New blog post coming soon!

I'm working on a few posts that will be up within the next couple days! Be sure to check back cause you won't want to miss some of my adventures thus far.

Training week 2/ Build with University Presbyterian

I'm sad to say that there really isn't a ton of exciting news about build number two. I actually didn't do much building on that house at all. Last week we went through training on all the little bitty details that go into building a Casas house. Basically us interns sat on the building site writing in notebooks and practicing skills the two days that it took for the house to be built. I learned soooooo much about construction and I actually have gained a lot of confidence in being able to accomplish the task of building houses that God has given me this summer.

A lot of steps of building a house are really simple if you know all of the tips to doing it well. Being with so many different staff people over the past week has allowed me to see what methods are used to build the house and choose for myself which one I prefer. A few things that I learned this past week are how to fill out cut sheets (sheets that we use to determine what lumber needs to be cut depending on what the family wants done with the house) and I learned how to wire an entire house!

A big step for me was learning how to put stucco on the house and being confident at it. Two weeks ago today Kevin asked me what job I dreaded doing this summer and I readily replied stucco. I've tried many times before and failed and learned last week how to properly stucco and it was kinda alright. This week I actually enjoyed stucco and was able to jump right into it without precaution and more stucco actually ended up on the wall than on the ground!

The family we built for was very kind and brought us snacks out both days. The first day I got to try pig rinds for the first time... let's just say I won't be adding that to my grocery list any time soon. The second day they brought out round cookies that tasted like animal crackers, YUM! It is so humbling to see a family spend the little the have to live on to give us food while we are working.

On our few days off we got to hang out around El Paso and continue to get to know each other better. One night I went to a Zumba class and I loved it! A few of us went to a local coffee shop named Kinleys House (it reminds me of Greyhouse so much!) and got frozen yogurt and sat and hung out and we told all of our stories about how we reacted when we learned that we weren't going to be interns this summer. It made me really glad to know that I wasn't the only one who was originally super upset about not being an intern. Then I went hiking (or more like mountain climbing) with Kevin and David yesterday morning. The mountains in El Paso are so beautiful and it was just really cool being able to see both El Paso and Juarez from the mountaintop. Two totally different cities separated by a small river. 

Today us interns went out to help a team from University Presbyterian Church El Paso and it was my favorite day of building by far. Everyone was so kinda and welcoming to us. Building with a group today made me kinda upset that I'm not an actual intern this summer. I won't get to meet a new team every week and get to know them and have the excitement of seeing how the group will interact with each other. I'm a people watcher and today was cool to see how the team interacted with each other and were all readily available to help if someone needed it. I won't get to see different personalities and senses of humor and be able to build new jokes with the teams every week. I just love people so much and right now I really do wish that I'd had the opportunity to be an intern with Casas this summer. BUT God has something so much bigger for this summer and hopefully 10 families who originally weren't going to receive homes are going to have a warm place to live this winter because God called us to be a team instead of interns.

It makes me sad that I was only able to spend one day with the beautiful family that we built for today. The mother and father both were so happy to meet us when we got to the work site this morning and the kids were such a help around the work site and a joy to be around. The kids all wanted to be involved and helped us throughout the day on various little jobs. When we stopped for lunch the kids came out and passed out mangos and watermelon to the team. Miguel, the Mexican Casas Rep, sat by us during lunch and I learned that Mango in spanish is a slang term for someone that you are interested in. Oh the random pieces of information that I learn everyday. Miguel is so funny. Today he asked if David was my brother and when I said no he asked me which one of us was too ugly to be related to the other (it was probably one of those you-had-to-be-there moments). I got to play with the most beautiful little girl Jasmine today. She had the most adorable little laugh and was so outgoing and playful. 

Well I need to be up in 4 hours to head back into Mexico to build for the next 6 days but more pictures and stories to come. 

Training week 1/ House Numero Uno!

So I could probably write a book about this week and the build and about Juarez but I'll try to keep it short and sweet and just include my VERY favorite parts and the brief basics.

