thanks abby...

hello again. Jake Fluker's niece is going to raise some money for our goat project as her dad and uncle come down to build homes. she has written a letter to send out to classmates at her school. i read it and thought, "i should pass on these words". it was a good reminder for me of what i am doing here and thought i'd try to share that encouragement to a few others. i just hope that being here is helping 'how people feel' down here. i hope they feel like someone cares.

she starts off with some facts about the houses and goats, etc. then ends with this...
trent

"...But here’s the part of why were sending money for goats not polar bears were or lions.  Goats provide milk, meat or livelihood and there super easy to raise. So close your eyes and imagine living in a shack made of card board or metal sheets, the floor is dirt and the one meal you look forward to is most likely rice and beans.  When it rains your roof leaks and when the wind blows your walls rattle. Sometimes the truck that brings the food to your village doesn’t come how do you feel? Imagine that some guys show up and replace your shack with a sturdy steel frame and a concrete floor and sometimes they even put new mattresses in your bedroom and put new pots and pans in your kitchen and there’s a goat in your yard. How do feel now? Will you help me make that kind of difference in the life if 20 families."     

(thanks abby)

-a few pictures from recent days-

 corn harvest time

 our little building crew

old house

 new house underway

2.5 hours completed - new record

occasionally you see spiders, 

but don't worry - only life threatening if they bite you.

chapter 1

hello friends,

we made a video of life so far in el salvador. click on the link below to
check it out if you like...
trent

Chapter 1

"You can live your whole life not being aware of anyone else's needs, but you will always be aware of your own. It takes intentionality to be aware of other's needs." Matt Dyck

Great things have been happening in the village. We are currently working on House #16 & 17! There are an number of men and women who now come out regularly to each house to help with the building and cooking. Its fun for us to see them starting to rally aroundeach other and help with a house when it isn't even their own.

House # 16 - Jorge & Sonia and their 4 daughters. This was probably a record house for the number of people that showed up to help, I think there was 30 people working! Stuart's mom, Bev & Rick Sproule were out to help with this house and it was fun to have them here with our families! They were great at getting to know the family and taking the time to try and speak the language. They may have gone home a little exhausted not only because of the heat, or from all the work they did, but because of our 8 children (between the 2 families)!!! :) Thanks to their help financially and for the help building, 2 new families are living under a safe roof tonight.

House # 17 - The last house we built for was for Blanca and her 7 yr old daughter Katarine. They are very poor and have hardly anything at all. She has the biggest smile you've ever seen and when we told her she was getting house, her smile said "I just won the lottery!" She is a single mom whose 'spouse' has another family in a near by town and rarely comes by. As it turns out when he heard she was getting a house he showed up! And also came back when it was time to have the key ceremony.... There are some very deep wounds in this family and the little girl is so obvious with her need to be loved.

Some highlights for me personally have been having all 3 of my sisters out to visit!!! Shanny & Jaime came out the end of May, and Merrylee came the end of June. It was SO good to have my sisters out here, we've all missed them very much. When Jaime & Shanny came, they brought along with them 2 large boxes of medical supplies that they raised $ to buy. We were so excited to hold our very first Medical Clinic in San Antonio. We had 3 doctors, 3 nurses and countless others volunteer their time to help with the clinic. We had over 300 people come through and were seen by the doctors. Another part was the Eye Glass Clinic that was also new to us. My sister Shanny used to work as an optician in Calgary, so her expertise was a huge help. It was awesome to see people pick up a book and be able to read, some for the very first time! A friend of ours even helped out with the kids and had stuff for them to do while they waited to see a doctor. I was able to hand out some toothbrushes and give some education on dental hygiene. Thank you to my sisters Jaime and Shanny for raising $ and getting the medicine safely to us! And a HUGE thank you to everyone who donated to the medical kits. I'll let the video tell you the rest!

