these houses LOL. We also locked hands with Papa Adrian and his family and prayed. Andrew led us in the prayer and I translated his words into Spanish to Adrian. Throughout the entire good-bye process, Adrian tried not to cry. I must have said bye to him like five times. He said to me “I am so grateful that God put you all in my path and made a house for us to live in. I hope that God blesses you all and stays with you throughout your lives. I can’t even think of any more words to say because I’m trying not to cry.”.

Papa Adrian and his brothers were born amongst drugs and violence into a poor family in Guerrero. None of them made it through Elementary school because they had to work to make money for their family as they grew up. As they had kids, they picked up extra work to support their kids and their expensive apartments and skipped meals daily. They moved to TIJUANA to be SAFE and to take their kids out of the dangerous environment of Guerrero. All four families have been living in one little living room sized house for five years. Our Mission team came on Monday and built three more houses by Saturday morning. They now have four 12x24ft houses they can call their own. Now, the adults can starve, stress, and fear less. Now the new generation of kiddos can go to school and church and grow up with tons of opportunities they might have never had if their parents weren’t such amazing people. Instead of growing up to be in a gang, the kids might end up being the president of Mexico and putting an end to drug cartels! Who knows! After this week, I have learned that ANYTHING is possible. I will end this post with the last thing Papa Adrian wanted us to know about himself and Mexico. “I love living here because when the wind blows, it brings with it all of the happiness and the joy all around Mexico, and fills me with that same happiness.” The Soto-Ortiz family has a future, and now that I know of this amazing family, I know that Mexico does as well.

Much love,

Calvin Antonetty

Family story #1 - Team Orange

By Calvin Antonetty

Hi Everyone!

It’s me Calvin, and I hope all is well up north! Things are great down here in good old Tijuana!! Earlier in the week I was asked by Leslie and Josh to conduct a little mini interview with the family that my group (TEAM ORAAAAANNNGEEE!!!!!) is building a house for (the house is looking pristine by the way). So I casually asked questions to the man of the family and remembered/translated his Spanish responses so that all of you lovely people at home can get an idea of the kind of people we are serving this week.

So first of all, there are four brothers who were all born in Guerrero, Mexico close to Acapulco. Acapulco is a touristy area by the beach that has a lot of money flowing through the rich and no money or real jobs for the poor. Guerrero is apparently much worse than Tijuana. He described Guerrero as an outskirt of a beautiful place that is engulfed in drugs and gang violence. Now that you have a background of some of the places, here is the background of this amazing family.

The four brothers were born into a very poor family in Guerrero. They lived there their whole life until about five years ago when they all decided to move to Tijuana. The man of our household is Adrian Soto-Ortiz. He is a shorter, stubby, serious-looking man with a very tender heart. His best friend growing up was a girl named Maria Isabel Gomez-Martinez—who eventually became his wife (AWWWW!). They have four beautiful children. The oldest is an adorable and stubby little boy named Adrian Soto-Gomez (9 years old), next came the very thin and intellectual Angel Soto-Gomez (7 years old), after came Fernando Soto-Gomez (5 years old) who has succeeded in capturing everyone’s hearts with his constant tripping over everything and his funny little personality, and the youngest is an adorable girl who looks a lot like a mix between “Boo” from the movie Monsters Inc and that baby from Ice Age and her name is Elitzabel Soto-Gomez (1 years old).

Adrian was making $4-5/day in Guerrero working from 4:00am til about 6:00-8:00pm. Rent for the apartment they used to live in was $1000/month. His wife was obviously working as well. As they kept having kids, they had to find other kinds of jobs, skip meals, and help Adrian Jr. with school. So, with the birth of Angel, they moved to Tijuana with the three other brothers and their families and lived in one house all together.

There is a local school close to the houses we are building that their kiddos will be attending on the 27^th of September. The family goes to the central Cathedral in Tijuana. And now Adrian works at an Apartment complex doing random fix ups throughout the complex (which would explain why he is so good at all this construction stuff!). Sometimes he travels to other places to sell good in markets and tourist spots. He told me that he can’t describe how grateful he is to have these houses that himself and his brothers are getting. He said that they moved out of Guerrero and into Tijuana for a new beginning and a safe environment for their kids and that now that they have these homes, everything will be easier. The money that goes to rent will now go to food and clothes. The time spent working will now be spent loving their kids. He said he has big dreams and hopes for his children and that every decision he and his wife have made have been for their kids - and Sammamish Presbyterian Church and Doxa has helped in ways that WE can’t even comprehend. I’ve known him for a week, and I love him and his family so much. This trip is amazing, thank you SPC and thank you Doxa.

Much Love,

Calvin Antonetty

Uplifting

By Nellie Hoehl

Hello to all of our family and friends!! After another long workday on the sites, I am SO happy to let you all know that the houses are almost finished! Today saw the completion of the walls on all of the houses. This was one of the most uplifting (literally) experiences I have ever had, and cannot believe that only 4 days ago our houses were piles of dirt. The fact that all of the teams have been so successful is a true testament of God, for He has given all of us the strength we needed to persevere through the frustrating moments. In addition to the walls now standing, windows and doors have been added, bright white trim is now outlining the beautifully colorful walls, and everyone house is in the process of a roof being finished! I spent my entire day basking in the sun on top of the roof … it is a great thing that I am not afraid of heights (and Mom and Dad, if you are reading this, I assure you that I didn’t get too close to the edge)! With all of the sites needing a LOT of work done today, it is incredible to look back and see our achievements thus far. Not only have we almost completed a house, but we have also built relationships with each other, the families, and God, all of which will last a lifetime. I cannot wait for the last few hours we are going to spend on the sites tomorrow! Thanks so much for your prayers throughout this week!! Your support has strengthened our mission team in ways you cannot imagine! See you all in a couple of days!!

Lots of love, Nellie Hoehl

P.S. To Audrey and Christine Strom, we love you both and so wish that you were here with us this week! Your love has definitely been shining through to the entire group!! xoxoxo

Part 5 Video Recap

Check it out - the houses are ALMOST DONE! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiT2T0D2Mso&feature=youtu.be

Phenomenal

By Allie Matheny and Sydney Smith

Today was absolutely phenomenal. Exhausting, but phenomenal… We ended up staying three hours over just so we would be able to finish the houses by tomorrow. As most of the walls went up, so did our excitement to get the job done. We are all so blown away that we started with just a plot of uneven dirt and now we have almost three completed houses. Throughout the ten hours we spent at the worksite today, we were able to strengthen our relationships with the families, as well as with each other. Although the language barrier is very much present, it is amazing what can be said through just a simple smile and we know we will all be very sad when it is time to say our goodbyes tomorrow. Even though we have only known these children for a few days their cuteness has overwhelmed us and we wish we could take them home. The cutest of all of them may be Fernando, the youngest boy who never fails to make us laugh. As he constantly trips and shoves food into his mouth we can’t restrain ourselves from taking as many pictures as possible. Saying goodbye to Fernando, as well as the others may be the hardest thing we have to do all week, but knowing that we’ve built them a home is something that will make the hardship well worth it. See you all soon and thank you for keeping us in your prayers. J(GO ORANGE TEAM)