Well this week was our first training week out of two so it wasn't a normal build. We were with a ton of staff people and we were called aside at times to learn what we need to know about how to lead teams and how to do each part of the house. Next week will be similar but even more intense training because we will be building a two room "single" so we will learn how to disperse jobs on the worksite and be a good multi-tasker. This week was definitely challenging because I didn't just get to do the jobs that I feel comfortable doing like I normally have done on previous week-long builds. For example this week I had to stucco. Stucco is a mixture made of sand, water, concrete and lime that we put all over the sides of the house. I'm not gonna lie, stucco is a pain to put up. I've tried on my previous trips and more stucco always ended up on the ground than on the wall so I just gave up. This time that wasn't an option, but Janette and Alexis were right there alongside us teaching us the tricks to putting up stucco so after a while I got the hang of it and I'm not nearly as awful as I thought! And today I had to put door knobs in... it probably was just operator error but it was a lot harder than I expected it to be!

This week was definitely not the perfect build either. Aimee forgot her passport in America, the concrete truck. I hit two fingers with a hammer on two separate occasions, got two nasty blisters, had a bloody nose most of the week, and almost passed out the first day cause I was just not used to the heat and working that hard. There were some times I absolutely questioned why I was crazy enough to come down here. It's hot, it's hard work, it's EXHAUSTING, but then my favorite Mexico moments come along and I remember why I have such a passion to spend my summer down here...

One such moment was working with Ivan (Pronounced E-vaan). Ivan is the one farthest on the right.

At first the kid kinda drove me crazy. He pretended that he was gonna steal all my stuff and asked how much it was worth and kept trying to convince me to give it to him. But he really was a good kid and an awesome help when it came to the house. I don't know much spanish at all and Ivan doesn't know much english so at first it was really really hard for us to communicate. Not knowing the same language doesn't keep from God making an awesome connection between two people. I was working on stucco next to Ivan and we started trying to have a conversation. Before I know it we've managed to talk about our families and friends and I was able to tell him that I wasn't married and I didn't have children and talked about how old we are and other basic things. I know it was all really basic but for two people who speak two totally different languages it was a blessing to make a friend. Ivan enjoys working on Casas houses and may come help us other times during the summer since we will be close to his house. 

Something that made me stop in my tracks, smile and pull out my camera was seeing the children of the family use the scrap pieces of our lumber and use them as building blocks.

I overlooked that pile of wood so many times this week, and when I did see it I was normally frustrated cause I had tripped over a scrap while carrying something. In the eyes of a child that pile of trash lumber was something so much more. It was a castle, a fort, a car, a tower... the options are limitless! Oh how I wish that I still had the view of a child. These children with very little found such joy in what they did have.

My absolute favorite time of the build was this morning. First off I was outside of the house repainting the trim when I started to see Miguel walking around the house. 

Miguel is the one beside me in a blue sweater. All of the children had been super shy for the first two days that we were building. I had tried talking to Miguel multiple times and he always hung his head and walked away. As I was painting I heard the song We Speak No Americano come on a spanish radio station playing next door and from around the corner of the house I see Miguel kinda starting to dance to the music so of course I walked a little closer to him and started to dance too. Next thing I know shy little Miguel is dancing with me and is yelling "Ondelay ondelay" as I'm running around giving him piggy back rides. He stood by me and held my hands throughout the whole dedication ceremony and I can honestly say that my heart broke a little bit when I had to leave him today.

The dedication ceremony always makes the time spent building the house worth it. The more you get to know a family the more you are glad that you spent some of your time helping them out. This week we built for a single mother (Marielena) with 5 kids and many grandchildren also living with her. She has been waiting for a home from Casas for over 2 years now. Recently she lost her daughter and son in law. They had owned a gordita stand but they couldn't pay the mafia and were killed. Marielena then took in all of her grandchildren along with her own children. I am so humbled to be used by God as a tool to give a family a dependable home.