http://vimeo.com/27459950

This is a fellow named Isaias. He is 25 yrs old and has a wife and 5 yr old boy. Last month while he was selling coconuts out of the back of his truck, and bus came by and hit him. As a result he lost his foot. Shortly after seeing the doctor, he got an infection and they had to amputate his leg just above the knee. Trent was able to go visit him in the hospital and spend a little time with him. The family had to find 7 friends that were willing, AND had the right blood type to donate their blood for the operation. It just so happened that my other sister Merrylee (who is a physical therapist in Calgary) was coming down for a visit during this time. The night before she left to come here to El Salvador, one of her patients came to her with an old pair of crutches and asked if she could take them down and donate them to someone who needed them. So while Merr was here visiting, Isaias was released from the hospital and came straight to our house where we made a 'make shift' observation room on Carie's bed. We came out to the street to meet him, and he had no way of getting into the house. The public hospital here gave him NO post-op instructions, NO therapy, and NO crutches! We knew then who those crutches were meant for! Merr helped him into the house, giving him instruction on how to use the crutches and was able to help with exercises and instruction on how to care for and bandage his leg. A huge gift to Isaias, so thank you Merr and thank you to your thoughtful patient who gave to someone she didn't even know and changed his life!

This is Mitilda! She is our friend from San Antonio. She is 15 yrs old and is a sister to the Airlinda, the little girl we've been helping with all the medical problems (Carie has talked about her in previo

us blogs and who is now healthy!!! Praise God!) Mitilda only has a grade 2 education and when we asked why she doesn't go to school, she said she is too embarrassed to go back with grade 2 kids. She stopped going because her eyes were bad and could not see the board. She now is the proud owner of new spectacles, thanks to our friend Rob and his church in Grimshaw, Alberta! She has a teacher who comes to her and should be caught up within a couple of years. Her life has changed! Yesterday she came by the house for a visit and ended up helping me with a baby blanket that Carie and I are working on. Trent reminded me yesterday that I would never have thought a year ago that I would be sitting in my living room today visiting in spanish and sewing with a 15 yr old girl from

the village!

I still find myself wondering some days if I am really making a difference, do these people know that we really do care about them? I recently listened to our friend Matt Dyck speak on being discontent with all that we have and always wanting more when we see what others have. Or not even knowing you need it until someone else tells you, you need it! When you're surrounded by people that don't really care about your clothes or what your house looks like, I find myself not wasting one single minute of my day wishing I had more! These people are just trying to find enough food for that day and trying to stay dry in their beds at night. Its true, when we take the time to hear their stories and learn what their needs are, all of a sudden the focus isn't so much on me as it is on them and their needs!

Hope you enjoy reading a few of their stories. If you would like to help get involved in anyway, please let us know. We have many families who need a goat, a house, an education, or some medicine. The needs are endless!

"Generosity bridles discontentment"

Thanks Matt!

5 months and still going...

I guess we haven’t written in a while so I thought I would catch everyone up. This week we are kind of taking it easy after the 5 months of “working” sometimes 20 hours a day 7 days a week. The Berstad’s are away with Kerrie’s sister Merrylee seeing some sites and we are here in the house trying to get some rest. The kids are going crazy though. At what age do you start to need rest?

Anyway, I have been starting to ponder some things here lately. It is probably because we are at the 5 month mark and all of a sudden we look back and think, “where did the time go?” I have to admit with only having one visitor from home so far, my brother and sister-in-law and nephew, I am missing my friends and family a lot!! The thing I am pondering most is, how do we do work here, and not feel used or tricked?

For up to 4 months whenever someone asked me for something here, I trusted that they were telling me the truth. I would take people to the clinic, buy them shoes for school, or medicine etc. Recently, one of the women we know in San Antonio came up to Kerrie and whispered in her ear that she has no food to feed her children. How could your heart not break? I just think about how easy it is, when I am hungry, to go to the fridge and grab a snack. So right away we said that we would come back and give her some food. We put together a little hamper and brought it to her.

3 days later her friend came to the door also saying that she needed food and money because she didn’t have any. This time Juanita was here and helped us to ask the appropriate questions about what she was doing to help herself? It turned out that she hadn’t tried anything to help herself here and just thought that the “white folks” would give her a hand out.

Another situation that I think that I wrote about already, a little one year old girl that is antibiotic resistant and immune suppressed. I have been helping her and her mom a lot lately. Recently they got an appointment in the low income specialist clinic in San Salvador. She asked me if I would help out. She needed money for transport, food while there, and diapers. I agreed to all of this. After I told everyone that I agreed to this, they told me that I need to watch out. I might be getting used. I started feeling like I was getting taken advantage of. When she came to our door the next day, she said that her daughter had a fever and that she needed to go to the clinic. I was working on a project for kids’ church and really felt like I didn’t know what was truth anymore, and she was probably overreacting, so I told Stuart that I didn’t want to go. He said that he would. He took her, and it turned out that she had a really bad case of bronchitis and spent 3 days in the hospital. She probably would have died had she gone back home that day.

A couple of days ago, Kerrie e-mailed me this verse...

Philemon 1:6

"And I keep praying that this faith we hold in common keeps showing up in the good things we do, and that people recognize Christ in all of it."

It reminded me that, if God lays it on my heart, then I am not getting used. So what if I am a little naive sometimes. If I don’t do the things that I think God is asking me to, then who knows what can happen. And if I give a little too much sometimes, or step in the wrong direction, well then I know that our God is full of grace, and it will be ok. I also know that there are people to ask when I don’t understand something about the way things work here in El Salvador.

 

Last week, I also took a 15 year old girl to find out about going back to school. She only has a grade 2 education. She quit because she couldn’t see the blackboard and kids were making fun of her, but now she was eager to go back and learn. We are partnering with a church in Grimshaw, AB that said they would sponsor her to go back to school. After some digging and research, and walking all over San Vicente, we found out that she can have lessons near her house for free and they provide all the materials. The only thing that we had to do was get her some glasses. She starts schools on Tuesday and I told her that as long as she wants to go to school, we would find a way to get her there, even if it is University. Matilde’s life can be changed forever! And we couldn’t do it without out the support of friends at home.

I also know that while we have been here, we have already built over 12 houses, giving them a dry place to sleep, held a medical clinic for over 300 people, and made countless relationships. I met my compassion child Adonay and his family, who touched my heart deeply. We are going to build him a house in the next couple of weeks too. And I think overall in general, we are right where we need to be.

Please continue to pray for us. I am working on getting the sewing centre set up and we are still working on trying to get our temporary residency. I think we will head to San Salvador on Thursday to migration and after 37 documents, translated, stamped, authenticated, signed and a lot of money. Pray that we have everything we need.

Also we would like to build more houses. If you have it on your heart to help us out with that or the sewing project, please click on the “donate here” link on the side of this webpage and specify which project you would like to donate to. Thank you all so much for your support!!

the construction process

how's that for joy on Noe's face.

over the last 10 years teams have been coming down to el salvador to build homes for families in great need. one of our hopes was to have a team of local guys down here running a crew building homes for their countrymen... now we don't have to wait for canadians to come to keep building homes for families in need.

here is a quick video that shows what a normal day on the job site looks like down here. 4 guys are employed to build the home, while the rest of the community rallies behind them and makes it all happen - lunch for everyone too! please click on the link below...

http://vimeo.com/25247451

enjoy.

trent

king of the castle

i don't like it when the riders don't win the grey cup.

i don't like it when the favorite wins.

i really like it when the underdog wins.

i don't like being on the bottom.

for that matter, i don't really like anyone being on the bottom - but i especially don't like the people who are always on the bottom being on the bottom.

i have a couple brief stories to share. they speak of guys hitting the bottom. of coming back up. of seeing a glimmer of hope in a really dark world down here.

after a few months we are realizing the depth of the depravity of this culture. hope & redemption & love are needed more than we even imagined.