Other highlights of the week

~seeing the kids run through their new home with the biggest smiles on their faces

~walking to a Mexican grocery store with some local kids and some of the team members

~drinking MANZANA!!!!! (it's an apple flavored soda)

Pray~ That I may have better health and fewer injuries next week. That the family next week may see the love of Jesus through my actions and the actions of the Casas team. That I may be teachable and receptive to learning everything about being a good team leader and that I don't let Satan tell me that I can't do construction because I am a girl or won't be a good leader because I'm not fluent in Spanish.  

ROADTRIP!

I'm down in El Paso after one of the most interesting roadtrips of my life! Left Indiana yesterday morning at like 10 with my madre and padre and nothing really exciting happened until issue numero uno. So the plan was to pick up David in St Louis and drive out to Kevin's house to switch vehicles and head off from there. So I don't even know David at all at this point and we go to the location he told me he was staying at yet there were just a bunch of semi-trailers around... thus after a good laugh and a call to David we learn he's 15 minutes across town.. ooops!

Then things ran smoothly again. I got introduced to David and we hopped in the car and kept treking... until we got to Kevin's neighborhood that is and drove around like creepers cause we couldn't find the house for the life of us. There we grilled out some delicious hamburgers and headed out on the long long road to El Paso... 

Well we learned that David and I aren't the best combination to take charge of the car. Every time that something wrong happened it was when Kevin was in the back sleeping and we were in the front. 1) David drove for a good 5 miles on the interstate with the parking break on 2) we got off on a turnpike around Tulsa that we weren't supposed to take and we seriously thought we were on the right road until Kevin woke up and and us how we managed to get off the interstate... we really have no clue how that happened 3) because we got on that turnpike the tolls took coins instead of cash and we were really scraping to find it 4) the last toll booth we had the change and threw it in but the light didn't turn green so David just drove right through and it started yelling at us (we hope a ticket doesn't come out of a messed up 75 cent toll) 5) when I took my shift at 4 in the morning I may have seriously thought that the car was in drive when it was in park and got really confused when it wasn't moving 

We can't leave Kevin spotless though cause he forgot to twist the cap back on the gas tank and we may have just so happened to drive 300 or so miles like that... oh I apparently while I was napping he got off track too. But seriously these are all just things that come along with a REALLY long road trip and we know that God was wanting us to get there safely because we could have had some major issues but we only had minor problems that we are able to joke about now.

Well we did get here to El Paso safely but there was definitely a surprise waiting for me here. I am living in the same house as a pig! Not just some tiny pot bellied pig... nope a full sized pig and he runs around the house just like the dogs do.

But I'm not gonna complain because it's nice to have a place to call home while we are in El Paso.  Aimee and I are staying with David (the executive director of Casas) and his family and they are so wonderful to have opened up their home to us. I have my own room here and a place to leave my nice clothes that I won't be needing in Mexico.

~RANDOM FACT~ In El Paso it is totally normal to go to a wedding even when you are not invited... on our first night here we almost went to a wedding that a friend of a friend was invited to and through the chain we got asked to go... I don't know how in the world they are able to plan for weddings then!

And a suggestion, if you are in El Paso you should check out The Lunch Box. We went there after church on Sunday and it is a Mexican restaurant and I think the best part was a cute little old guy standing by the door playing Spanish music on the keyboard... IT WAS AWESOME!

Ciudad Juarez, Mexico

So if you Google Juarez, Mexico you will get lots of articles and news stories saying "Juarez: The Most Lethal Place on Earth" and "Juarez, Mexico - Murder Capital of the World" or even the numerous travel warnings posted everywhere. And now I have you thinking that I am a psycho and why would I go here don't I? 


Let's think this through here... How often does the media actually portray positive news? It seems likeall the stories we hear on the news these days are about wars, violence, death, natural disasters, celebrity divorces, illness, disputes, (insert your own negative story from the media here), and the like. Yes Japan did exist before the earthquake and there were people living their normal lives but you didn't hear any stories about that did you? The second that something bad happens it's all over the news. The same is with Juarez. It is just a normal city where it just so happens that the media is covering every negative event that happens there.