--

story 1
jose is a guy stu wrote about on the blog a while back. he has been living on the street spending his days drinking on the sidewalk a block away from our house. we would see him most days as we walked by. one of our first days after we arrived in san vicente, we talked for about an hour on the street corner in the shade of tree.

he shared his pain.

his story.

his hurt.

we listened and told him he was valuable.

that he mattered.

that we respected him...

bad things happen to guys sleeping drunk on the street -- we haven't seen him for a month.

every single day, we walk by 'his corner' and wonder where he has gone. this morning, stu ran to the bank machine and heard someone shout 'hey!'. he turned to see jose, dressed well, hair combed, lookin classy! real classy ;-) he said he was in town for the day with a couple leaders from the rehab center he had joined in san salvador a month ago. he said, 'i'm doing good. i'm gettin my life back on track. i'm working on my relationship with my family and trying to fix those relationships...'

i think we played a small part in this turnaround. it's a simple joy in the midst of a dark world.

--
story 2

another friend carlos was deported from the states two years ago because of trouble with the law. a while after arriving in el salvador he joined teen challenge rehab center. after leaving rehab he moved to our town san vicente. helped with translating at church and elsewhere. helped with teams from the states cooking, etc... a couple weeks ago he went awol for about a week finally showing up on our doorstep late one night with a fair bit of drink in him. we chatted, prayed and encouraged him. the next morning we got him in to teen challenge in san salvador again, but a few days later i called to see how he was doing, and he had left.

i've been pretty worried.

two days ago, he showed up at our door again. this time with his 14 year old son visiting from colorado. he'd left teen challenge to connect with him. had met him the day he flew in. they had a great week together and then came out to san vicente to connect with us! we were filled with joy and relief to see them both. they stayed in our home for 2 nights. lots of time to talk. laugh. chill out. and let him have some 'normal life' time with his son for a couple days. (michael is staying with his aunt in san salvador, but she won't let carlos stay in her house because of his past mistakes, so the visit had its restraints) we hit the pool with him yesterday afternoon and our kids had a hoot with his son michael. it will be a hard day thursday when he flies home leaving his dad behind. harder still i think for carlos watching his son fly home...

carlos cannot enter the states for at least 8 more years.

but today we see the determination in carlos to carry on. to make things right. to work hard. for his son to find in his dad the man he was made to be the next time he comes to visit.

again, a much needed bit of joy in the midst of a pretty tough week on many levels. we are looking for moments of light in this dark world. sharing those stories. and hoping you know and feel that your investment, no matter what piece you are playing, is not going without a really good return. these returns are in human beings discovering they are loved by a God who thinks about them all the time. these are returns that michael would say are worth their weight in gold. (and carlos is around 350 pounds)

so what more do i say,

but thank you on behalf of those who look, feel and live like they're at the bottom of the pile. those who are scorned by their own countrymen for the things they've done and are doing.

but in the kingdom, those people are on top.

--

last thought.
ever played 'king of the castle'? i did. i only won when i cheated. i mean i was the youngest of the cousins and i had to pull hair or hit low or whatever to get on top. all alone on top - what a good feeling! even though it only lasted for a moment, cuz someone was coming up to take you out. i look forward to the days where the guys who've spent their lives at the bottom of the pile make their way to the top. sometimes they even make it there in this life. one day though, i think they'll get placed there. and they'll get to stay on top... what a good feeling.

trent

Isabel & House # 2

Today I spent the morning with Isabel from San Antonio.  We sat in the clinic waiting for an ultrasound. This seems to be my norm these days, waiting in clinics. I ask God all the time in my prayers to use me as he sees fit. I guess that this is one of the ways because recently I have a heart ache for the women in San Antonio and especially their health. I have read and been told many times that if we starting taking people to the clinic or buying prescriptions for them, that we will have a line up out of the front door. I have taken that into consideration and decided that I don’t care. All I can think about is what if I was in that situation? If I knew that I couldn’t afford the medicine that was needed to make my child healthy or if I couldn’t afford to see what was wrong with me, so I just had to live with it? There is a free hospital here, but it takes 3 months to get an appointment and then even when you do, you have to pay for your prescriptions which are usually quite expensive. We have found a fabulous clinic here with an Ultra Sound Technician, a lab, a paediatrics doctor and an English speaking adult doctor. They have been very kind to us and are even going to help us out when we host our own clinic in San Antonio on Saturday. It costs money to get a consultation, but they give as much as the medicine for free that they can.                                                                                             