 If you look past the news stories you will find many attractive things about Juarez. It is a border city with a population of over a million and is very rich in Mexican culture. Juarez is home to the Mexican Vaquero culture (which is the Mexican cowboy culture) meaning many people resemble cowboys… you can’t help but smile at that. Juarez has an arena named Plaza de Toros where they have bull fights, How awesome is that?!? There are markets and vendors where you can go and haggle prices to get goods and souvenirs such and blankets, jewelry, pottery, vanilla and more. And one of my personal favorite things about Mexico… the food! There is this apple pop called Manzana which is amazing (there are similar products in America but they just aren’t as good… trust me I’ve tried many of them). Last time I was down there a vendor came up to the house we were working on and sold us popsicles. The most fun part was that we didn’t have a clue as to which color was which flavor so you really never knew what you were going to get but it didn’t matter cause they were all so good! Even American cola products taste differently in Mexico because they are often made from cane sugar instead of corn syrup. And one mega plus about working in Juarez is that it gets me out of crazy Indiana weather. It rarely rains and has an average summer temp in the 90’s but can get up to above 110 on really hot days. Oh and did I mention that it is WAY less humid than Indiana? Kids in Juarez LOVE soccer (or as they call it… football). Crazy hard days of work are made so much better when you get to run around playing soccer with a bunch of kids. And they are really good at it too, I don’t ever expect to win when I’m playing against them. Those are just a few of my favorite things about Juarez from previous trips and I’ve sure that I’m gonna come up with a lot more after spending a summer there.

Casas has been working in Juarez for years without issues. Actually going down with Casas makes me feel way safer than if I was just going down alone. The people of Juarez know to not mess with groups with Casas because they are down there helping. If something happens to a Casas group then fewer homes will be built and there are so many people in need of homes that they want Casas to keep building in Juarez. If only I could tell you of all the things I've seen in Juarez that counteracts every single negative news story you may hear. Well none of us have time for that but here's just a few. 

First and foremost this stack of papers is a stack of the applications to receive a Casas house... some of these families have been waiting for over three years and now due to lack of teams wanting to build it looks like they may have to keep waiting.

These beautiful children have parents who were put in prison but thankfully were taken into an orphanage so that they didn't have to go to prison with their parents. 

I will forever remember what this little girl told me. She looked at me with a big smile and tears in her eyes saying that we were the answers to her prayers because she now has a home. 

Reasons like these are why my team has decided to spend our summer in Juarez, because Juarez is so much more than a war zone. It is a city with many lost people whom God loves and wants to see come to know Him. That is reason enough for me to trust that God will keep us safe in the most dangerous city in the world. 

It's Almost Here!

I leave in 2 days... 2 DAYS!!! Yup that's right and it doesn't feel like it's that close at all. I feel like Just yesterday I got the call saying that the internship program was cancelled and just a week ago I learned I had been hired as an intern. Well that didn't happen yesterday but it wasn't even 4 weeks ago that all these plans changed and the 4 of us became a team instead of interns. 


God can make crazy things happen in the time span of 4 weeks.  Just this afternoon I learned that God has brought in almost $45,000! That's almost 8 and a half houses! Crazy isn't it?!? If we are able to raise just a little bit more money we will be able to spend the ENTIRE summer building houses! YAY! God is so good and He WILL provide!  And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus ~ Philippians 4:19


Two weeks ago I was given the opportunity to speak to my old youth group about Casas por Cristo and what my team is wanting to do in Juarez this summer. I never have had a fear of public speaking, actually it's quite the contrary. I love giving speeches, I love when I'm assigned a presentation, and I love talking to people yet this time something was different. I got nervous, really nervous and for a second wanted to back out. It had to be Satan. I know for a fact that he was trying to stop me from spreading the news about how God works in people's lives. Thankfully There was a worship song right before I was scheduled to speak and it helped me be able to focus on Jesus. But then I was introduced and got in front of a bunch of high schoolers that I don't even know and the nerves came rushing back. Thankfully I know that we can go to our father in times of need and He will be there for us. When we are weak, He is strong! I was clearly so very weak at that point so I asked everyone to join me in prayer and God took over from there. I can't tell you what happened after that really. I had planned points I wanted to say and verses I wanted to use and I had a slideshow to use as a tool. If you asked me to repeat what I said I couldn't. I do know that a lot of things flowed better than I'd expected and most importantly some of the high schoolers were moved to action. I had people wanting to know more and wanting to help. Granted they are in high school and probably don't have much money and their parents won't let them come to Juarez to build with us this summer, God was able to plant and water seeds in their heart that I hope will grow into a beautiful passion to serve His people. 


This past week an amazing source of support fell into my lap. I grew up going to Mount Pleasant Christian Church. Throughout my years I've seen the church "send people off" to go into Missions. When they send people off they bring them in front of the church and have people of the congregation come and lay hands on them and pray for them. I remember thinking at a young age that it was so cool that these older men and women were going off to travel the world and how awesome it would be to be up there about to go across the world and do something for God. At that age it was purely selfishness of course cause looking back I had just wanted the attention and the opportunity to travel. Forward like 7 years after I've grown in my relationship with God and realized that missions is all about serving Him and is an overflow of worship. I get a call this week from Rob Weisbach (one of the leaders of the mission trips I've been on to Mexico before) and he tells me that Mount Pleasant wants to help give the money for a house and send me off at church on Sunday. I didn't really know what to expect at all but I found the Chris Philbeck (our pastor) before the church service and he kinda told me how it was gonna go down. At the end of service they started talking about missions and my heart started beating really fast... nothing quite like seeing your name and mission field up on a powerpoint slide in front of the congregation. Chris called me down and of course I would trip up the stairs due to a deadly combination of nerves and a poor shoe choice. Chris asked for friends, family, youth coaches, or anyone who has been on a mission trip with Casas before to come join me in the front for prayer and I can say that there is nothing more encouraging than being prayed for with the people who have impacted your life the most. I want to thank each and every one of you who did come to support me Sunday morning and who will be praying all summer long. It brings me to tears knowing how much you all love and support me in this mission to make Jesus' name famous in Juarez, Mexico. 


OK I've rambled on long enough for this post and I have lots to still do before I leave which technically is TOMORROW since it's just after midnight... weird...


Pray ~ That I do not get brought down and discouraged by Satan. 

A realization about my relationship with God...

So yeah this blog is about Mexico but there will be time when I blog about what's going on in my heart or life outside of Mexico and the mission there. While I've been planning and fundraising, God's been doing a lot of work on my heart and is showing me parts of my life that I need to change. I realized this past week that even though I thought I had a good relationship with God, my heart is not right towards God at all.

It all started out with a coffee date that I had planned with a friend last week to catch up on life and chat. Well friday came and due to a series of events I just didn't have the time to sit and have coffee that day. When i saw him the next day I felt awful about cancelling on him and apologized over and over saying that I was sorry and that I promised to make it up sometime.

Thinking back on this situation makes me realize how far away my heart is from where it should be. When I have a busy day and forget to fit in a quiet time do I apologize over and over and make it up? Or do I just go on with my daily life and maybe for a second feel bad about not having a quiet time but then move right on with the next thing on my to-do list? I'm sad to sad that far too often I just take advantage of God's grace and say that He will love me even if I don't have a quiet time that day. If my priorities were right I would drop everything and spend time with my Lord and Savior but I'm human and still put myself first.

So I challenge you to think about this. We have an amazing God who wants to have a relationship with us! John 17:3 says "Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent." All that we need to do is know Him so I ask you this... how much do you really know and love Jesus?