Anyway, back to Isabel. She thought she was pregnant because her period stopped and her tummy was getting bigger. After a few months though, her tummy just stayed the same size and remained soft. She went to a doctor and he told her that if there was a baby in there, it was not alive, and she needed an Ultra Sound. Yesterday we went to visit her and we were with Tomasita, the area Director, and I overheard Isabel telling her this, but that she couldn’t afford an Ultrasound. Thinking again about what it would be like to be in that position, I offered to take her today to find out.  This morning at breakfast I asked Stuart, “what do I do if it is bad news?” Usually I am not very good at handling that kind of thing. He said to take one step at a time and go to the hospital if we need to. I was thinking more along the lines of how to handle it emotionally, but oh well, guys don’t understand that kind of thing J!

 So she had the ultrasound and we found out that she has a large cyst in her stomach. At first I thought she was going to be upset because she was so excited when she thought she was pregnant. I said I was sorry, but then she said, “No, this is a good thing because it is reversible and I will be able to get pregnant again!”  So we went to the hospital and made her an appointment with a doctor to start the treatment to shrink the cyst. While waiting it also gave me the opportunity to chat with Isabel. A few months ago I found out that she used to work with an industrial sewing machine. Since I have been trying to start up this sewing machine project using local people, I thought she would be a great person to ask help teach.  Yesterday I asked her if she would and she said no because she didn’t think the other people here would listen to her, she says that there are other people more qualified. Today I shared with her that I think the Lord has big plans for her and that he uses people just like her to do His work. God you are good!!

                                                                               

This brings me to house #2 Christina and Carlos

Using the screws that Kade and Winnie’s school purchased (Escuela Canyon Meadows), by collecting recyclables, we put together another house. Each of the kids helped, by screwing the hinges to the doors and windows. At first it seemed odd that we were building a house for a couple with no kids, but then we dug deeper to get Christina’s story and it became clear.  Christina 25 and Carlos 28 lived with their mother in a little lean-to shack built beside the house of her mom. Carlos works in a factory hauling bags of sugar cane. They had a child 3 years ago, but two years ago he choked and died. She has been trying to have another child since then and is unable to. It is time like that when I hear these stories that I feel so blessed to be born in Canada. I also can’t help but think what I would do in that situation? Would the St John’s ambulance training would come in handy, or would I just freeze with fear?  Christina is so ecstatic to have a house to call her own. She is taking great pride in keeping it up and I think that Tomisita is training her to take over her “job” as Director because every time we come to visit, she always yells at her , “Christina, let’s go!!” (In Spanish of course)  

Stuart & Trent with Tomasita

Also Christina lives in a different part of San Antonio then the other families we have been building for. Usually it is Stuart and Trent, our 4-man local crew, and maybe if we are lucky a couple of other men. At Christina’s house, there were about 15 young men that came out to help. It was amazing to see the community come together and help each other. This week we are building in that area again, and about 20 men showed up to help. I really hope that this pattern continues so that even when we are gone, we can send money for a house and know that it will be built by a community together with the 4 fantastic men that are part of our crew.

Speaking of which, we are getting a little low on our funds for projects and would like to keep our crew employed building two houses a week. If you find it in your heart to help us and the community we are working in out, PLEASE click on the "Donate Here" button on the side of this webpage and specify PROJECTS when donating. A house costs $2700 to build and every little bit counts. Thank you so much for your support emotionally, spiritually and financially.

*a special thank you to Kerrie for taking most of the pictures and a special hello to all of Laura Martin's co-workers. We appreciate you keeping up with our lives!!